Eric Knight
Eric Mowbray Knight was an English author best known for his work "The Flying Yorkshireman" and his children's classic "Lassie Come-Home," which captures the charm of his native Yorkshire. Born and raised in Yorkshire, he began working in a textile factory at the age of twelve before emigrating to the United States to pursue a career in the arts. Knight studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and worked as a newspaper writer, focusing on dramatic criticism. His literary contributions included the well-received novel "This Above All," considered one of the first significant novels addressing World War II, which was later adapted into a film. During the war, Knight served as a major in the U.S. Army's film unit before tragically dying in 1943 when a military transport plane crashed in the Surinam jungle. His legacy endures through his storytelling, which often reflects his Yorkshire roots and explores themes of resilience and adventure.
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Eric Knight
English-born American novelist
- Born: April 10, 1897
- Birthplace: Menston, Yorkshire, England
- Died: January 15, 1943
- Place of death: Surinam
Biography
The title of Eric Mowbray Knight’s best-known work, The Flying Yorkshireman, might well be taken as figuratively descriptive of himself. He grew up in Yorkshire, where, at the age of twelve, he went to work in a textile factory. After various industrial jobs he joined members of his family who had emigrated to the United States. Intending to pursue an artistic career, he studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and elsewhere. He served in the Canadian Army during World War I and afterward wrote for newspapers in Philadelphia, eventually specializing in dramatic criticism. In the early 1930’s, a film-writing assignment took him to Hollywood; later with his wife he settled in Pleasant Valley, Pennsylvania, to do freelance writing. He revisited Yorkshire in 1938.
Knight’s beloved Yorkshire provides the setting for his Lassie Come-Home (a children’s novel later adapted for film) and the tales of Sam Small, the artful, irrepressible Yorkshireman who mastered levitation. His best-selling novel was This Above All, which some called the first significant novel of World War II; it was adapted for film by Robert C. Sherriff.
In 1942, Knight was commissioned a major in the film unit of the Special Services section of the U.S. Army. On January 15, the following year, he was among those killed when a U.S. military transport plane, bound for Africa, crashed in the Surinam jungle.
Bibliography
Gehman, Geoff. Down but Not Quite Out in Hollow-weird. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1998.
Knight, Eric. Letters of a Flying Yorkshireman. Edited by Paul Rotha. London: Chapman & Hall, 1952.
Trosky, Susan M., and Donna Olendorf, eds. Contemporary Authors. Detroit: Gale, 1992.