Bancroft Prize
1 appearances
Henry Nash Smith
ヘンリー・ナッシュ・スミス
Henrī Nashu Sumisu
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1906-09-29 （Dallas, Texas）
- Died
- 1986-06-06 （Elko, Nevada） age 79
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Dallas, Texas → Austin, Texas → Minneapolis, Minnesota → Berkeley, California
Career
- Occupations
- scholar, literary scholar, university professor
- Active Years
- 1927-1974
- Affiliations
- Southern Methodist University (faculty), University of Texas at Austin (faculty), University of Minnesota (faculty), University of California, Berkeley (faculty), Modern Language Association (served as president)
- Memberships
- Modern Language Association, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society
- Influenced By
- Rudyard Kipling, Robert L. Stevenson, Mark Twain
- Influenced
- American Studies (Myth and Symbol School), Later American studies and cultural historians
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Methodist University | — | English | BA | — | United States |
| Harvard University | — | English/Literature | MFA, PhD | — | United States |
Southern Methodist University
English
Degree:
BA
Year of Graduation:
1926
Country:
United States
Harvard University
English/Literature
Degree:
MFA, PhD
Year of Graduation:
1940
Country:
United States
Earned PhD in 1940; also received an MFA.
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Bancroft Prize | Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth | — | Columbia University/Bancroft Prize | winner |
| 1950 | John H. Dunning Prize | Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth | — | American Historical Association | winner |
| 1974 | Guggenheim Fellowship | — | — | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation | fellowship |
| 1961 | American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected) | — | — | American Academy of Arts and Sciences | elected member |
| 1981 | American Philosophical Society (elected) | — | — | American Philosophical Society | elected member |
Bancroft Prize
1951
Work:
Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth
Organization:
Columbia University/Bancroft Prize
Result:
winner
John H. Dunning Prize
1950
Work:
Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth
Organization:
American Historical Association
Result:
winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
1974
Organization:
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result:
fellowship
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected)
1961
Organization:
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Result:
elected member
American Philosophical Society (elected)
1981
Organization:
American Philosophical Society
Result:
elected member
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth
1950 scholarship / cultural history 352 pagesA scholarly analysis of how the nineteenth-century American West was perceived as symbol and myth, using sources from popular culture such as dime novels. The book became foundational for the Myth and Symbol School of American Studies.
frontier mythpopular culturesymbol and myth
Mark Twain of the Enterprise
1957 literary studyA study of Mark Twain including chronology and analysis of his writings.
Mark Twain studiesdevelopment of a writer
Mark Twain: The Development of a Writer
1962 literary studyAnalyzes the development of Mark Twain as a writer.
development of a writerAmerican literature
Mark Twain's Fable of Progress: Political and Economic Ideas in A Connecticut Yankee
1964 literary criticismExamines the political and economic ideas in A Connecticut Yankee.
political ideaseconomic ideasTwain studies
Popular Culture and Industrialism, 1865-1890
1967 cultural history / scholarshipStudies the relationship between popular culture and industrialism in the United States from 1865 to 1890.
popular cultureindustrialism
Democracy and the Novel
1978 literary criticismAn essay collection reflecting on the relationship between the novel and democracy.
novel theorydemocracy
Bibliography
- Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth (1950)
- Mark Twain of the Enterprise (1957)
- Mark Twain: The Development of a Writer (1962)
- Mark Twain's Fable of Progress: Political and Economic Ideas in A Connecticut Yankee (1964)
- Popular Culture and Industrialism, 1865-1890 (1967)
- Democracy and the Novel (1978)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- interdisciplinary and comparative analysistheoretical arguments grounded in historical contextuse of popular culture sources (e.g., dime novels)
- Recurring Motifs
- frontier mythrepresentations in popular cultureformation of symbols and myths
Legacy
Henry Nash Smith is best known for Virgin Land, which helped establish the Myth and Symbol School and significantly shaped the development of American Studies. He was also a leading Mark Twain scholar and influenced generations of scholars.
Academic Societies
- Modern Language Association
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- American Philosophical Society
Archives
- The Bancroft Library (Henry Nash Smith Papers)
Quotes
-
(His experience on the Southwest Review) was a sort of super-graduate seminar, an Institute of Higher Studies.
Source: The American Scholar (In Memoriam: The American Studies of Henry Nash Smith) (1987)
Trivia
- Served as editor of the Southwest Review in the 1930s and helped keep it in publication.
- Married Elinor Lucas in 1956 and had three children.
- Died on June 6, 1986, following an automobile accident on May 30, 1986.
- Virgin Land is regarded as a foundational text of the Myth and Symbol School.