Age, Biography and Wiki

Robert Cantwell (Robert Emmett Cantwell) was born on 31 January, 1908 in Little Falls (now Vader), Washington, US, is an American novelist and critic. Discover Robert Cantwell's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 70 years old?

Popular As Robert Emmett Cantwell
Occupation Novelist biographer essayist editor
Age 70 years old
Zodiac Sign Aquarius
Born 31 January 1908
Birthday 31 January
Birthplace Little Falls (now Vader), Washington, US
Date of death 8 December, 1978
Died Place New York City, US
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 31 January. He is a member of famous novelist with the age 70 years old group.

Robert Cantwell Height, Weight & Measurements

At 70 years old, Robert Cantwell height not available right now. We will update Robert Cantwell's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Robert Cantwell's Wife?

His wife is Mary Elizabeth Chambers

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Mary Elizabeth Chambers
Sibling Not Available
Children 3

Robert Cantwell Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Robert Cantwell worth at the age of 70 years old? Robert Cantwell’s income source is mostly from being a successful novelist. He is from United States. We have estimated Robert Cantwell's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income novelist

Robert Cantwell Social Network

Instagram
Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook
Wikipedia
Imdb

Timeline

1908

Robert Emmett Cantwell (January 31, 1908 – December 8, 1978), known as Robert Cantwell, was a novelist and critic.

Robert Emmet Cantwell was born on January 31, 1908, in Little Falls (now Vader), Washington.

His parents were Charles James Cantwell, an engineer, and Nina Adelia Hanson.

He had an older sibling James Leroy and younger siblings Frances Dorothy and Charles Harry.

1919

In 1919, the massacre during a strike in nearby Centralia, Washington, deeply disturbed him and left a lasting impression that appeared in his major writings.

1924

He attended the University of Washington (1924−1925) and then spent the next four years working at Harbor Plywood Co., (1925−1929) in Hoquiam, Washington.

1929

In 1929, after selling a short story "Hanging by My Thumbs" to The New American Caravan, he moved (with help from childhood friend Calvin Fixx) to New York City, landed a book contract with Farrar and Rinehart, and began work on his first novel, Laugh and Lie Down (1931).

1930

From 1930 to 1935 (and during the Great Depression), he wrote a second novel, The Land of Plenty (1934).

He published a number of short stories in The Miscellany, American Caravan, Pagany, and The New Republic.

Throughout the 1930s, Cantwell began to meet New York writers and editors such as Edmund Wilson, Malcolm Cowley, John Chamberlain, Erskine Caldwell, Matthew Josephson, and Harry Hansen.

Over time, his circle expanded to include James T. Farrell, Meyer Schapiro, John Dos Passos, Newton Arvin, Kenneth Burke, Granville Hicks, Kenneth Fearing, Fred Dupee, Elof Holmlund, and Whittaker Chambers.

In the 1930s, "After he settled in New York, Cantwell was always short of money and therefore generally in a rush to finish a piece and get paid... All the more remarkable, then, that his short stories are of such a generally high aesthetic quality."

Meantime, to support himself while writing, Cantwell took on regular-paying jobs.

1931

His first novel, Laugh and Lie Down (1931) is an early example, twenty years before Jack Kerouac, of the American classic genre the "road novel", and also an important example of the "Depression novel" period genre.

His most notable work, The Land of Plenty, focuses on a lumber mill in a thinly disguised version of his hometown in Washington state.

Cantwell married Mary Elizabeth Chambers, known as Betsy, a teacher, on February 2, 1931: she (no relation to Whittaker Chambers) was a cousin of Lyle Saxon, whom Fixx had been serving as secretary.

They had three children: Joan McNiece (Mrs. George Stolz, Jr.), Betsy Ann (Mrs. Walter Pusey III), and Mary Elizabeth Emmett (Mrs. Lars-Erik Nelson).

1932

From November 1932 until its close in 1935, he worked as literary editor of New Outlook magazine.

He also wrote for the New Masses under pen name "Robert Simmons."

1933

In December 1933, he accepted work already passed over by Whittaker Chambers, namely to co-write a biography of Boston's E. A. Filene, in collaboration with Lincoln Steffens.

At some point between 1933 and 1936, he worked as assistant literary editor at The New Republic under Malcolm Cowley, who was literary editor, according to Mary McCarthy in her 1992 posthumous Intellectual Memoirs: New York, 1936–1938; McCarthy also remembers him in the mid-1930s as "a Communist, a real member."

1935

On April 23, 1935 and through 1936, Cantwell joined the editorial staff of Time as book reviewer.

1936

The same month, Steffens suffered a heart-attack and died in 1936; Cantwell handed the manuscript to Filene in 1937.

1937

In 1937, he joined Time's sister magazine, Fortune.

1938

In 1938, he returned to Time as associate editor (1938−1945).

1939

In 1939, he helped his friend Chambers get his old job as book reviewer.

1940

In 1940, William Saroyan lists Cantwell among "associate editors" at Time in Saroyan's play, Love's Old Sweet Song.

1941

In 1941, Cantwell suffered a nervous breakdown.

He took off work and received treatment at the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum.

1948

He spent three years researching and writing the biography, Nathaniel Hawthorne: The American Years (1948).

1949

From 1949 to 1954 he worked as the literary editor of Newsweek.

1954

In 1954, he took up freelancing again until 1956 when he began an association with Sports Illustrated.

1956

He worked for the magazine from 1956 until his death in 1978.

1961

He worked on a number of articles, three of which became books: Alexander Wilson: Naturalist and Pioneer (1961), The Real McCoy (1971), and The Hidden Northwest (1972).

Subjects of his articles include chess, ornithology, sports in the movies and literary figures in sports.

1978

He later married Allison Joy, a noted portrait painter, and, briefly, Eva Stolz Gilleran shortly before his death in 1978.

Cantwell was rumored to have been the inspiration for many of the scenes in the Eric Hodgins novel Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.

While working together at Fortune, Cantwell had encouraged Hogkins to purchase a property not far from his own house in Sherman, Connecticut, and Cantwell's two daughters at the time had the same names as the two daughters in the novel: Betsy and Joan.

During the Hiss Case, the FBI often lurked around Cantwell's home in Sherman and questioned neighbors.

Cantwell dismissed his radical affiliations of youth obliquely in later life, saying "I had no interest in politics" and no (public) political aspirations.