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Harold Lenoir Davis | |
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| Born | October 18, 1894 Douglas County, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | October 31, 1960(1960-10-31) (aged 66) San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
| Notable works | Honey in the Horn |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize Guggenheim Fellowship |
Harold Lenoir Davis (October 18, 1894 – October 31, 1960), also known asH. L. Davis, was an Americannovelist andpoet. A native ofOregon, he won thePulitzer Prize for his novelHoney in the Horn, the only Pulitzer Prize for Literature given to a native Oregonian.[1][2] Later living inCalifornia andTexas, he also wrote short stories for magazines such asThe Saturday Evening Post.
Davis was born inNonpareil,Douglas County, Oregon, in theUmpqua River Valley, and lived inRoseburg in his early years.[3] His father was a teacher and the family moved frequently as he took up different teaching positions. They moved toAntelope, Oregon in 1906, and two years later they were inThe Dalles, where his father was now a principal.[3] In 1912 Davis graduated from high school there. He held various short-term jobs, with the county, withPacific Power and Light, and in a local bank. He also worked as a railroad timekeeper and with a survey party nearMount Adams.
His first poems were published in April 1919 inPoetry, edited byHarriet Monroe. These were eleven poems published together under the titlePrimapara. Later that year they won the magazine'sLevinson Prize, worth $200. Davis also received a letter of praise from poetCarl Sandburg. Davis continued to publish poems in the magazine throughout the 1920s, and also sold some poems toH. L. Mencken'sThe American Mercury. Mencken encouraged him to begin writing prose.
In 1926, Davis andJames 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."[4]
Together with his new wife, the former Marion Lay of The Dalles, Davis moved toSeattle in August 1928. There he increased his literary efforts. His first published prose began appearing inThe American Mercury in 1929. These were picturesque but hardly complimentary sketches ofThe Dalles andEastern 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 aGuggenheim Fellowship. The award allowed him to move toJalisco, Mexico, where he lived for two years, concentrating on his writing. There he completed the novelHoney in the Horn, about southern Oregonpioneer life. It is a coming-of-age tale set in the early twentieth century. This novel received theHarper Prize for best first novel of 1935, together with a $7,500 cash award. It was well reviewed by writers such asRobert Penn Warren, althoughNew Yorker criticClifton Fadiman did not like it. The following spring the book won thePulitzer Prize, and is the only Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to an Oregon born author.[3] 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 nearNapa, California currently owned by Aaron and Claire Pott and is the estate vineyard known as Châteauneuf du Pott. There Davis wrote short stories as his primary source of income, publishing them in such magazines asCollier's andThe 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 ofHoney in the Horn.
Davis was also undergoing crises in his life. He was divorced in 1943. He also changed publishers, fromHarper & Brothers toWilliam Morrow & Company, apparently because of a long-running dispute over royalty payments.
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 aBook of the Month Club selection. In 1953 he remarried, to Elizabeth Martin del Campo. As a result ofarteriosclerosis, 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.[3]
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.
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