John Robert Moore (1890–1973) was an American biographer and bibliographer of Daniel Defoe.

Early life and education

John Robert Moore was born in Pueblo, Colorado, the son of an Episcopalian minister. P. N. Furbank and W. R. Owens (1988), ''The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe'' p. 100. Moore attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

where he received an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1910 and an A.M. in 1914. After completing his degrees at the

, he went to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

where he earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1917 with a dissertation on

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

Career

After teaching at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

, the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

, the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

, Moore came to

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

as an Associate Professor of English. He was promoted to professor in 1929. Over the course of his teaching career, he taught in thirteen states, in Canada, and in England. Moore published research almost all areas of English and American literature, with special emphasis on English dramatic history, the poetry and fiction of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

, the plays of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, and early English ballads. From the early 1930s, he was internationally known as one of the leading scholars of Augustan literature and history and a specialist in the political and literary activities of Daniel Defoe. In addition to his teaching and scholarly work, Moore published a considerable amount of poetry. Some of the poetry was collected and reissued in the book ''Symphonies and Songs''. He also edited anthologies of English drama, English poetry, and English and American essays. He lectured widely, in the United States and abroad, often as the principle speaker at conferences of the many distinguished scholarly societies to which he had been elected. These scholarly societies included the Royal Academy, the Oxford Bibliographical Society, and the London Bibliographical Society. Moore was the first Senior Fellow of the Henry E. Huntington Library.

Work on Defoe

Moore wrote 4 books about Daniel Defoe and more than 55 articles. In 1930 he became convinced that ''

A General History of the Pyrates ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'' is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,

'' was written by Defoe, and announced this finding in 1932. P. N. Furbank and W. R. Owens (1988), ''The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe'' p. 100. He went on to attribute also '' Robert Drury's Journal'' to Defoe alone (going much further than previous bibliographers William Lee who had rejected the idea,

Samuel Pasfield Oliver Samuel Pasfield Oliver (1838–1907) was an English artillery officer, geographer and antiquary. Life Born at Bovinger, Essex, on 30 October 1838, he was the eldest and only surviving son of William Macjanley Oliver, rector of Bovinger, by his wi ...

, and

William Peterfield Trent William Peterfield Trent, LL.D., D.C.L. (10 November 1862 – 7 December 1939) was an American academic and the author/editor of many books. He was a professor of English literature at Sewanee: The University of the South and Columbia Univers ...

). This attribution turned out to be highly controversial. It was criticised by Arthur W. Secord in a 1945 paper. In later attacking Moore's work on the Defoe canon as a whole, Rodney Baine picked out the attribution of ''Robert Drury's Journal'' as an egregious example.

Death

Moore died at the age of 83 on July 18, 1973.

Works

His works include: *''Defoe in the Pillory and Other Studies''; 1939. *''Daniel Defoe: Citizen of the Modern World''; 1958, University of Chicago Press, .

References

External links

Archives Online at Indiana University: John Robert Moore papers, 1910-1972, bulk 1930-1970