H. L. Davis
Encyclopedia
Harold Lenoir Davis also known as H. L. Davis, was an American
novel
ist and poet
. A native of Oregon
, he won the Pulitzer Prize
for his novel Honey in the Horn
, the only Pulitzer given to a native Oregonian. Later living in California
and Texas
, he also wrote short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post
.
, Douglas County, Oregon
, in the Umpqua River
Valley, and lived in Roseburg
in his early years. His father was a teacher and the family moved frequently as he took up different teaching positions. They moved to Antelope, Oregon
in 1906, and two years later they were in The Dalles
, where his father was now a principal. In 1912 Davis graduated from high school there. He held various short-term jobs, with the county, with Pacific Power and Light
, and in a local bank. He also worked as a railroad timekeeper and with a survey party near Mount Adams
.
. These were eleven poems published together under the title Primapara. Later that year they won the magazine's Levinson Prize, worth $200. Davis also received a letter of praise from poet Carl Sandburg
. Davis continued to publish poems in the magazine throughout the 1920s, and also sold some poems to H. L. Mencken
's The American Mercury
. Mencken encouraged him to begin writing prose.
In 1926, Davis and James Stevens
privately published a small booklet, Status Rerum: A Manifesto Upon the Present Condition of Northwest Literature. Although only a few copies were printed, the booklet attracted notice because of its bluntness and invective against the local literary scene of Portland. Robinson Jeffers
memorably described the pamphlet as a "rather grimly powerful wheel to break butterflies on."
Together with his new wife, the former Marion Lay of The Dalles, Davis moved to Seattle
in August 1928. There he increased his literary efforts. His first published prose began appearing in The American Mercury in 1929. These were picturesque but hardly complimentary sketches of The Dalles and Eastern Oregon
. One of the first was entitled "A Town in Eastern Oregon", a historical sketch of The Dalles. It caused quite a controversy in the region for its irreverence.
In 1932, Davis was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
. The award allowed him to move to Jalisco
, Mexico, where he lived for two years, concentrating on his writing. There he completed the novel Honey in the Horn
, about southern Oregon pioneer
life. It is a coming-of-age tale set in the early twentieth century. This novel received the Harper Prize for best first novel of 1935, together with a $7,500 cash award. It was well reviewed by writers such as Robert Penn Warren
, although New Yorker
critic Clifton Fadiman
did not like it. The following spring the book won the Pulitzer Prize
, and is the only Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to an Oregon born author. Davis did not go to New York to receive the Pulitzer in person, saying he did not want to put himself on exhibit.
The Davises bought a small ranch near Napa, California
. There Davis wrote short stories as his primary source of income, publishing them in such magazines as Collier's
and The Saturday Evening Post
. He continued to work on novels. His second novel, Harp of a Thousand Strings, appeared in 1941. The long interval from his Pulitzer-winning first novel meant that his second did not receive the notice it would have earlier. In fact, although Davis continued to improve as a writer, none of his later efforts received the attention of Honey in the Horn.
Davis was also undergoing crises in his life. He was divorced in 1943. He also changed publishers, from Harper & Brothers
to William Morrow & Company, apparently because of a long-running dispute over royalty payments.
selection. In 1953 he remarried, to Elizabeth Martin del Campo. As a result of arteriosclerosis
, his left leg was amputated. He suffered chronic pain, but continued to write. In 1960 he died of a heart attack in San Antonio, Texas.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. A native of 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...
, he won the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for his novel Honey in the Horn
Honey in the Horn
Honey in the Horn is a 1935 novel by Harold L. Davis. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1936.- References :*Honey in the Horn, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1935, ISBN 0-89301-155-X...
, the only Pulitzer given to a native Oregonian. Later living in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, he also wrote short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
.
Early life
Davis was born in NonpareilNonpareil, Oregon
Nonpareil is an unincorporated historic locale in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. It is located about eight miles east of Sutherlin, near Calapooya Creek. The population of the area was about 202 in 2000. Nonpareil was the birthplace of novelist H. L...
, Douglas County, Oregon
Douglas County, Oregon
-National protected areas:* Crater Lake National Park * Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest * Siuslaw National Forest * Umpqua National Forest * Willamette National Forest -Adjacent counties:* Lane County, Oregon -...
, in the Umpqua River
Umpqua River
The Umpqua River on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon Coast and known for bass and shad, the river drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west of the Cascade Range and south of the Willamette Valley,...
Valley, and lived in Roseburg
Roseburg, Oregon
Roseburg is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the county seat of Douglas County. The population was 21,181 at the 2010 census.-History:...
in his early years. His father was a teacher and the family moved frequently as he took up different teaching positions. They moved to Antelope, Oregon
Antelope, Oregon
Antelope is a city in Wasco County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 46.-History:The Antelope Valley was probably named by members of Joseph Sherar's party who were packing supplies to mines in the John Day area. Sherar became known as the operator of a toll bridge...
in 1906, and two years later they were in The Dalles
The Dalles, Oregon
The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is...
, where his father was now a principal. In 1912 Davis graduated from high school there. He held various short-term jobs, with the county, with Pacific Power and Light
PacifiCorp
PacifiCorp is an electric power company in the northwestern United States.PacifiCorp has three primary subsidiaries:# Pacific Power is a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Oregon, northern California, and southeastern Washington.# Rocky Mountain Power is a regulated...
, and in a local bank. He also worked as a railroad timekeeper and with a survey party near Mount Adams
Mount Adams (Washington)
Mount Adams is a potentially activestratovolcano in the Cascade Range and the second-highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington.Adams is a member of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, and is one of the arc's largest volcanoes,...
.
Writing career
His first poems were published in April 1919 in Poetry, edited by Harriet MonroeHarriet Monroe
Harriet Monroe was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet and patron of the arts. She is best known as the founding publisher and long-time editor of Poetry Magazine, which made its debut in 1912. As a supporter of the poets Ezra Pound, H. D., T. S...
. These were eleven poems published together under the title Primapara. Later that year they won the magazine's Levinson Prize, worth $200. Davis also received a letter of praise from poet Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
. Davis continued to publish poems in the magazine throughout the 1920s, and also sold some poems to H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
's The American Mercury
The American Mercury
The American Mercury was an American magazine published from 1924 to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured writing by some of the most important writers in the United States through the 1920s and 1930s...
. Mencken encouraged him to begin writing prose.
In 1926, Davis and James Stevens
James Stevens (musician)
James Stevens was an American author and composer. Born in Albia, Iowa, he lived in Idaho from a young age, and based much of his later novel Big Jim Turner on his childhood spent in Pacific Northwest logging camps...
privately published a small booklet, Status Rerum: A Manifesto Upon the Present Condition of Northwest Literature. Although only a few copies were printed, the booklet attracted notice because of its bluntness and invective against the local literary scene of Portland. Robinson Jeffers
Robinson Jeffers
John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Most of Jeffers' poetry was written in classic narrative and epic form, but today he is also known for his short verse, and considered an icon of the environmental movement.-Life:Jeffers was born in...
memorably described the pamphlet as a "rather grimly powerful wheel to break butterflies on."
Together with his new wife, the former Marion Lay of The Dalles, Davis moved to Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
in August 1928. There he increased his literary efforts. His first published prose began appearing in The American Mercury in 1929. These were picturesque but hardly complimentary sketches of The Dalles and Eastern Oregon
Eastern Oregon
Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity, thus the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost counties in the state; in other contexts, it includes...
. One of the first was entitled "A Town in Eastern Oregon", a historical sketch of The Dalles. It caused quite a controversy in the region for its irreverence.
In 1932, Davis was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
. The award allowed him to move to Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
, Mexico, where he lived for two years, concentrating on his writing. There he completed the novel Honey in the Horn
Honey in the Horn
Honey in the Horn is a 1935 novel by Harold L. Davis. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1936.- References :*Honey in the Horn, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1935, ISBN 0-89301-155-X...
, about southern Oregon pioneer
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
life. It is a coming-of-age tale set in the early twentieth century. This novel received the Harper Prize for best first novel of 1935, together with a $7,500 cash award. It was well reviewed by writers such as Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
, although New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
critic Clifton Fadiman
Clifton Fadiman
Clifton P. "Kip" Fadiman was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality.-Literary career:...
did not like it. The following spring the book won the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
, and is the only Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to an Oregon born author. Davis did not go to New York to receive the Pulitzer in person, saying he did not want to put himself on exhibit.
The Davises bought a small ranch near Napa, California
Napa, California
-History:The name Napa was probably derived from the name given to a southern Nappan village whose people shared the area with elk, deer, grizzlies and cougars for many centuries, according to Napa historian Kami Santiago. At the time of the first recorded exploration into Napa Valley in 1823, the...
. There Davis wrote short stories as his primary source of income, publishing them in such magazines as Collier's
Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
and The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
. He continued to work on novels. His second novel, Harp of a Thousand Strings, appeared in 1941. The long interval from his Pulitzer-winning first novel meant that his second did not receive the notice it would have earlier. In fact, although Davis continued to improve as a writer, none of his later efforts received the attention of Honey in the Horn.
Davis was also undergoing crises in his life. He was divorced in 1943. He also changed publishers, from Harper & Brothers
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins.-History:James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business J. & J. Harper in 1817. Their two brothers, Joseph Wesley Harper and Fletcher Harper, joined them...
to William Morrow & Company, apparently because of a long-running dispute over royalty payments.
Later life
Over the next ten years, he published three more novels and a collection of earlier short stories. His fourth novel, Winds of Morning, was well received and became a Book of the Month ClubBook of the Month Club
The Book of the Month Club is a United States mail-order book sales club that offers a new book each month to customers.The Book of the Month Club is part of a larger company that runs many book clubs in the United States and Canada. It was formerly the flagship club of Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc...
selection. In 1953 he remarried, to Elizabeth Martin del Campo. As a result of arteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis refers to a stiffening of arteries.Arteriosclerosis is a general term describing any hardening of medium or large arteries It should not be confused with "arteriolosclerosis" or "atherosclerosis".Also known by the name "myoconditis" which is...
, his left leg was amputated. He suffered chronic pain, but continued to write. In 1960 he died of a heart attack in San Antonio, Texas.
Evaluation
Although often considered a regional novelist, Davis rejected that evaluation. He undoubtedly used regional themes, but contended that he did so in the service of the universal. Influences on his work can be found in a wide range of American and European literature. His prose is considered wry, ironic, and cryptic. His stories are realistic, without the romantic stereotypes expected of "western" fiction. The landscape is a major component of his novels.Works
- Honey in the HornHoney in the HornHoney in the Horn is a 1935 novel by Harold L. Davis. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1936.- References :*Honey in the Horn, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1935, ISBN 0-89301-155-X...
. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1935, ISBN 0-89301-155-X - Proud Riders and Other Poems. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1942
- Harp of a Thousand Strings (novel). New York, William Morrow & Co., 1941
- Beulah Land (novel). New York, William Morrow & Company, 1949
- Winds of Morning (novel). New York, William Morrow & Company, 1952, ISBN 0837157854
- Team Bells Woke Me and Other Stories. William Morrow & Company, 1953, ISBN 0-8371-7125-3
- The Distant Music (novel). New York, William Morrow & Company, 1957, ISBN 0-89174-045-7
- Kettle of Fire. New York, William Morrow & Company, 1957, ISBN 1-299-07362-X
- The Selected Poems of H. L. Davis. Introduction by Thomas Hornsby Ferril, Boise, Idaho, Ahsahta Press, 1978, ISBN 0-916272-07-9
External links
- A short biography with a chronology
- Discussion of his work
- The Literary Encyclopedia
- A brief biography
- First Edition of Honey in the Horn (1936 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
- A large collection of Davis's manuscripts and photographs reside at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
.