Robert Gorham Davis
Harvard instructor who taught Mailer's sophomore writing course (English 1-A) in 1940–41 and encouraged him to submit "The Greatest Thing in the World" (41.1) to Story magazine's eighth annual college contest, which it won — Mailer's first writing mentor.
Davis taught the two-semester English 1-A writing course that Mailer took in 1940–41, his sophomore year at Harvard. Mailer wrote “The Greatest Thing in the World” for the class under the original title “The Suckers and the Setup”; Davis “encouraged him to submit it to Story magazine’s eighth annual college contest under the name Norman K[ingsley]. Mailer. It won the first prize of $100. Mailer ceased using his middle initial and name after college, although he employed it once for his 1971 movie, Maidstone: A Mystery (71.28), in which the director-hero is called Norman T. Kingsley”.
JML’s Days note corroborates the outline: “Mailer takes a two-semester writing course from Robert Gorham Davis, who becomes his first writing mentor. He writes several stories for the class, including ‘The Greatest Thing in the World’”.
Davis later had a long career as a literary critic and professor at Smith and Columbia. Stub; may be expanded if later Mailer correspondence or reminiscence about Davis comes into scope.
Related pages
- 1941 | The Greatest Thing in the World
- Harvard University | The Harvard Advocate | Story
- Maidstone: A Mystery (71.28)