Harold Lenoir Davis (October 18, 1894 – October 31, 1960), also known as H. L. Davis, was an American
novelist and
poet. A native of
Oregon, he won the
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for his novel ''
Honey in the Horn
''Honey in the Horn'' is a 1935 debut novel by Harold L. Davis. The novel received the Harper Prize for best first novel of 1935 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1936. The title of the book is from a line in a square dancing tune, ...
'', the only Pulitzer Prize for Literature given to a native Oregonian. Later living in
California and
Texas, he also wrote short stories for magazines such as ''
The Saturday Evening Post''.
Early life
Davis was born in
Nonpareil
Nonpareil(s) from the French meaning 'without equal', it may also refer to:
* Nonpareil, Guyana, a village in Guyana
* Nonpareil, Nebraska, a community in the United States
* Nonpareil, Oregon, a former community in the United States
* Nonpareils ...
,
Douglas County, Oregon
Douglas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 111,201. The county seat is Roseburg. The county is named after Stephen A. Douglas, an American politician who supported Orego ...
, 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
Antelope is a rural small town in Wasco County, Oregon, United States. Antelope had an estimated population of 47 people in 2012.
Overview
Antelope was originally a stage and freight wagon road stop on the old Dalles to Canyon City Trail. Howa ...
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
PacifiCorp is an electric power company in the western United States.
PacifiCorp has two business units:
# Pacific Power, a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Oregon, northern California, and southeastern Washington.
# ...
, and in a local bank. He also worked as a railroad timekeeper and with a survey party near
Mount Adams.
Writing career
His first poems were published in April 1919 in ''
Poetry'', edited by
Harriet Monroe
Harriet Monroe (December 23, 1860 – September 26, 1936) was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet, and patron of the arts. She was the founding publisher and long-time editor of ''Poetry'' magazine, first published in 1912. As a ...
. These were eleven poems published together under the title ''Primapara''. Later that year they won the magazine's
Levinson Prize Levinson is an Ashkenazi Jewish surname meaning "son of Levi". Notable people with the surname include:
* André Levinson (1887–1933), French dance journalist
* Arik Levinson, American economist
* Arthur D. Levinson (born 1950), American busi ...
, 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."
[Quoted in H.L. Davis, ''Collected Essays and Short Stories'' (Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, n.d.), p. 330]
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
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
. The award allowed him to move to
Jalisco
Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...
, Mexico, where he lived for two years, concentrating on his writing. There he completed the novel ''
Honey in the Horn
''Honey in the Horn'' is a 1935 debut novel by Harold L. Davis. The novel received the Harper Prize for best first novel of 1935 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1936. The title of the book is from a line in a square dancing tune, ...
'', about southern Oregon
pioneer
Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land.
In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...
life. It is a coming-of-age tale set in the early twentieth century. This novel received the
Harper Prize
The Harper Novel Prize was an award presented by Harper Brothers, an American publishing company located in New York City, New York.
The award was presented to the best novel by an "a writer who hitherto had not found a wide audience". A number ...
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
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
, 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 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 as ''
Collier's
''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...
'' 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.
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 Club 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.
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 Horn
''Honey in the Horn'' is a 1935 debut novel by Harold L. Davis. The novel received the Harper Prize for best first novel of 1935 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1936. The title of the book is from a line in a square dancing tune, ...
''. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1935, Also published as an
Armed Services Edition
*''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,
*''Team Bells Woke Me and Other Stories''. William Morrow & Company, 1953,
*''The Distant Music'' (novel). New York, William Morrow & Company, 1957,
*''Kettle of Fire''. New York, William Morrow & Company, 1957,
*''The Selected Poems of H. L. Davis''. Introduction by Thomas Hornsby Ferril, Boise, Idaho, Ahsahta Press, 1978,
Notes
External links
A short biographywith a chronology
The Literary EncyclopediaA brief biographyFirst Edition of ''Honey in the Horn'' (1936 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)A large collection of Davis's manuscriptsan
reside at the
Harry Ransom Center at the
University of Texas at Austin.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, H. L.
1894 births
1960 deaths
People from Douglas County, Oregon
20th-century American novelists
Novelists from Oregon
Pulitzer Prize for the Novel winners
People from The Dalles, Oregon
American male novelists
20th-century American male writers
People from Roseburg, Oregon
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters