HARRIS, FRANK

born Feb. 14, 1856, County Galway, Ire. died Aug. 26, 1931, Nice, Fr. byname of James Thomas Harris Irish-born American journalist and man of letters best known for his unreliable autobiography, My Life and Loves, 3 vol. (192327), the sexual frankness of which was new for its day and created trouble with censors in Great Britain and the United States. He was also an editor of fearless talent, which he sometimes abused by turning out scandal sheets. He moved to the United States at 15 and, after a series of jobs around the country, took a law degree at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Later he moved to England and edited a series of important journals, notably the Saturday Review (189498), for which he hired George Bernard Shaw. He returned to the United States with a biography of Wilde, which no one in England would publish, and in 1922 moved to Nice, Fr. Among his other works are Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions (1916) and a biography of Shaw (1931).