Terry Davis (author)
Encyclopedia
Terry Davis is an American
novel
ist who lives near Spokane
, Washington, and is a professor emeritus of English at Minnesota State University, Mankato
(MSU Mankato), where he taught Creative writing
– fiction and screenwriting – as well as adolescent literature. Davis, who has been a high school English teacher and a wrestling
coach, is the author of three novels for young adults
: Vision Quest
(1979), Mysterious Ways (1984), and If Rock & Roll Were a Machine
(1992). He has also written Presenting Chris Crutcher
, a biography of the respected young-adult author.
John Irving
called Vision Quest "the truest novel about growing up since Catcher in the Rye
," and said, "it's a better novel about wrestling, and wrestlers, than The World According to Garp
."
Vision Quest was made into a 1985 movie of the same title
, starring Matthew Modine
and Linda Fiorentino
.
. The son of a housewife and a sales executive, Davis excelled at Shadle Park High School as a wrestler and basketball player, then studied English at Eastern Washington University
where he met fellow student Chris Crutcher
– a year his senior.
Recognized early as a gifted writer, Davis went from Eastern to study under John Irving
at the University of Iowa
's Writers' Workshop, and later at Stanford University
as an honored Wallace Stegner Literary Fellow. It was here that the novel Vision Quest began to take shape.
They play a role in most of his fiction and articles, and in Mankato Minnesota
Davis riding around on a Norton
or Yamaha
is a familiar sight.
Now Davis is carrying that passion a step further in real life. Terry Davis' Clandestine Classic Cycles opened in Rapidan
, Minnesota
on May 1, 2007. Opening Clandestine Classic Cycles is the realization of a long term dream for Terry Davis whose love for classic bikes is clearly displayed in his 1992 novel If Rock & Roll Were a Machine
. Davis continues to teach and write.
Davis's latest work, which Davis has been working on for more than a year, is about a man's struggle with clinical depression after his girlfriend gets addicted to online poker and is sent back to her homeland in Africa.
"A lot of his work is about people that are challenged in one way or another or sometimes they give themselves a challenge," Robbins said. "A lot of what he's writing about is personal courage and finding a way to come to a better understanding about what you're capable of as an individual." Richard Robbins of MSUM said.
"I write it for people to read and be touched by," Davis said.
And while writing is a struggle, it's one he seems to enjoy.
"I struggle with every sentence and word choice," he said, "but it's a great battle."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist who lives near Spokane
Spokane
Spokane is a city in the U.S. state of Washington.Spokane may also refer to:*Spokane *Spokane River*Spokane, Missouri*Spokane Valley, Washington*Spokane County, Washington*Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War*Spokane * USS Spokane...
, Washington, and is a professor emeritus of English at Minnesota State University, Mankato
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Minnesota State University, Mankato is a public four-year university located in Mankato, Minnesota, a community of 53,000 located southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul. As of Fall 2011, the student body is the third-largest in the state of Minnesota with over 15,000 students...
(MSU Mankato), where he taught Creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
– fiction and screenwriting – as well as adolescent literature. Davis, who has been a high school English teacher and a wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
coach, is the author of three novels for young adults
Young adult literature
Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...
: Vision Quest
Vision Quest (novel)
Vision Quest is a young adult novel written by Terry Davis, first published in 1979. It had new edition re-releases in May 2002 and May 2005....
(1979), Mysterious Ways (1984), and If Rock & Roll Were a Machine
If Rock & Roll Were a Machine
If Rock & Roll Were a Machine is a young adult novel written by Terry Davis. It was first published in 1993 and was re-released in a new edition in March 2003...
(1992). He has also written Presenting Chris Crutcher
Chris Crutcher
-Biography:Crutcher was born to a World War II bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to Cascade, Idaho, where Crutcher grew up....
, a biography of the respected young-adult author.
John Irving
John Irving
John Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978...
called Vision Quest "the truest novel about growing up since Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major...
," and said, "it's a better novel about wrestling, and wrestlers, than The World According to Garp
The World According to Garp
The World According to Garp is John Irving's fourth novel. Published in 1978, the book was a bestseller for several years.A movie adaptation of the novel starring Robin Williams was released in 1982, with a screenplay written by Steve Tesich....
."
Vision Quest was made into a 1985 movie of the same title
Vision Quest
Vision Quest is a 1985 coming of age drama film starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino, and Ronny Cox. It is based on Terry Davis' novel of the same name. In some countries, it was released as Crazy for You to market on Madonna's emerging fame and the popularity of the song...
, starring Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine is an award-winning American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Alan Parker's Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, football star turned spy Alec McCall in Funky Monkey and the...
and Linda Fiorentino
Linda Fiorentino
Linda Fiorentino is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films Dogma, Vision Quest, Men in Black, After Hours and The Last Seduction.-Personal life:...
.
Early life
Terry Davis was born and raised in SpokaneSpokane
Spokane is a city in the U.S. state of Washington.Spokane may also refer to:*Spokane *Spokane River*Spokane, Missouri*Spokane Valley, Washington*Spokane County, Washington*Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War*Spokane * USS Spokane...
. The son of a housewife and a sales executive, Davis excelled at Shadle Park High School as a wrestler and basketball player, then studied English at Eastern Washington University
Eastern Washington University
Eastern Washington University is an American public, coeducational university located in Cheney, Washington.Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided into four colleges: Arts and Letters; Business and Public Administration; Science, Health and Engineering; and Social & Behavioral...
where he met fellow student Chris Crutcher
Chris Crutcher
-Biography:Crutcher was born to a World War II bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to Cascade, Idaho, where Crutcher grew up....
– a year his senior.
Recognized early as a gifted writer, Davis went from Eastern to study under John Irving
John Irving
John Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978...
at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
's Writers' Workshop, and later at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
as an honored Wallace Stegner Literary Fellow. It was here that the novel Vision Quest began to take shape.
Recent years
To fans of novelist Terry Davis, it is no news that he loves motorcycles.They play a role in most of his fiction and articles, and in Mankato Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
Davis riding around on a Norton
Norton (motorcycle)
Norton is a British motorcycle marque, originally from Birmingham, founded in 1898 as a manufacturer of "fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade". By 1902, they had begun manufacturing motorcycles with bought-in engines. In 1908, a Norton-built engine was added to the range...
or Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
is a familiar sight.
Now Davis is carrying that passion a step further in real life. Terry Davis' Clandestine Classic Cycles opened in Rapidan
Rapidan Township, Minnesota
Rapidan Township is a township in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,061 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:: Township 107 North, Range 27 West, Fifth Meridian, 22,819 Acres...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
on May 1, 2007. Opening Clandestine Classic Cycles is the realization of a long term dream for Terry Davis whose love for classic bikes is clearly displayed in his 1992 novel If Rock & Roll Were a Machine
If Rock & Roll Were a Machine
If Rock & Roll Were a Machine is a young adult novel written by Terry Davis. It was first published in 1993 and was re-released in a new edition in March 2003...
. Davis continues to teach and write.
Davis's latest work, which Davis has been working on for more than a year, is about a man's struggle with clinical depression after his girlfriend gets addicted to online poker and is sent back to her homeland in Africa.
"A lot of his work is about people that are challenged in one way or another or sometimes they give themselves a challenge," Robbins said. "A lot of what he's writing about is personal courage and finding a way to come to a better understanding about what you're capable of as an individual." Richard Robbins of MSUM said.
"I write it for people to read and be touched by," Davis said.
And while writing is a struggle, it's one he seems to enjoy.
"I struggle with every sentence and word choice," he said, "but it's a great battle."
Awards
- Vision Quest - ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 1980
- Vision Quest - New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
Best Books for the Teen Age, 1980 - If Rock & Roll Were a Machine - ALAAmerican Library AssociationThe American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
Best Books for Young Adults, 1993 - If Rock & Roll Were a Machine - New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
Best Books for the Teen Age, 1993 - If Rock & Roll Were a Machine - New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
Best Books for the Teen Age, 1994 - Vision Quest - ALAAmerican Library AssociationThe American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
Best Books for Young Adults In the Last Quarter Century, 1995