The Davenport Group is the informal name of a nationally known group of early

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

writers who first came together in Davenport, Iowa. In the early 20th century, they migrated east to New York City to assume leading roles in several important artistic and cultural developments in the 1910s and 1920s. Core members of the group are Susan Glaspell, her husband

George Cram Cook George Cram Cook or Jig Cook (October 7, 1873 – January 14, 1924) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, novelist, poet, and university professor. Believing it was his personal mission to inspire others, Cook led the fou ...

, who were among the founders of the

Provincetown Players The Provincetown Players was a collective of artists, writers, intellectuals, and amateur theater enthusiasts. Under the leadership of the husband and wife team of George Cram “Jig” Cook and Susan Glaspell from Iowa, the Players produced two ...

;

Floyd Dell Floyd James Dell (June 28, 1887 – July 23, 1969) was an American newspaper and magazine editor, literary critic, novelist, playwright, and poet. Dell has been called "one of the most flamboyant, versatile and influential American Men of Letters ...

, and Arthur Davison Ficke. Other Davenport writers associated with the group include Alice French, Charles Eugene Banks,

Nilla Cram Cook Nilla Cram Cook (December 21, 1908 – October 11, 1982), also known as Nila Nagini Devi, was an American writer, linguist, translator, and arts patron. Early life Nilla Cram Cook was born in Davenport, Iowa, the daughter of playwright Geor ...

(daughter of Cook), and Harry Hansen.

Background

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, Davenport was a prosperous and cosmopolitan port city on the upper

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

and center of trade. By 1890 local author Alice French had become the first Iowa writer with a national reputation. In the mid-1890s writer Charles Eugene Banks moved to Davenport from Chicago, and started a weekly newspaper devoted to literature and local social life. Over the next decade Banks would mentor several young local aspiring writers ( Susan Glaspell,

, and

) who would constitute the Davenport group. Though inspired and influenced by French's success, the socially progressive younger writers rejected her starkly conservative views. As the young writers began to find success publishing their works, they left Davenport to advance their careers in Chicago and New York. Glaspell and Cook had married before going to New York. Together they had a daughter, Nilla Cram Cook, and son, Harl Cook. Nilla later became a writer. George "Jig" Cram Cook led the founding of the

in the summer of 1915. Considered the first modern American theatre company, it was famed for producing the first plays of

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature, literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama tech ...

. In addition to participating in the theater, Glaspell became "one of America's most widely read novelists", and she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1931 for one of her play '' Alison's House''. In addition, her short stories were regularly published in the top periodicals. Dell became a best-selling novelist and leading critic and editor; he is known for influencing many major American writers of the first half of the 20th century. Arthur Davison Ficke stayed in Davenport longer, becoming a lawyer in his father's firm. While practicing law, he still established himself as a nationally appreciated poet. He eventually quit law and followed his friends to New York to focus on writing.

Locations

File:Susan Glaspell home.jpg, 317 E 12th St: Susan Glaspell home. File:Jigcookhome.jpg, NW corner of 6th & Brady St: George Cram Cook boyhood home (razed). File:Floyddelldport.jpg, 302 E 6th St: Floyd Dell home. File:Parker-Ficke House.jpg, 1208 Main St: Arthur Davison Ficke boyhood home File:Alice French House, Davenport, Iowa.jpg, 321 E. 10th St: Alice French home

References

Literature of the late modern period Early Modern literature People from Iowa Writers from Iowa Writers from Davenport, Iowa 19th-century American literature 20th-century American literature

Background

Locations

Further reading

References