Teo Savory

Teo Savory /ˈteɪoʊ/[1] (December 27, 1907 – November 14, 1989) was an American novelist, poet, translator, and publisher.[2]

Teo Savory
Born
Elizabeth Bullis Dunbar

(1907-12-27)December 27, 1907
DiedNovember 14, 1989(1989-11-14) (aged 81)
Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationWriter, publisher
Notable work
The Single Secret; A Penny for his Pocket; Stonecrop
Spouse(s)Michael Gurney-Hoare (divorced)
Gerald Savory (divorced)
Alan Brilliant (1958–1989; her death)

Early life

Sources indicate that Teo Savory was born Elizabeth Bullis Dunbar in 1907, the daughter of Lambert Dunbar (1879–1965) and Elsie Lyons (1883–1949).[3][4][5] Lambert Dunbar was a flour merchant from Portland, Oregon, who emigrated to Hong Kong early in the 20th century to manage a family business there.[6][7] Savory's place of birth is disputed: according to her own later account, she was born in Hong Kong,[8][9] whereas other sources give her birthplace as Portland, Oregon,[3][10][11] and indicate that the Dunbar family did not move from the U.S. to Hong Kong until 1915.[12][13]

Her first marriage (to Michael Gurney-Hoare in Hong Kong in 1929)[14][10] ended in divorce. According to later newspaper interviews, she attended the Royal College of Music in London and was involved in musical comedy theater while living in England.[1][15]

After returning to the U.S., she married expatriate British playwright Gerald Savory in 1938.[16][17] In the 1940 U.S. Census, she was listed as Teo Savory.[11] Although her marriage to Savory also ended in divorce,[18] she retained this professional name for her literary career. In the 1940s and 1950s she was an executive secretary and publicist for New York's American National Theatre and Academy and the Woodstock Playhouse,[19][15] and established an agency that handled television scripts.[20][1]

Writing and publishing career

Savory published her first stories, "Eat Dusty Bread" and "Before This, In Dreams" in 1947–1948.[21] In 1958 she married American poet Alan Brilliant (born 1936),[1][22][23] with whom she founded Unicorn Press, a small publishing house, in 1966.[2][24]

Her debut novel, The Landscape of Dreams (1960), a semi-autobiographical[1][25] story of a girl raised in China and the United States, was described in Kirkus Reviews as "a sensitive first novel."[26] Her 1961 book The Single Secret, a narrative of a female mental patient and her physician, was praised in The New York Times as "a remarkable novel" and the work of "an exceptionally skilled and perceptive novelist."[27] Stonecrop, her 1977 novel describing life in a small town in Massachusetts, won a Massachusetts Council on the Arts & Humanities Award.[9]

Savory also published many English translations of French and German writers and poets, including Jacques Prévert, Guillevic, and Günter Eich.[2]

She died of lung cancer in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1989.[28][29]

Partial bibliography

Novels
  • The Landscape of Dreams (1960)
  • The Single Secret (1961)[27][30]
  • A Penny for his Pocket (1963) (UK title: A Penny for the Guy)[31][32]
  • To a High Place (1972)
  • Stonecrop: The Country I Remember (1977)
  • To Raise a Rainbow (1980)

Short fiction
  • A Clutch of Fables (1977)
  • A Childhood (1978)
  • West to East: Tales of the Twenties & Thirties (1989)[33]

Poetry
  • Traveler's Palm (1967)
  • Snow Vole (1968)
  • Transitions (1973)
  • Dragons of Mist and Torrent (1974)

References
  1. Myers, Arthur (July 1, 1960). "Woman Writer Turns Novelist in Berkshires". The Berkshire Eagle. Pittsfield, Massachusetts. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Richardson, Ann (September 1978). "Profile: Teo Savory and Unicorn Press". Translation Review. 2 (1): 9–19. doi:10.1080/07374836.1978.10523450.
  3. "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007". Retrieved 19 May 2018 – via Ancestry.com.
  4. "North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994". Retrieved 16 May 2018 – via FamilySearch.org. (registration required)
  5. "Vermont, St. Albans Canadian Border Crossings, 1895-1954: Elizabeth Bullis Dunbar". National Archives. Retrieved 19 May 2018 – via FamilySearch.org. (registration required)
  6. Li, Kay (2016). Bernard Shaw's Bridges to Chinese Culture. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 89. ISBN 9783319410036.
  7. "Clifford Matthews". South China Morning Post. 4 May 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2018.
  8. Brooke, Jim (29 September 1977). "Harvest from Stonecrop". The Berkshire Eagle. Massachusetts. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Drew, Bernard A. (2015). Literary Luminaries of the Berkshires: From Herman Melville to Patricia Highsmith. Arcadia Publishing. p. 51. ISBN 9781625854179.
  10. "U.S., Consular Reports of Marriages, 1910-1949". National Archives. Retrieved 19 May 2018 – via Ancestry.com.
  11. "Teo Savory in household of Gerald Savory". United States Census, 1940. Retrieved 16 May 2018 – via FamilySearch.org. Birthplace: Oregon (registration required)
  12. Lownsdale, J.M. (February 7, 1915). "Oregon: Notes". The Weekly Northwestern Miller. p. 435 – via HathiTrust. Lambert Dunbar, formerly connected with Ladd & Tilton's bank in this city, will leave soon for Hongkong to go into the flour business with his father, William Dunbar, who has been located there for 20 years.
  13. "In Society". The Oregon Daily Journal. Portland, Oregon. December 29, 1910. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com. Miss Elizabeth Dunbar, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lambert Dunbar, entertained a number of her small friends Tuesday [27 December] in honor of her third birthday.
  14. "Society Wedding: Large Gathering at Catholic Cathedral". The China Mail. Hong Kong. 13 February 1929. p. 6 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
  15. "Writer in Freedleyville". The Berkshire Eagle. 6 September 1972. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. Who's Who In The Theatre (15th ed.). Pitman. 1972. p. 1379. Gerald Savory's first wife is listed as "Teo Dunbar."
  17. "New York, New York, Marriage License Indexes, 1907-1995". Retrieved 13 May 2018 – via Ancestry.com.
  18. "Obituaries: Gerald Savory". The Times. London. 13 February 1996. p. 17.
  19. Thibault, Richard E., Jr. (April 5, 1950). "Woodstock News". The Kingston Daily Freeman. Kingston, New York. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. Rice, Vernon (22 February 1951). "Drama Notes". The New York Post. p. 10 – via FultonHistory.com.
  21. "Teo Savory, Author of New Novel". The Berkshire Eagle. Pittsfield, Massachusetts. 5 February 1960. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. "Brilliant, Alan, 1936-". The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  23. "New York, New York City Marriage Licenses Index, 1950-1995". Retrieved 18 May 2018 – via Ancestry.com.
  24. "About: Unicorn Press". Unicorn Press. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  25. Gullatte, Yvonne (24 January 1960). "Unhappy World of Adults Seen By Child's Eyes". Pensacola News Journal. Pensacola, Florida. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. "The Landscape of Dreams". Kirkus Reviews. January 20, 1960.
  27. Slaughter, Frank G. (19 March 1961). "The Single Secret. By Teo Savory". The New York Times. p. 36.
  28. Johnson, Maria C. (April 29, 1990). "Low Profile, High Quality". Greensboro News & Record. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018.
  29. "Teo Savory". Contemporary Authors Online. Gale. 2003. (subscription required)
  30. Fane, Vernon (August 19, 1961). "Books". The Sphere. p. 284 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required)
  31. Fane, Vernon (May 4, 1963). "The Literary World". The Sphere. p. 197 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required)
  32. Pippett, Aileen (March 8, 1964). "The Circuit to Hollywood Ended in Cornwall". The New York Times.
  33. "West to East by Teo Savory". Kirkus Reviews. May 1, 1989.
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