Frederick Philip Grove

The Canadian author Frederick Philip Grove (February 14, 1879-August 19, 1948) was actually a German-Canadian author after the fact: he was born Felix Paul Greve in Radomno, West Prussia (Poland after 1918), and grew up in Hamburg. When he arrived in Manitoba in 1912, he adopted the name Grove along with his new Canadian identity. In his autobiographies he claimed to be of Anglo-Swedish descent, and only twenty-five years after his death did D. O. Spettigue, Queen's University, uncover who he really was.

FPG (Greve/Grove) "Solar Grove" Portrait & Collage

*Portrait "Solar Grove" (UMA 1996 [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/fpg/ill-pgs/ill_gro1921SolarAshf.html] )
*Collage "Six Times Solar Grove" (UMA 2005 [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/fpg/ill-pgs/SixSolGrCollage.html] )

Early life

He was born in Radomno, West Prussia, but was brought up in Hamburg where he graduated with the "Abitur" from the famous Gymnasium Johanneum in 1898. After studying Classical Languages & Archaeology in Bonn, he became a prolific translator of World Literature and a minor literary figure in Stefan George's group, the "George-Kreis", around 1900.

Emigration: USA

He was imprisoned for fraud in 1903-04, and lived in voluntary exile lived in Wollerau, Switzerland, Paris-Plage, France, until he returned to Berlin in early 1906. From there he transferred to North America on the White Star Liner "Megantic" in late July 1909. Four details planted on the very opening pages of Grove's 1927 "Search for America" led to the discovery of FPG's passage in October 1998, shortly after the "In Memoriam FPG: 1879-1948-1998" Symposium commemorating the 50th Anniversary of his death.

His wife Else joined him a year later in Pittsburgh, and in her papers at the University of Maryland, College Park, it is attested that the couple farmed near Sparta, Kentucky, until 1911, when Greve left her permanently. She modeled in nearby Cincinnati, and later became well-known in New York dada circles as Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven. Greve moved west and stayed on a huge Bonanza Farm near Fargo in the late summer of 1912 (it could be identified from the author's autobiographical descriptions as the Amenia & Sharon Land Company in 1996).

Emigration: Canada

Grove arrived in Manitoba, Canada, in 1912. He first taught in rural areas, but devoted himself entirely to writing after he settled in Rapid City, Manitoba, in 1922. In 1927, Grove and his wife Catherine Wiens lost their only child Phyllis May shortly before her twelfth birthday.

In 1928-29, Grove went on three coast-to-coast lecture tours, and then the couple moved to Ontario in the fall of 1929. There, their son Arthur Leonard Grove was born on October 14 1930 (He died in Toronto in October 2006). Grove briefly became an editor with Graphic Publishers, who had published his first autobiographical novel "A Search for America" in 1927, before moving to Simcoe, Ontario. From there, he continued to write despite increasing ill-health, until he suffered a crippling stroke in late 1946.

FPG (Greve/Grove) Chronology

For a detailed FPG (Greve/Grove) Chronology, see [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/fpg/bio/chron.html]

Pseudonyms

FPG

Grove's most clever and obvious pseudonym is FPG: he used these initials on both sides of the Atlantic, for his legal birth name Felix Paul Greve and his Canadian name Frederick Philip Grove. Queen's University Professor D. O. Spettigue, who discovered Grove's true identity in October 1971 in the British Museum, published his sensational finding in his 1973 book "FPG: The European Years".

Grove

The name Grove itself is an elegant modification of the author's real name Greve. On the Immigration Manifesto of the White Star Liner Megantic on July 31 1909, it appears that Grove's name was smudged, leaving the nature of the central vowel uncertain, though it looks like an "o". Possibly, the German Gothic writing in Greve's passport left it open to a variety of interpretations, & Grove was non-committal as to its true spelling.

Andrew R. Rutherford

Grove suggested the name "Andrew R. Rutherford" as a pseudonym for his first Canadian book publication "Over Prairie Trails" (1922). The same name appears in relation to his unpublished typescript in the University of Manitoba Archives, "Jane Atkinson" (ca. 1923, e-publ. 2000). This name is a direct reference to Grove's friend Herman Kilian's maternal grandfather, a renowned Scottish judge. Though Kilian had Grove arrested, tried & sentenced for fraud in May 1903, Grove appropriated Kilian's entire family background for his invented Canadian autobiography in the early 1920s, except that he claimed to be of Scottish-Swedish rather than Scottish-German origin.

Gerden & Thorer

Only two pseudonyms are attested in Grove's correspondence with Insel Publishers: he used F. C. Gerden for translations of decadent literature (Dowson, Browning), and Konrad Thorer for translations of Cervantes & Lesage.

Fanny Essler

In 1904-05, Greve published an accomplished, Petrarchan poetry cycle with his lover Else Endell, under the joint pseudonym Fanny Essler in "Die Freistatt". In a revealing letter to Gide [Oct. 17, 1904] , Greve explained daring plans concerning the so-called 'Fanny Essler' complex, which included his first novel about Else's life, which was entitled "Fanny Essler" (1905).

FPG Bibliography:

Bibliography: Felix Paul Greve, 1901-1909

*"Wanderungen" (Poems) - 1902
*"Helena und Damon" (Play) - 1902
*"Gedichte / Ein Portrait: Drei Sonette / Gedichte." Von Fanny Essler (joint pseud. for F. P. Greve & Else von Freytag-Loringhoven) - "Die Freistatt", 1904/5 - (e-Ed. with Eng. transl., UMA 2005)
*"Fanny Essler: ein Berliner Roman" (about Else von Freytag-Loringhoven) - 1905
*"Fanny Essler: [a novel] " (Eng. Transl., 2v.) - 1984
*"Maurermeister Ihles Haus" (about Else von Freytag-Loringhoven) - 1906
*"The Master Mason's House" (Eng. Transl.) - 1976
*" [Der Sentimentalist] " (Novel, announced ca. 1907)]
*" [Der heimliche Adel] " (Drama, announced ca. 1907)]

Bibliography: Frederick Philip Grove, 1914-1948

*"Rousseau als Erzieher" (Essay by "Fred Grove", Winkler, Manitoba) - "Der Nordwesten" (Winnipeg), 1914
*"Over Prairie Trails" (Essays) - 1922
*"Turn of the Year" (Essays) - 1923
*"Settlers of the Marsh" (Novel)- 1925
*"A Search for America" (Autobiogr. Novel) - (1927, e-Ed. UMA, 2000/5)
*"Our Daily Bread" (Novel - 1928
*"It Needs to Be Said" (Essays) - 1929
*"The Yoke of Life" (Novel) - 1930
*"Fruits of the Earth" (Novel) - 1933
*"Two Generations" (Novel) - 1939
*"The Master of The Mill" (Novel) - 1944
*"In Search of Myself" (Autobiography) - 1946 (Won Governor General's Award; e-Ed. UMA, 2007)
*"Consider Her Ways" (Novel) - 1947Posthumous:
*"Tales from the Margin" (Short Stories) - 1971
*"Letters of Frederick Philip Grove" (Correspondence, contains letters by Felix Paul Greve) - 1976
*"Poems/Gedichte" by/von Frederick Philip Grove, Felix Paul Greve, und 'Fanny Essler' - 1993
*"Jane Atkinson" (ts. Novel, ca. 1923, e-Ed., UMA) - 2000

e-Editions by/about FPG (Greve/Grove)

*"Gedichte / Ein Portrait: Drei Sonette / Gedichte" von Fanny Essler (joint pseud. for FPG/Felix Paul Greve & Else von Freytag-Loringhoven) -- "Die Freistatt", 1904/5 (Centennial e-Ed., UMA 2005 [http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~divay/FEPoems05/index.html#toc] ). -- Related criticism: "Greve's & Freytag-Loringhovens 'Fanny Essler' Poems: FPG's or Else's?" (e-Ed., UMA 2005 [http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~divay/FEArt/index.html] )
*"In Search of Myself" (Autobiography) (1946, e-Ed. UMA 2007 [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/fpg/etexts/Search_Myself/index.html] )
*"Jane Atkinson" (ms. Novel, ca. 1923, e-Ed. UMA 2000 [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/fpg/etexts/Jane_Atkinson2005/index.html] )
*"A Search for America" (Autobiographical Novel (1927), e-publ. 2000/5 [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/fpg/etexts/Search_America2005/index.html] )

F.P. Grove e-Editions at the Gutenberg Project

Texts below are provided by Gutenberg Project of Australia & the University of Manitoba Archives (UMA). "Over Prairie Trails" is available at ProjectGutenbergOrg. The recently established Gutenberg Project Canada site has so far no original contribution in its list.
*Consider Her Ways (1947) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0201151.txt]
*Fruits of the Earth (1933) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300861.txt]
*"In Search of Myself" (1946; UMA e-Ed., 2007 [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/archives/collections/fpg/etexts/Search-Myself/index.html]
*The Master of the Mill (1944) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300171.txt]
*Our Daily Bread (1928) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300091.txt]
*Over Prairie Trails (1922) [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6111]
*"Poems/Gedichte", by F. P. Greve/F. P. Grove & "Fanny Essler" (1993; UMA e-Ed., 2007) [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/archives/collections/fpg/pEd/index.html]
*A Search for America (1927) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300631h.html]
*"A Search for America" (1927; UMA e-Ed., 2000/5) [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/archives/collections/fpg/etexts/Search-America2005/index.html]
*Settlers of the Marsh (1925) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200861.txt]

FPG (Greve/Grove) Source- & Research Collections

*The FPG (Greve/Grove) & FrL Website at the University of Manitoba Archives ( [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/archives/collections/fpg/] )
*A List of the FPG (Greve/Grove) Sources & Documents at the University of Manitoba Archives ( [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/fpg/source_docs/descr.html] )
*A Description of the FPG (Greve/Grove) Sources & Documents held at the University of Manitoba Archives (based on a 1996 promotional Brochure [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/archives/collections/fpg/source_docs/index.html] )

Grove's papers, containing many published and unpublished manuscripts and typescripts and six mss. German poems, were acquired by the University of Manitoba from his widow Catherine Wiens Grove in the early 1960s (Mss 2, 24 Boxes). -- D. O. Spettigue's research papers, documenting the sensational discovery of the FPG identity in 1971, were added in 1986, with an additional cluster concerning Greve's correspondence with André Gide, Karl Wolfskehl, O. A. H. Schmitz, but most importantly, [Else Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven] 's autobiographical writings, arriving in 1995 (Mss 57, 16 Boxes). --
Margaret Stobie's collection (Mss 13)documents Grove's early teaching activities in Manitoba, and contains Grove's first Canadian publication, the sprawling article "Rousseau als Erzieher" in the German newspaper "Der Nordwesten" (Nov./Dec. 1914). -- Dr. Gaby Divay's Research Papers (Mss12, 1986-) contain many documents pertaining to FPG & FrL discoveries such as: Greve's mss. poems submitted in 1902 for publication in Stefan George's prestigious "Blätter für die Kunst", several sonnets he translated from Dante's "Vita Nuova" in 1898 [both from the Stefan-George-Archiv in Stuttgart, courtesy Dr. Ute Oelmann] , Claude Martin's 1976 edition of Gide's 1904 "Conversation avec un Allemand" (whith two confessional letters by Greve), seven poems published in 1904/5 under the joint pseud. 'Fanny Essler' in "Die Freistatt", Greve's passage to North America from Liverpool to Montreal in July 1909, the Bonanza Farm "in the Dakotas" described in "A Search for America" (1925), Else & Greve's Sparta, Kentucky, location in 1910/11 from her poem "Schalk" in the University of Maryland, College Park, two NYT articles about FPG & FrL, etc. -- The UMA own all of Grove's & some of Greve's Publications. The Grove Library Collection of some 500 titles contains many of the incredible number of books Greve translated into German when he was Greve, & the FPG Translations Collection reflects an almost complete record of these titanic efforts. -- The international anniversary symposium "In Memoriam FPG: 1879-1948-1998" has been recorded on 12 videos & made available for public viewing since early 1999. -- An FPG & FrL Endowment Fund and a Website devoted to FPG (Greve/Grove) & Else von Freytag-Loringhoven has been established in 1995/96.

External links

* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1SEC821592 Frederick Philip Grove's] entry in [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=HomePage&Params=A1 The Canadian Encyclopedia]
*FPG (Greve/Grove) & Else von Freytag-Loringhoven Website (University of Manitoba, Archives & Special Collections [http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/fpg/index.html] )
*Grove e-Editions at Project Gutenberg Canada [http://www.gutenberg.ca/]
*Grove e-Editions at Project Gutenberg of Australia [http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html]
*Grove's "Over Prairie Trails" (1922) at ProjectGutenbergOrg gutenberg author| id=Frederick+Philip+Grove | name=Frederick Philip Grove
*The F.P. Grove Project (Saarbruecken [http://www.kanadazentrum.uni-saarland.de/projects/fpgrove/index.htm] )