Don Berry (author)
Encyclopedia
Don Berry was an American
artist and author best known for his historical novels about early settlers in the Oregon Country
.
He was born in Minnesota
but moved to Oregon
as a young man and came to think of himself as a native of that state. He attended Reed College
in Portland, Oregon
. During college his housemates included the poet Gary Snyder
, who shared Berry's interest in Eastern metaphysics
.
In 1960 he published Trask, a historical novel about Elbridge Trask
, an Oregon settler in the 1840s who was the first white homesteader on Tillamook Bay
. It was followed by two sequels, Moontrap and To Build a Ship. The novels have collectively become known as the "Trask novels." His other works include A Majority of Scoundrels, a history of the fur trade
in the Rocky Mountains
. Besides writing, his lifelong artistic pursuits included bronze sculpture
, sumi-e painting, and blues
guitar playing.
Berry was also an early adopter of the use of the Internet
for writing, creating a large body of literature that exists only in cyberspace
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist and author best known for his historical novels about early settlers in the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
.
He was born in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
but moved to Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
as a young man and came to think of himself as a native of that state. He attended Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. During college his housemates included the poet Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
, who shared Berry's interest in Eastern metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
.
In 1960 he published Trask, a historical novel about Elbridge Trask
Elbridge Trask
Elbridge Trask was an American fur trapper and mountain man in the Oregon Country. Immortalized by a series of modern historical novels by Don Berry, he is best known as an early white settler along Tillamook Bay on the coast of the U.S. state of Oregon.-Biography:He was born in Beverly,...
, an Oregon settler in the 1840s who was the first white homesteader on Tillamook Bay
Tillamook Bay
Tillamook Bay is a small inlet of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 6 mi long and 2 mi wide, on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Oregon...
. It was followed by two sequels, Moontrap and To Build a Ship. The novels have collectively become known as the "Trask novels." His other works include A Majority of Scoundrels, a history of the fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
. Besides writing, his lifelong artistic pursuits included bronze sculpture
Bronze sculpture
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...
, sumi-e painting, and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitar playing.
Berry was also an early adopter of the use of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
for writing, creating a large body of literature that exists only in cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
.