Harriet Huntington Doerr (April 8, 1910 – November 24, 2002) was an American author whose
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
was published at the age of 74.
Early life
A granddaughter of California railroad magnate and noted collector of art and rare books,
Henry Edwards Huntington, Harriet Green Huntington grew up in a
Pasadena, California, family that encouraged intellectual endeavors. She attended high school at
Westridge School Westridge School is an independent day school for girls in grades 4-12. Founded in 1913, Westridge is located in Pasadena, California.
Founding
Mary Lowther Ranney
Westridge founder Mary Lowther Ranney (1871-1939) moved to Pasadena in 1904 wh ...
, in Pasadena. She then enrolled in
Smith College in 1927, but transferred to
Stanford University the following year where she was a member of
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Alpha Theta (), also known simply as Theta, is an international women’s fraternity founded on January 27, 1870, at DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury. It was the first Greek-letter fraternity established for women. The main arc ...
. In 1930, after her junior year, she left school and married Albert Doerr, Jr., a Stanford 1930 graduate whom she had known in Pasadena. The Doerrs spent the next 25 years in Pasadena, where they raised a son, Michael (d. 1995), and a daughter, Martha.
Mexico
Albert Doerr's family owned a copper mine in the
Mexican state of
Aguascalientes. Beginning in 1935, Harriet accompanied Albert on his many business trips there. In the late 1950s, the Doerrs moved to Mexico where Albert was engaged in restoring the mine. They remained until 1972 when Albert died, ten years after being diagnosed with leukemia. The time she spent in this small Mexican mining town would later provide Harriet with both the subject matter and the setting for much of her writing.
Literary career
Following her husband's death, Harriet Doerr returned to California. At the suggestion of her son Michael, a 1953 Stanford graduate, she decided to finish the education which had been interrupted so long before by her marriage. She enrolled, first at
Scripps College,
and then once again at Stanford. In 1977, she took her
BA degree in European history. She began writing while at Stanford, earned a
Stegner Fellowship in 1979, and soon began publishing short stories.
Her first novel, ''
Stones for Ibarra'', was published in 1984 and won a
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
that year, for
First Work of Fiction.
["National Book Awards – 1984"]
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
. Retrieved 2012-03-08. (With essay by Marie Myung-Ok Lee from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) Her second novel, ''Consider This, Señora'', was published in 1993, and a collection of short stories and essays, ''Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions'', followed in 1995. A television adaptation of ''Stones for Ibarra'' was presented by
Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1988. In the last decade of her life, she was legally blind from
glaucoma
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...
.
Doerr died in Pasadena in 2002.
[
]
See also
* Huntington family
Huntington is the surname of three prominent families from the United States of America. The first was active in the eastern region; the second played an important role in the early Latter Day Saint movement, and pioneered and founded the State of ...
References
External links
Late Bloomer by Yvonne Daley
'' Stanford Magazine''. Nov-Dec 1997. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
Harriet Doerr Papers, 1976-2003
(33 linear ft.) are housed in th
a
Stanford University Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doerr, Harriet
1910 births
2002 deaths
National Book Award winners
Writers from Pasadena, California
Stanford University alumni
Smith College alumni
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners
Scripps College alumni
American expatriates in Mexico