George Barr McCutcheon was an American popular novelist and playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

. His best known works include the series of novels set in Graustark

Graustark

Graustark is a fictional country in Eastern Europe used as a setting for several novels by George Barr McCutcheon. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure into the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south....

, a fictional East European country, Brewster's Millions

Brewster's Millions

Brewster's Millions is a novel written by George Barr McCutcheon in 1902, originally under the pseudonym of Richard Greaves. It was adapted into a play in 1906, which opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre, and the novel or play has been made into a film nine times .-Plot introduction:The novel's...

, a play and several films.

Born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, McCutcheon's father, despite not receiving formal education, stressed the value of literature and encouraged his sons to write. During McCutcheon's childhood, his father had a number of jobs that required travel around the county in Indiana. McCutcheon studied at Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

 and was a roommate of future humorist George Ade

George Ade

George Ade was an American writer, newspaper columnist, and playwright.-Biography:Ade was born in Kentland, Indiana, one of seven children raised by John and Adaline Ade. While attending Purdue University, he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity...

. During his college years, he was editor of the Lafayette Daily Courier and wrote a serial novel of satire about Wabash River

Wabash River

The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...

 life.

Although McCutcheon became famous for the Graustark

Graustark

Graustark is a fictional country in Eastern Europe used as a setting for several novels by George Barr McCutcheon. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure into the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south....

series (the first novel was published in 1901), he hated the characterization of being a Romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 and preferred to be identified with his playwriting.

He was the older brother of noted cartoonist John T. McCutcheon

John T. McCutcheon

John Tinney McCutcheon was an American newspaper political cartoonist who was known as the "Dean of American Cartoonists"....

.

Graustark novels

• Graustark: The Story of a Love Behind a Throne (1901), ISBN 1-4043-5098-5
• Beverly of Graustark (1904), ISBN 1-4179-3249-X
• Truxton King: A Story of Graustark (1909), ISBN 1-4179-0333-3
• The Prince of Graustark (1914), ISBN 1-4179-4103-0
• East of the Setting Sun (1924), ISBN 1-4179-1787-3
• The Inn of the Hawk and the Raven (1927)

Other novels

• Brewster's Millions
  Brewster's Millions
  Brewster's Millions is a novel written by George Barr McCutcheon in 1902, originally under the pseudonym of Richard Greaves. It was adapted into a play in 1906, which opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre, and the novel or play has been made into a film nine times .-Plot introduction:The novel's...
  
  (1902), ISBN 0-253-33632-5
• Castle Craneycrow (1902)
• The Sherrods (1903)
• The Day of the Dog
  The Day of the Dog
  The Day of the Dog is a novel written by George Barr McCutcheon in 1904....
  
  (1904)
• The Purple Parasol (1905)
• Jane Cable (1905)
• Nedra (1905)
• Cowardice Court (1906)
• The Flyers (1907)
• The Butterfly Man (1910)
• The Daughter of Anderson Crow (1907)
• The Husbands of Edith (1908)
• The Man from Brodney's (1908)
• Viola Gwyn (1922)
• Kindling and Ashes (1926)
• Green Fancy
• Her Weight in Gold
• The Hollow of Her Hand
• A Fool and His Money
• From the Housetops
• The Rose in the Ring (1910)
• Mr. Bingle (1915)

Plays

• Brood House (1910)
• Mary Midthorne (1911)
• Anderson Crow, Detective (1920)

External links

• Article on McCutcheon at "Our Land, Our Literature" site
• Inventory of George Barr McCutcheon papers at Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin
  University of Texas at Austin
  The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
  
  
• Page in a bestsellers database about Graustark, including a short biography of McCutcheon
• August 1, 1915, New York Times, SERIAL SYSTEM HURTS OUR NOVELS; And Too Many American Writers Want to Own Automobiles, Says George Barr McCutcheon