Life
1928- ; [Robert Harbinson Bryans]; b. East Belfast; moved to Donegall
Ave. at five months; son of window cleaner who was poête manqué,
melodeon player, and was severely injured in a window-cleaning accident;
ed. Enniskillen, where he was evacuated during the war; became Belfast
shipyard worker and cabin boy on dredger; quit to travel; entered Barry
Religious College, Wales, and went to Canadan to convert Indians; became
trapper and teacher in Canada; lives in Sussex; wrote several travel books
as Robin Bryans, incl. Summer Saga (1960); Danish Episode
(1961); Fanfare for Brazil (1962); Morocco (1965); Trinidad
and Tobago (1967); autobiographical series, No Surrender (1960),
autobiography contain a glossary of Belfast terms; Song
of Erne (1960); Up Spoke the Cabin Boy (1961), and Protégé
(1963); other works include Tattoo Lily and Other Ulster Stories
(1961); Lucio (1964), a novel; and Songs Out of Oriel
(1974), poems. DIW FDA OCIL
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Works
Autobiography, No Surrender: An
Ulster Childhood (London: Faber & Faber 1960; rep. Belfast: Blackstaff
1987), 220pp.; Song of Erne (London: Faber & Faber 1960; rep.
Belfast: Blackstaff 1987), 244pp.; Up Spake the Cabin Boy (London:
Faber & Faber 1961), 251pp., Do., rep. (Belfast: Blackstaff
1988), 256pp.; The Protégé (London: Faber & Faber
1963; rep. Belfast: Blackstaff 1988); The Dust Has not Settled: An
Autobiography (Honeyford Press 1972) [var. 1994]; Checkmate, memoirs
of a Political Prisoner (Honeyford Press 1974), 524pp., ill.; Let
the Petals Fall ([Honeyford Press 1993).
Stories, Tattoo Lily and Other Ulster Stories (London: Faber & Faber 1961); The Far World and Other Stories (London: Faber & Faber 1962); Selected Stories (Lagan Press 1996), 193pp.
Poetry, Songs Out of Oriel (London: G. H. & R Hart 1974), 3, 142pp. [xxiv pieces of varying length] AS BRYANS, Gateway to the Khyber (London: Hales 1959); Summer Saga, A Journey to Iceland (London: Faber 1960); Danish Episode (London: Faber 1961); Fanfare for Brazil (London: Faber 1962); Crete (London: Faber 1967); The Azores (London: Faber 1968); Morocco, Land of the Farthest West (London: Faber 1965); Trinidad and Tobago, Isles of the Immortelles (London: Faber 1967).
Bernard Share, ed., Far Green Fields; 1500 Years of Irish Travel Writing (Belfast: Blackstaff 1992), contains extract from Robin Bryans, Crete (1969).
Frank Ormsby, ed., Northern Windows, an anthology of Ulster autobiography (Blackstaff 1987), contains extract from No Surrender (1966), pp.164-83 [biog. as supra].
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Criticism
John Keyes profiles Harbinson in Fortnight (Sept. 1994),
p.45.
Ivan Herbison reviews The Dust Has not Settled, An Autobiography (Honeyford Press 1994), and Let the Petals Fall (Honeyford Press 1994).
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Notes
Books in Print (1995), No Surrender, An Ulster Childhood (London:
Faber 1960; rep. Belfast: Blackstaff 1987) [0 85640 383 0]; Song of Erne
(London: Faber 1960; rep. Belfast: Blackstaff 1987) [0 85640 394 6]; Up
Spake the Cabin Boy (London: Faber 1961; rep. Belfast: Blackstaff 1988)
[0 85640 400 4]; The Protegé (London: Faber 1963; rep rep. Belfast:
Blackstaff 1988) [085640 413 6]; Ulster, A Journey Through the Six Counties
(London: Faber 1964), rep. (Belfast: Blackstaff 1989) [0 85640 421 7]
Brendan Kennelly, ‘Modern Writing’, in Encyclopaedia of Ireland (Figgis 1968), cies Harbinson.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)