Henry S. Whitehead
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Henry St. Clair Whitehead (March 5, 1882 – November 23, 1932) was an American Episcopal minister and author of horror and
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
fiction."In Memoriam: Henry St. Clair Whitehead". H. P. Lovecraft. Reprinted in Robert Weinberg, ''The Weird Tales Story''. FAX Collector’s Editions. (p. 127).Rozier, Travis. "Whitehead, Henry S." in Cardin, Matt. ''Horror literature through history.'' Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, 2017. (pp. 846-847)


Biography

Henry S. Whitehead was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on March 5, 1882, and graduated from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1904 (in the same class as
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
). Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, "Whitehead, Henry S(t. Clair)", in
David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective whi ...
, ed., ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers''. London: St. James Press, 1998. (pp. 639-640)
As a young man he led an active and worldly life in the first decade of the 20th century, playing football at Harvard University, editing a Reform democratic newspaper in
Port Chester, New York Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village of Port Chester had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most popu ...
, and serving as commissioner of athletics for the AAU. He later attended
Berkeley Divinity School Berkeley Divinity School, founded in 1854, is a seminary of The Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Andover Newton Theological School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Berkeley is one of the three "Partners on the Quad," ...
in Middletown,
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
, and in 1912 he was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church. During 1912-1913 he worked as a clergyman in
Torrington, Connecticut Torrington is the most populated municipality and only city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the Northwest Hills region. It is also the core city of Greater Torrington, one of the largest micropolitan areas in the United States. The city p ...
. From 1913 to 1917 he served as rector in Christ's Church, Middletown, Connecticut. From 1918 to 1919 he was Pastor of the Children, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City. He served as Archdeacon of the
Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...
from 1921 to 1929. While there, living on the island of
St. Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...
, Whitehead gathered the material he was to use in his tales of the supernatural. A correspondent and friend of H. P. Lovecraft, Whitehead published stories from 1924 onward in ''
Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...
'', '' Black Mask'', ''
Strange Tales ''Strange Tales'' is a Marvel Comics anthology series. The title was revived in different forms on multiple occasions. Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. made their debuts in ''Strange Tales''. It was a showcase for the science ...
'', and especially ''
Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...
''. In his introduction to the collection ''Jumbee'',
R. H. Barlow Robert Hayward Barlow (May 18, 1918 – January 1 or 2, 1951Joshi & Schultz (2007): p. xx.) was an American author, avant-garde poet, anthropologist and historian of early Mexico, and expert in the Nahuatl language. He was a correspondent and f ...
would later describe Whitehead as a member of "the serious ''Weird Tales'' school". Many of Whitehead's stories are set on the Virgin Islands and draw on the history and folklore of the region. Several of these stories are narrated by Gerald Canevin, a New Englander living on the islands and a fictional stand-in for Whitehead. Whitehead's supernatural fiction was partially modelled on the work of Edward Lucas White and
William Hope Hodgson William Hope Hodgson (15 November 1877 – 19 April 1918) was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and scie ...
. Whitehead's "The Great Circle" (1932) is a lost-race tale with sword and sorcery elements. In later life, Whitehead lived in Dunedin, Florida, as rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd and a leader of a boys' group there. H. P. Lovecraft was a particular friend as well as a correspondent of Whitehead's, visiting him at his Dunedin home for several weeks in 1931. Lovecraft recorded in his letters that he entertained the boys with readings of his stories such as "The Cats of Ulthar". Lovecraft said of Whitehead: "He has nothing of the musty cleric about him; but dresses in sports clothes, swears like a he-man on occasion, and is an utter stranger to bigotry or priggishness of any sort." Whitehead suffered from a long-term gastric problem, but an account of his death by his assistant suggests he died from a fall or a stroke or both. He died late in 1932, but few of his readers learned about this until an announcement and brief profile, by H. P. Lovecraft, appeared in the March 1933 ''Weird Tales'', issued in Feb 1933. Whitehead was greatly mourned and missed by lovers of weird fiction at his death. R. H. Barlow collected many of Whitehead's letters, planning to publish a volume of them; but this never appeared, although Barlow did contribute the introduction to Whitehead's '' Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales'' (1944).


Reception

Whitehead is culturally important for his sustained introduction of voodoo into popular culture, via his stories. Lovecraft expressed admiration for Whitehead's work, describing Whitehead's work as "
weird fiction Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird fiction either eschews or radically reinterprets ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and other traditional antagonists of supernatural horr ...
of a subtle, realistic and quietly potent sort" and praising Whitehead's story ''The Passing of a God'' as "perhaps representing the peak of his creative genius". In a letter to August Derleth,
Algernon Blackwood Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE (14 March 1869 – 10 December 1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary cri ...
included Whitehead on a list of writers that he admired."Blackwood was widely read in supernatural fiction and he remarked to Derleth that authors like A. E. Coppard, H. Russell Wakefield, Henry S. Whitehead, May Sinclair and Mary Wilkins Freeman never failed to please." Mike Ashley, ''Starlight Man : The Extraordinary Life of Algernon Blackwood''. London : Constable, 2001. (p.321) His work is still highly regarded today by writers and critics, and Stefan Dziemianowicz describes Whitehead's West Indian (mostly Virgin Islands) tales as "virtually unmatched for the vividness with which they convey the awe and mystery of their exotic locale".


Works


Short fiction

* "The Intarsia Box" (1923) ''Adventure'' * "The Wonder-Phone" (1923) ''People’s Magazine'' * "Christabel" (1923) ''Hutchinson’s Adventure-Story Magazine'' * "The Door" (1924) ''Weird Tales'' * "Tea Leaves" (1924) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Wonderful Thing" (1925) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Thin Match" (1925) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Cunning of the Serpent" (1925) ''Adventure'' * "Sea Change" (1925) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Gladstone Bag" (1925)''The Black Mask'' * "The Fireplace" (1925) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Projection of Armand Dubois" (1926) ''Weird Tales'' * "Jumbee" (1926) ''Weird Tales'' * "Across the Gulf" (1926) ''Weird Tales'' * "Gahd Laff!" (1926) ''The Black Mask'' 1926 * "The Shadows" (1927) ''Weird Tales'' * "West India Lights" (1927) ''West India Lights'' * "The Left Eye" (1927) ''Weird Tales'' * "Obi in the Caribbean" (1927) ''West India Lights'' * "The Cult of the Skull" (1928) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Return of Milt Drennan" (1929) ''Mystery Stories'' * "The Lips" (1929) ''Weird Tales'' * "Sweet Grass" (1929) ''Weird Tales'' * "Black Tancrède" (1929) ''Weird Tales'' * "The People of Pan" (1929) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Tabernacle" (1930) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Shut Room" (1930) ''Weird Tales'' * "Machiavelli—Salesman" (1931) ''Popular Fiction Magazine'' * "The Passing of a God" (1931) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Trap" (1931) (with H.P. Lovecraft) ''Strange Tales'' * "The Tree-Man" (1931) ''Weird Tales'' * "Black Terror" (1931) ''Weird Tales'' * "Hill Drums" (1931) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Black Beast" (1931) ''Adventure'' * "Cassius" (1931) ''Strange Tales'' (based on an idea by H. P. Lovecraft) * "Mrs. Lorriquer" (1932) ''Weird Tales'' * "No Eye-Witnesses" (1932) ''Weird Tales'' * "Seven Turns in a Hangman's Rope" (1932) ''Adventure'' * "The Moon-Dial" (1932) ''Strange Tales'' * "The Great Circle" (1932) ''Strange Tales'' * "Sea-Tiger" (1932) ''Strange Tales'' * "The Chadbourne Episode" (1933) ''Weird Tales'' * "The Napier Limousine" (1933) ''Strange Tales'' * "Ruby the Kid" (1933) ''Nickel Western'' * "Scar-Tissue" (1946) ''Amazing Stories'' * "The Ravel 'Pavane'" (1946) ''West India Lights'' * "Williamson" (1946) ''West India Lights'' * "--In Case of Disaster Only" (1946) ''West India Lights'' * " Bothon" (1946) (with H.P. Lovecraft) ''West India Lights''


Poetry

* "Litrachoor," '' The Writer'', August 1926


Non-fiction

* "Editorial Prejudice Against the Occult," ''The Writer'', October 1922 * letter in ''The Camp-Fire'', ''
Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...
'', November 10, 1923 * "Certain Mechanical Aids for the Writer," ''The Writer'', March 1926 * "The Happy Ending," ''The Writer'', July 1926 * "The Occult Story" in ''The Free-Lance Writer's Handbook'' (1926) * ""Two Religions" of Anglicanism," '' The Commonweal'', February 16, 1927 * "A Few from the Chest," ''The Writer'', October 1927 * "The 'Project' Method," ''
Writer's Digest ''Writer's Digest'' is an American magazine aimed at beginning and established writers. It contains interviews, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and how-to articles. History ''Writer's Digest'' was first published in December 1920 under ...
'', January 1928 * "Scrapped Stories," ''Writer's Digest'', April 1928 * "Negro Dialect of the Virgin Islands," ''
American Speech ''American Speech'' is a quarterly academic journal of the American Dialect Society, established in 1925 and currently published by Duke University Press. It focuses primarily on the English language used in the Western Hemisphere, but also publis ...
'', Vol. 7, No. 3., February 1932


Collections

*'' Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales'' (1944) *'' West India Lights'' (1946) * ''Passing of a God and Other Stories'' (2007),
Ash-Tree Press Ash-Tree Press is a Canadian company that publishes supernatural and horror literature. The press has reprinted notable collections of ghostly stories by such writers as R. H. Malden, A. N. L. Munby, L. T. C. Rolt, Margery Lawrence, and El ...
, edited by Douglas A. Anderson and Stefan Dziemianowicz. * ''Tales of the Jumbee: and Other Wonders of the West Indies'' (2009),
Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland, United States. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both tra ...
* ''Voodoo Tales: The Ghost Stories of Henry S. Whitehead'' (2012), Wordsworth Editions.


Novels for boys

*''Pinkie at Camp Cherokee'' (1931, Putnam's)


References


Sources

* Associated Press, Dunedin, November 23, 1932. "Roosevelt's Classmate at Harvard Dies in Dunedin." ''
Tampa Tribune ''The Tampa Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Tampa, Florida. Along with the competing ''Tampa Bay Times'', the ''Tampa Tribune'' was one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area. The newspaper also published a ''St. Pe ...
'', November 24, 1932. Obituary for "Rev. Dr. Henry Sinclair icWhitehead, 50, author, traveler and lecturer...died here today." * * * * * * H. P. Lovecraft. "In Memoriam: Henry St. Clair Whitehead" (''Weird Tales'', March 1933) (abridged). Full version in a letter by Lovecraft to E. Hoffman Price, Dec 7, 1932 (ms, John Hay Library; printed in part in Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' 4, 116–117). * R. Alain Everts, ''Henry St. Clair Whitehead'' (Strange Co, 1975). * A. Langley Searles, "Fantasy and Outre Themes in the Short Fiction of Edward Lucas White and Henry S. Whitehead", in ''American Supernatural Fiction'', ed. Douglas Robillard (NY: Garland, 1996), 59-76.


External links

* * *Barrett, Mike, "West Indian Frights: The Fiction of Henry S. Whitehead

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, Henry S. 1882 births 1932 deaths American fantasy writers American horror writers Harvard University alumni Berkeley Divinity School alumni American male novelists American male short story writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers Archdeacons of the Virgin Islands 20th-century American male writers Weird fiction writers