His Family by Ernest Poole - 1918

The first Pulitzer prize for literature was awarded to Ernest Poole for His Family in 1918.  His Family is set in New York, and is the story of elderly Roger Gale and his three daughters:  Edith, the devoted mother of 5, Deborah, the spinster with a zeal for social work rivaling that of Jane Addams, and the youngest, Laura, a frivolous socialite.  From a modern perspective, it seems clear that each daughter's persona is a reaction to the early loss of their mother, each in her own individual way.  Edith wants to be just like her mother, Deborah wants to fill the mother-gap in her life with purpose and meaning, and Laura wants to make up for everything she missed by not having a mother. Their father's grief for their mother, and his desire to fulfill her dying wishes, is a recurring theme; however, I am not sure it occurred to people in the early years of the 20th Century to look for any sort of psychological cause and effect.

His Family is very much a book for its era.  It begins shortly before the onset of World War I; a time of relentless upheaval, when massive amounts of immigration was changing the very fabric of New York.  This change both troubles Roger Gale, and makes him feel more alive.  He finds his eldest daughter somewhat irritating, with her constant, "It's what Mother would have wished."  His youngest is almost beyond his comprehension. (How can she not want to have children!?)  But Deborah draws him into her world, the teeming city where so much work remains to be done.  He practically adopts a young disabled man, who could have stepped out of the pages of a Horatio Alger novel, especially when the young man's hard work and pluck ends up rescuing Roger Gale's livelihood from almost certain disaster.

There is a clarity and vividness to Poole's writing that reminds me of his contemporary, Willa Cather.  Their words bring alive a time now long gone, and show us what a vibrant age it really was.  Poole's characterization is excellent.  Each member of the family is fully drawn, flaws and all.  There was more character development than plot, since it was nothing more than the story of the final years of one man's life.  One of the things I am looking for in this survey of the Pulitzers is how the winners have changed over time.  Clearly, in the World War I era, good solid writing, telling a universal story with vivid imagery, was highly prized.

Well, I have to start the rankings somewhere, but I highly doubt His Family, good as it is, will hang onto its top spot in every category for long.

Most Enjoyable
His Family - Ernest Poole

Easy to Read
His Family - Ernest Poole

Best Characters
His Family - Ernest Poole

Best Plot
His Family - Ernest Poole