Aga Khan Prize for Fiction
1 appearances
Owen Vincent Dodson
オーウェン・ヴィンセント・ドッドソン
Owen Vincent Dodson
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1914-11-28 （Brooklyn, New York, United States）
- Died
- 1983-06-21 （New York, New York, United States） age 69
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Brooklyn (birth) → Washington, D.C. (Howard University, employment) → New York (later life; death)
Career
- Occupations
- poet, novelist, playwright, drama educator, university professor
- Active Years
- 1936-1983
- Affiliations
- Howard University (Chair, Department of Drama), Spelman College (brief appointment), Atlanta University (brief appointment)
- Influenced By
- Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, W. H. Auden, William Stanley Braithwaite, Henrik Ibsen
- Influenced
- Hilton Als (mentee; influenced)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn) | — | — | — | 〜1932 | United States |
| Bates College | — | — | B.A. | 1932–1936 | United States |
| Yale School of Drama | — | Drama | M.F.A. | 1936–1939 | United States |
Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn)
Period:
〜1932
Year of Graduation:
1932
Country:
United States
High school graduation (June 1932)
Bates College
Degree:
B.A.
Period:
1932–1936
Year of Graduation:
1936
Country:
United States
Received B.A.
Yale School of Drama
Drama
Degree:
M.F.A.
Period:
1936–1939
Year of Graduation:
1939
Country:
United States
M.F.A. in Drama
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship | series of one-act plays | — | Julius Rosenwald Fund | 受賞（フェローシップ） |
Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship
1940
Work:
series of one-act plays
Organization:
Julius Rosenwald Fund
Result:
受賞（フェローシップ）
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Powerful Long Ladder
1946 poetryA collection of poems in varied forms covering Black experience, personal reflection, religious and classical allusions.
raceidentityreligionclassical allusion
The Confession Stone: Song Cycles
1970 poetry (song cycles)A collection of song-cycle poems; some poems were set to music by a composer.
sin and confessionreligionpersonal anguish
Adaptations
- [music] Poems from The Confession Stone (set to music) / Robert Fleming (作曲家) (1968)
The Harlem Book of the Dead
1978 poetry / collaborationA collaborative work with photographer James Van Der Zee and artist Camille Billops exploring Harlem's perspectives on death and memory.
Harlem memorydeathcommunity
Garden of Time
1945 playA stage play reflecting dramatic themes with classical influences; detailed plot information is limited.
timehuman relationshipsclassical elements
The Confession Stone (play)
1960 playThe Confession Stone staged as a play, dramatizing poetic themes.
confessionsinfaith
Boy at the Window
1951 novel (autobiographical)Generally considered autobiographical novel depicting growth and personal experience.
coming of ageself-awarenessBlack experience
Come Home Early, Child
1967 novel (autobiographical)An autobiographical novel exploring personal relationships and life's conflicts.
relationshipsanguishidentity
Bibliography
- Powerful Long Ladder (1946)
- Boy at the Window (1951)
- Come Home Early, Child (1967)
- The Confession Stone: Song Cycles (1970)
- The Harlem Book of the Dead (1978)
- Plays (Bayou Legend; Divine Comedy; Till Victory Is Won; New World A-Coming; Garden of Time; The Confession Stone)
Adaptations
- Poems from The Confession Stone were set to music by Robert Fleming (1968)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- classically referenced, humanistic styleexperimentation with varied poetic formslyrical and formal expression
- Recurring Motifs
- religion and confessionsexuality and relationshipsBlack community and urban lifereferences to classical literature
Health
-
cardiovascular disease晩年Died of cardiovascular disease in later life. Health issues may have affected his later productivity, though details are limited.
Legacy
Owen Dodson was a major mid-20th-century African-American poet, playwright, and educator whose long tenure at Howard University influenced many younger writers. His work combines classical learning with Black experience across poetry, drama, and fiction.
Museums
- Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (Howard University) Washington, D.C., Howard University
- Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Yale University) New Haven, Connecticut
Archives
- Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University holdings
- Countee-Cullen-Harold Jackman Collection, Atlanta University
- James Weldon Johnson Collection, Yale University
- Hatch-Billops Collection, New York
In Popular Culture
- Featured in Hilton Als's 1996 book The Women; Als cites Dodson as mentor and lover.
Quotes
-
Well, every writer, at the beginning of his career, is influenced by somebody. Surely it's true that the ragtime rhythms of Langston Hughes and the order of Countee Cullen ... influenced me. But as you grow older, you begin to get your own style.
Source: Interview with Charles H. Rowell (Callaloo) (1997)
Trivia
- He was gay but was briefly engaged to Bates classmate Priscilla Heath.
- Taught at Howard University and served as chair of the Department of Drama from 1940 to 1970.
- Received a fellowship from the Julius Rosenwald Fund.