A. J. Cronin

Infobox Writer
name = A. J. Cronin


birthname = Archibald Joseph Cronin
birthdate = birth date|1896|7|19|df=y| birthplace = Cardross, Scotland
deathdate = death date|1981|1|6|1896|7|19|df=y
deathplace = Montreux, Switzerland
occupation = M.D., Writer Archibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896–6 January 1981) was a Scottish novelist, dramatist, and non-fiction writer who was one of the most renowned storytellers of the twentieth century. His best-known works are "The Stars Look Down", "The Citadel", "The Keys of the Kingdom", and "The Green Years", all of which were adapted to film. He also created the Dr. Finlay character, the hero of a series of stories that served as the basis for the long-running BBC television and radio series entitled "Dr. Finlay's Casebook".

Early life

inspector in Scotland.

Cronin was not only a precocious student at Dumbarton Academy who won many prizes and writing competitions, but an excellent athlete and footballer. From an early age, he was an avid golfer, a sport he enjoyed throughout his life, and he loved salmon fishing as well. The family later moved to Yorkhill, Glasgow, where he attended St. Aloysius' College. Due to his exceptional abilities, he was awarded a scholarship to study medicine at the University of Glasgow in 1914. He was absent during the 1916-1917 session for naval service and graduated with highest honours in 1919, being awarded an M.B. and a Ch.B.. Cronin went on to earn additional degrees, including a Diploma in Public Health (1923) and his MRCP (1924). In 1925, he was awarded an M.D. from the University of Glasgow for his dissertation, entitled "The History of Aneurysm."

Medical career

Cronin served as a Royal Navy surgeon during World War I before graduating from medical school. After the war, he trained at various hospitals before taking up his first practice in Tredegar, a mining town in South Wales. In 1924, he was appointed Medical Inspector of Mines for Great Britain, and over the next few years, his survey of medical regulations in collieries and his reports on the correlation between coal dust inhalation and pulmonary disease were published. Cronin drew on his experiences researching the occupational hazards of the mining industry for his later novels "The Citadel", set in Wales, and "The Stars Look Down", set in Northumberland. He subsequently moved to Bayswater, London and opened his own medical practice in Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill before starting another thriving practice on Harley Street. Cronin was also the medical officer for Whiteleys at this time and was becoming increasingly interested in opthalmology.

Writing career

, the only publishing house to which the manuscript had been submitted. The novel was a great success, launching his career as a prolific author, and he never returned to practicing medicine.

Many of Cronin's books were bestsellers which were translated into numerous languages. His strengths included his narrative skill and his powers of acute observation and graphic description. Although noted for its deep social conscience, his work is filled with colorful characters and witty dialogue. Some of his stories draw on his medical career, dramatically mixing realism, romance, and social criticism. In addition to stressing the need for tolerance, Cronin's works examine moral conflicts between the individual and society as his idealistic heroes pursue justice for the common man.

"The Citadel" incited the establishment of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom by exposing the inequity and incompetence of medical practice at the time. Not only were the author's pioneering ideas instrumental in the creation of the NHS, but the popularity of his novels played a substantial role in the Labour Party's landslide 1945 victory. [R. Samuel, "North and South," "London Review of Books" 17.12 (22 June 1995): 3-6.]

Cronin also contributed a large number of stories and essays to various publications.

Family

It was at university that he met his future wife, Agnes Mary Gibson, who was also a medical student. May was the daughter of Robert Gibson, a master baker, and Agnes Thomson Gibson (née Gilchrist) of Hamilton, Lanarkshire. She and Cronin married on 31 August 1921. As a doctor, May helped her husband with research and worked in the dispensary while he was employed by the Tredegar General Hospital, and she also assisted him with his practice in London. When he became an author, she would proofread his manuscripts. Their first son, Vincent, was born in Tredegar in 1924. Their second son, Patrick, was born in London in 1926. Andrew, their youngest son, was born in London in 1937.

In the late 1930s Cronin moved to the United States with his family, living in Bel Air, California and Greenwich, Connecticut before eventually settling in New Canaan. Cronin also had homes on the French Riviera and in Bermuda, and summered in Blue Hill, Maine.

Later years

Ultimately, Cronin returned to Europe, residing in Lucerne and Montreux, Switzerland for the last twenty-five years of his life and continuing to write into his eighties. He included among his friends Laurence Olivier, Audrey Hepburn, and Charlie Chaplin. He died on 6 January 1981 in Montreux, and is interred at La Tour-de-Peilz. Many of Cronin's writings, including published and unpublished literary manuscripts, drafts, letters, school exercise books and essays, laboratory books, and his M.D. thesis, are held at the National Library of Scotland. [ [http://www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/cnmi/list.cfm?letter=C National Library of Scotland - Manuscript Collections] ]

Honors

*American Booksellers' Award, 1937, for "The Citadel"
*D.Litt. from Bowdoin College and Lafayette College

Bibliography

* "Hatter's Castle" (1931), ISBN 0-450-03486-0
* "Three Loves" (1932), ISBN 0-450-02202-1
* "Kaleidoscope in "K"" (short story, 1933)
* "Grand Canary" (1933), ISBN 0-450-02047-9
* "Country Doctor" (novella, 1935)
* "The Stars Look Down" (1935), ISBN 0-450-00497-X
* "The Citadel" (1937), ISBN 0-450-01041-4
* "Vigil in the Night" (serial, 1939)
* "Jupiter Laughs" (play, 1940), ISBN B000OHEBC2
* "The Keys of the Kingdom" (1941), ISBN 0-450-01042-2
* "Adventures of a Black Bag" (1943, rev. 1969), ISBN 0-450-00306-X
* "The Green Years" (1944), ISBN 0-450-01820-2
* "Shannon's Way" (1948), ISBN 0-450-03313-9
* "The Spanish Gardener" (1950), ISBN 0-450-01108-9
* "The Valorous Years" (1950)
* "Adventures in Two Worlds" (autobiography, 1952), ISBN 0-450-03195-0
* "Beyond This Place" (1953), ISBN 0-450-01708-7
* "A Thing of Beauty" (1956), ISBN 0-515-03379-0; also published as "Crusader's Tomb" (1956), ISBN 0-450-01394-4
* "The Northern Light" (1958), ISBN 0-450-01538-6
* "The Innkeeper's Wife" (short story, 1958)
* "The Cronin Omnibus" (1958), ISBN 0-575-05836-6
* "The Native Doctor"; also published as "An Apple in Eden" (1959)
* "The Judas Tree" (1961), ISBN 0-450-01393-6
* "A Song of Sixpence" (1964), ISBN 0-450-03312-0
* "Further Adventures of a Black Bag" (1966), ISBN 0-563-49432-8
* "A Pocketful of Rye" (1969), ISBN 0-450-39010-1
* "Desmonde" (1975), ISBN 0-316-16163-2; also published as "The Minstrel Boy" (1975), ISBN 0-450-03279-5
* "Lady with Carnations" (1976), ISBN 0-450-03631-6
* "Gracie Lindsay" (1978), ISBN 0-450-04536-6
* "Doctor Finlay of Tannochbrae" (1978), ISBN 0-450-04246-4

elected periodical publications

* "The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met: The Doctor of Lennox," "Reader's Digest", 35 (September 1939): 26-30.
* "Turning Point of My Career," "Reader's Digest", 38 (May 1941): 53-57.
* "Diogenes in Maine," "Reader's Digest", 39 (August 1941): 11-13.
* "Reward of Mercy," "Reader's Digest", 39 (September 1941): 25-37.
* "How I Came to Write a Novel of a Priest," "Life", 11 (20 October 1941): 64-66.
* "Drama in Everyday Life," "Reader's Digest", 42 (March 1943): 83-86.
* "Candles in Vienna," "Reader's Digest", 48 (June 1946): 1-3.
* "Star of Hope Still Rises," "Reader's Digest", 53 (December 1948): 1-3.
* "Johnny Brown Stays Here," "Reader's Digest", 54 (January 1949): 9-12.
* "Two Gentlemen of Verona," "Reader's Digest", 54 (February 1949): 1-5.
* "Greater Gift," "Reader's Digest", 54 (March 1949): 88-91.
* "Irish Rose," "Reader's Digest", 56 (January 1950): 21-24.
* "Monsieur le Maire," "Reader's Digest", 58 (January 1951): 52-56.
* "Best Investment I Ever Made," "Reader's Digest", 58 (March 1951): 25-28.
* "Quo Vadis?," "Reader's Digest", 59 (December 1951): 41-44.
* "Tombstone for Nora Malone," "Reader's Digest", 60 (January 1952): 99-101.
* "When You Dread Failure," "Reader's Digest", 60 (February 1952): 21-24.
* "What I Learned at La Grande Chartreuse," "Reader's Digest", 62 (February 1953): 73-77.
* "Grace of Gratitude," "Reader's Digest", 62 (March 1953): 67-70.
* "Thousand and One Lives," "Reader's Digest", 64 (January 1954): 8-11.
* "How to Stop Worrying," "Reader's Digest", 64 (May 1954): 47-50.
* "Don't Be Sorry for Yourself!," "Reader's Digest", 66 (February 1955): 97-100.
* "Unless You Deny Yourself," "Reader's Digest", 68 (January 1956): 54-56.
* "Resurrection of Joao Jacinto," "Reader's Digest", 89 (November 1966): 153-157. ["Dictionary of Literary Biography"]

Film adaptations

* 1934–"Once to Every Woman" (from short story, "Kaleidoscope in "K"")–directed by Lambert Hillyer, featuring Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, Walter Connolly, Mary Carlisle, and Walter Byron
* 1934–"Grand Canary"–directed by Irving Cummings, featuring Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, Marjorie Rambeau, Zita Johann, and H.B. Warner
* 1938–"The Citadel"–directed by King Vidor, featuring Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, and Rex Harrison
* 1940–"Vigil in the Night"–directed by George Stevens, featuring Carole Lombard, Brian Aherne, Anne Shirley, and Robert Coote
* 1940–"The Stars Look Down"–directed by Carol Reed, narrated by Lionel Barrymore (US version), featuring Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood, Emlyn Williams, Nancy Price, and Cecil Parker
* 1941–"Shining Victory" (from play, "Jupiter Laughs")–directed by Irving Rapper, featuring James Stephenson, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Crisp, Barbara O'Neil, and Bette Davis
* 1942–"Hatter's Castle"–directed by Lance Comfort, featuring Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, James Mason, Emlyn Williams, and Enid Stamp-Taylor
* 1944–"The Keys of the Kingdom"–directed by John M. Stahl, featuring Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Edmund Gwenn, Benson Fong, Cedric Hardwicke, Jane Ball, and Roddy McDowall
* 1946–"The Green Years"–directed by Victor Saville, featuring Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Beverly Tyler, Hume Cronyn, Gladys Cooper, Dean Stockwell, Selena Royle, and Jessica Tandy
* 1953–"Ich suche Dich" ("I Seek You" - from play, "Jupiter Laughs")–directed by O.W. Fischer, featuring O.W. Fischer, Anouk Aimée, Nadja Tiller, and Otto Brüggemann
* 1957–"The Spanish Gardener"–directed by Philip Leacock, featuring Dirk Bogarde, Jon Whiteley, Michael Hordern, Cyril Cusack, and Lyndon Brook
* 1958– "Kalapani" ("Black Water" - from novel, "Beyond This Place")–directed by Raj Khosla, featuring Dev Anand, Madhubala, Nalini Jaywant, and Agha
* 1959–"Web of Evidence" (from novel, "Beyond This Place")–directed by Jack Cardiff, featuring Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Emlyn Williams, Bernard Lee, and Jean Kent
* 1967– "Pula Rangadu" (from novel, "Beyond This Place")–directed by Adurthi Subba Rao, featuring ANR, Jamuna, and Nageshwara Rao Akkineni
* 1971–"Tere Mere Sapne" ("Our Dreams" - from novel, "The Citadel")–directed by Vijay Anand, featuring Dev Anand, Mumtaz, Hema Malini, Vijay Anand, and Prem Nath
* 1975–"Mausam" ("Seasons" - from novel, "The Judas Tree")–directed by Gulzar, featuring Sharmila Tagore, Sanjeev Kumar, Dina Pathak, and Om Shivpuri

elected television credits

* 1955–"Escape From Fear" (CBS), featuring William Lundigan, Tristram Coffin, Mari Blanchard, Howard Duff, and Jay Novello
* 1957–"Beyond This Place" (CBS), featuring Farley Granger, Peggy Ann Garner, Max Adrian, Brian Donlevy, and Shelley Winters
* 1958–"Nicholas" (TV Tupi), featuring Ricardinho, Roberto de Cleto, and Rafael Golombeck
* 1960–"The Citadel" (ABC), featuring James Donald, Ann Blyth, Lloyd Bochner, Hugh Griffith, and Torin Thatcher
* 1960–"The Citadel", featuring Eric Lander, Zena Walker, Jack May, Elizabeth Shepherd, and Richard Vernon
* 1962-1971–"Dr. Finlay's Casebook" (BBC), featuring Bill Simpson, Andrew Cruickshank, and Barbara Mullen
* 1962 & 1963–"The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon" (NBC & ITV), featuring Rod Taylor, Elizabeth MacLennan, and Ronald Fraser
* 1963-1965–"Memorandum van een dokter", featuring Bram van der Vlugt, Rob Geraerds, and Fien Berghegge
* 1964–"La Cittadella" (RAI), featuring Alberto Lupo, Anna Maria Guarnieri, Fosco Giachetti, and Eleonora Rossi Drago
*1964–"Novi asistent", featuring Dejan Dubajic, Ljiljana Jovanovic, Nikola Simic, and Milan Srdoc
* 1967–"O Jardineiro Espanhol" (TV Tupi), featuring Ednei Giovenazzi and Osmano Cardoso
* 1971–"E le stelle stanno a guardare" (RAI), featuring Orso Maria Guerrini, Andrea Checchi, and Giancarlo Giannini
* 1974–"The Stars Look Down" (Granada), featuring Ian Hastings, Susan Tracy, Alun Armstrong, and Christian Rodska
* 1977–"Les Années d'illusion" (TF1), featuring Yves Brainville, Josephine Chaplin, Michel Cassagne, and Laurence Calame
* 1983–"The Citadel" (BBC and PBS), featuring Ben Cross, Clare Higgins, Tenniel Evans, and Gareth Thomas
* 1993-1996–"Doctor Finlay" (ITV and PBS), featuring David Rintoul, Annette Crosbie, Ian Bannen, Jennifer Napier, and Jason Flemyng
* 2003–"La Cittadella" (Titanus), featuring Massimo Ghini, Barbora Bobulová, Franco Castellano, and Anna Galiena

elected radio credits

* 1940– [http://sounds.mercurytheatre.info/mercury/400121.mp3 "The Citadel"] ("The Campbell Playhouse" - CBS), featuring Orson Welles, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ernest Chappell, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris, and Ray Collins
* 1970-1978–"Dr. Finlay's Casebook" (BBC Radio 4), featuring Bill Simpson, Andrew Cruickshank, and Barbara Mullen (rebroadcast in 2003 on BBC 7)
* 2001-2002–"Adventures of a Black Bag" (BBC Radio 4), featuring John Gordon Sinclair, Brian Pettifer, Katy Murphy, and Celia Imrie

ee also

*Physician writer

Further reading

*Salwak, Dale. "A. J. Cronin". Boston: Twayne's English Authors Series, 1985. ISBN 080576884X

References

External links

* [http://www.questia.com/library/book/adventures-in-two-worlds-by-a-j-cronin.jsp Text of Cronin's autobiography, "Adventures in Two Worlds"]
* [http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/s524.htm#A17711 Partial list of Cronin's short stories at The FictionMags Index]
*
* [http://www.60yearsofnhsscotland.co.uk/history/birth-of-nhs-scotland/an-expectant-public.html Article about Cronin and the NHS]

Persondata
NAME = Cronin, A. J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Archibald Joseph Cronin
SHORT DESCRIPTION = M.D., Writer
DATE OF BIRTH = 19 July 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH = Cardross, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH = 6 January 1981
PLACE OF DEATH = Montreux, Switzerland