Howard Pease

Howard Pease (1894–1974) was an American writer of adventure stories from Stockton, California. Most of his stories revolved around a young protagonist, William Todhunter ("Tod") Moran who shipped out on tramp freighters during the interwar years. [cite web | title=Bibliography, Howard Pease | work=Archives & Collections Society | accessdate=2008-06-22 | url=http://www.aandc.org/research/biblio_pease_h.htm] For most of his life Pease resided in the San Francisco area, except for those times when he shipped out as a member of the crew on a freighter, searching for new material. [Gidmark (2001), 224.] In addition to writing children's stories Pease taught high school, contributed to journals and reviewed books for the "New York Times".

Influence

Russell Freedman, Michael Dirda and E. L. Doctorow all cited Pease's stories as childhood influences. [cite news | title=Readings | work=Washington Post | page=X15 | first=Michael | last=Dirda | authorlink=Michael Dirda | date=August 17, 1997 | accessdate=2008-06-22] [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501E5DC163EF937A25756C0A9609C8B63 | title=INFLUENCES: GLOBE-TROTTERS' FAVORITES; Tomes That Can Trigger a Writer's Wanderlust | first=Susan | last=Lehman | authorlink=Susan Lehman | date=May 14, 2006 | accessdate=2008-06-22 | work=New York Times] Reflected Dirda: "For a long period also I sought out the work of Howard Pease, old-fashioned nautical adventures teeming with frequent and arcane allusions to bilge, Lascars and fo'csles." [Dirda (2003), 59.] Freedman, who won the Newbery Medal and valued realism and accuracy in children's writing, called Pease his "literary hero." [Bostrom (2003), 234. The phrase is Bostom's.]

Pease and children's literature

Pease was strongly critical in the 1930s of world of children's literature (in which he worked) which he stated was a "wholly and solely a woman's world—a completely feminine world" subject to "tender-minded feminine control." Pease believed that this resulted in a paucity of male authors, depressed wages and a lack of realism in children's stories. Pease expounded these views in an address he delivered in 1939 at an American Library Association "pre-conference" moderated by Frances Clarke Sayers. While the audience of 400 female librarians concurred with Pease that the lack of male authors and of social realism was a problem, his overall misogynistic tone offended many and damaged his case. [Jenkins (1996), 821-826.] Nevertheless, Pease's speech provoked discussion in the field and led to, among other things, a review of the criteria by which the Newbery Medal winner was selected. [Lundin (2004), 52; Mickenberg (2005), 131. Lundin gives the date of Pease's address as 1937.] Pease remained interested in the question of realism in children's literature and corresponded with other authors on the topic, including noted librarian Julia Lin Sauer. [Miller (2003), 212-213.] In a reversal, a modern critic took Pease to task for creating "traditional" male heroes who were "brave, clever and independent." [O'Keefe (2000), 43-44.]

Papers

Pease's papers are held at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

Bibliography

*"The Tattooed Man" (1926)
*"The Jinx Ship" (1927)
*"Shanghai Passage" (1929)
*"The Gypsy Caravan" (1930)
*"Secret Cargo" (1931)
*"The Ship Without a Crew" (1934)
*"Wind in the Rigging" (1935)
*"Hurricane Weather" (1936)
*"Foghorns" (1937)
*"Captain Binnacle" (1938)
*"Jungle River" (1938)
*"Highroad to adventure" (1939)
*"Long wharf" (1939)
*"The Black Tanker" (1941)
*"Night Boat" (1942)
*"Thunderbolt House" (1944)
*"Heart of Danger" (1946)
*"Bound for Singapore" (1948)
*"Dark Adventure" (1950)
*"Captain of the Araby" (1953)
*"Shipwreck" (1957)
*"Mystery on Telegraph Hill" (1961)

Notes

References

*cite book | title=Winning Authors: profiles of the Newbery medalists | first=Kathleen Long | last=Bostrom | isbn=1563088770 | year=2003 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PtjKpgdZS00C
*cite book | title=An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland | first=Michael | last=Dirda | authorlink=Michael Dirda | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Wu475gGdyYQC | year=2003 | publisher=W. W. Norton | isbn=0393326144
*cite book | title=Encyclopedia of American Literature of the Sea and Great Lakes | first=Jill B. | last=Gidmark | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-gLBOIhjsPQC | year=2001 | isbn=0313301484
*cite journal | title=Women of ALA: Youth Services and Professional Jurisdiction: Of Nightingales, Newberies, Realism, and the Right Books, 1937-1945 | journal=Library Trends | volume=44 | issue=4 | month=Spring | year=1996 | first=Christine A. | last=Jenkins | pages=813-839 | url=https://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/bitstream/2142/8058/1/librarytrendsv44i4i_opt.pdf
*cite book | title=Constructing the Canon of Children's Literature | first=Anne H. | last=Lundin | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=72flittye58C | isbn=0815338414 | year=2004 | publisher=Routledge
*cite book | title=Learning from the Left: Children's Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in the United States | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=vHRSSxdi2CgC | first=Julia L. | last=Mickenberg | year=2005 | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=0195152808
*cite book | title=Pioneers and Leaders in Library Services to Youth: A Biographical Dictionary | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=JMH7RkYRh0gC | first=Marilyn | last=Miller | year=2003 | isbn=1591580285
*cite book | title=Good Girl Messages: How Young Women Were Misled by Their Favorite Books | first=Deborah | last=O'Keefe | year=2000 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZfeEO96VgZ0C | publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group | isbn=0826413692

External links

* [http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf8g5009qf&doc.view=entire_text&brand=oac Register of the Pease (Howard) Papers, 1907-1973]