Robert Deane Pharr Explained

Robert Deane Pharr (1916–1989^[1] or 1992^[2]) was an African-American novelist.^[3] ^[4]

Pharr attended Saint Paul's Normal and Industrial School, Lincoln University, Virginia Union University and Fisk University, but spent most of his career working as a waiter. He graduated from Virginia Union University in 1939, and did graduate work at Fisk, Columbia University, and New York University.^[5] He described his goal when he started writing as to be a "black Sinclair Lewis". He is best known for his debut novel The Book of Numbers (1969), about the numbers racket, which was adapted into a 1973 film of the same name.^[6] A draft of his novel Giveadamn Brown and related correspondence were given to the Archives and Special Collections Department, L. Douglas Wilder Library, at Virginia Union University.^[7]

Works

Web site: The Book of Numbers . . 27 June 2020.
Web site: Roberts . John J. . Robert Deane Pharr (1916–1992) . . 27 June 2020.
O'Brien . John . Singh . Raman K. . Interview with Robert Deane Pharr . Negro American Literature Forum . 1974 . 8 . 3 . 244 . 10.2307/3041467 . 3041467 .
Epps . Garrett . To Know the Truth: The Novels of Robert Deane Pharr . . 1976 . 27 June 2020.
News: 1992-04-08. Robert Deane Pharr, Novelist, 75. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
Web site: Robert Deane Pharr (1916-1992), from The Oxford Companion to African-American Literature . Oxford Reference . . 27 June 2020.
Web site: A Guide to the Pharr, Robert Deane, Papers MS-0002. 2022-01-07. ead.lib.virginia.edu.
This title appears to have been unpublished. See: Greene, Brian. "A Black Sinclair Lewis: The Novels of Robert Deane Pharr." In Sticking It to the Man: Revolution and Counterculture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1950 to 1980. Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre, editors. Oakland, California: PM Press, 2020. . page 130.