John Gordon Davis

John Gordon Davis (21 January 1936 – 5 November 2014) was a Rhodesian writer of adventure novels, often addressing a specific social issue, and some non-fiction titles. The worldwide success of his first published novel, Hold My Hand I'm Dying (1967), prompted him to become a full-time writer.[1]

John Gordon Davis
Born	(1936-01-21)21 January 1936 Enkeldoorn, Southern Rhodesia
Died	5 November 2014(2014-11-05) (aged 78)
Occupation	Author
Language	English
Genre	Adventure fiction
Notable works	Hold My Hand I'm Dying (1967)
Spouse	Rosemary

Education and early occupations

Of Welsh heritage, Davis was born in the town of Enkeldoorn in Southern Rhodesia (now Chivhu, Zimbabwe). His father was a bank manager. John went to school at Bishops in Cape Town, matriculated at Umtata High School in the Transkei and obtained a BA in Political Science from Rhodes University in Grahamstown.[2] While a student, he joined the Seaman's Union. He paid his tuition fees by working as a deckhand in the British Merchant Navy for two years, sailing around much of the world, and by joining the Dutch whaling fleet in the Antarctic.[3][4] His experiences at sea later served as inspiration for his whaling novels Cape of Storms (1970) and Leviathan (1976).

Whilst working as a clerk for the chief justice back in Rhodesia and going on circuit with him, Davis obtained a bachelor's degree in Law from the University of South Africa. He was called to the Bar, working as assistant public prosecutor in the Magistrate's Courts in the years ahead of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. He next became Crown Counsel in the Attorney General's Chambers.[3]

In the Rhodesian capital Salisbury, Davis had a chance encounter with adventure writer Wilbur Smith, whom he knew from their time at Rhodes University. Davis said he had just come back from Canada, where he had gone looking for adventure without finding it. Smith told him he was living off the royalties of his recent first novel, which had been published in 1964. Davis, who had believed that no one, especially in Africa, could make a living out of writing, was inspired by Smith's success to try his hand at it. According to Smith in his 2018 memoir On Leopard Rock, Davis said: "Jesus, if an arsehole like you can publish a book, imagine what I could do." Smith replied: "Well, Gordon Davis, don't tell me about it, go and do it."[5]

Move to Hong Kong and switch to full-time writing

Moving to Hong Kong in 1966, Davis worked there as Crown Counsel during the political and social upheaval of the Cultural Revolution in nearby China.[3] The city was to provide him with a setting for three novels (The Years of the Hungry Tiger, 1974; Typhoon, 1978 and The Year of Dangerous Loving, 1997), as well as inspiring a non-fiction book of photographs for which he wrote the accompanying text (Hong Kong Through the Looking Glass, 1969).

After an initial novel was rejected, his first novel to be published was Hold My Hand I'm Dying (1967). Davis had written the manuscript in Rhodesia, finishing it in a rented cottage in Inyanga in the Eastern Highlands while on three months' unpaid leave.[2] Published by Michael Joseph Ltd. in the United Kingdom, the book became an instant bestseller, selling millions of copies around the world.[2] The story places fictional characters against the historical backdrop of Rhodesia from the completion of Kariba Dam in 1959 until the outbreak of the Rhodesian Bush War in 1964. The protagonist, Joseph Mahoney, is a Rhodesian-born, British-descended Native Commissioner who is studying law while working on a novel and having an off-and-on relationship with a young Afrikaans woman. Mahoney considers his Ndebele adjutant Samson Ndhlovu to be a good friend, but their bond is straining under the clamour for Black self-government, which threatens to plunge the country into civil war.

Hold My Hand I'm Dying was published in six languages. The South African censor banned the novel citing its sexual content; the ban was eventually lifted in 1983.[2] The novel was later adapted into a film titled Blind Justice (1988), directed by Terence Ryan and starring Christopher Cazenove as Mahoney. Following the success of his debut novel, Davis resigned as Crown Counsel and became a full-time writer.[3]

Residence in Spain

Not wanting to live in war-torn Rhodesia or apartheid South Africa, Davis moved to Spain in 1973. He bought a finca with a river running through it on the outskirts of Coín, a town near the coast in Andalusia, and had the property restored.[6] Through the '70s, '80s and '90s, he wrote a total of thirteen more published novels. In addition he wrote a non-fiction account, Operation Rhino (1972), about the capture and transport of wild rhinos to a Rhodesian game reserve to save them from poachers; a rescue operation that Davis was involved with. He and his Australian wife, Rosemary, divided their time between Spain and travelling, sailing around most of the world in a succession of yachts. From his home, after retiring from publishing novels, Davis taught a residential course in fiction writing for aspiring as well as published authors.[1][3]

Davis died in November 2014 and was survived by his wife. In 2018, South African publisher the Footprint Press published Hold my Hand: The Life and Times of John Gordon Davis by David Hilton-Barber, with a foreword by Australian novelist Tony Park.[6]

Assessment

The novels of John Gordon Davis tend to be populated by boisterous, hard-living, larger-than-life characters with a taste for adventure and a penchant for hedonism. It is typically from such cloth that the story's hero is cut, who is then faced with some social wrong and ends up becoming involved in attempts to right it. Often, the protagonist also has an intellectual, melancholy side, a cynical view of society and an affinity with the underdog.

Hold My Hand I'm Dying was praised by such commentators as the writers Marguerite Steen and Stuart Cloete. Cloete wrote: 'This is the best novel coming out of Africa that I have read for a number of years. [...] It is seldom that one gets a book of this kind that is both moving emotionally and full of adventure.'[7] The Times described Davis as being 'in the top echelon of international storytellers'.[8]

His novels did not always impress the critics, with Kirkus Reviews describing Fear no Evil (1982) as 'Another loud, ineffectual Message novel' by Davis.[9]

Several novels address a specific social or ethical issue, such as whaling in Cape of Storms (1970) and Leviathan (1976), the plight of zoo and circus animals in Fear No Evil (1982), or the extreme right in The Land God Made in Anger (1990). On this, Davis observed: "By instinct, I'm a “cause” writer — whether it's whales, zoos or South Africa — I would like to send a message or enlighten people. But I have to be cautious; most people want to read a yarn. I'm in the entertainment business, and that involves telling a good tale."[6]

Published works

• Hold My Hand I'm Dying (1967). ISBN 0-552-11241-0., novel set in Rhodesia in the lead-up to the Bush War; adapted as a 1988 film titled Blind Justice, a.k.a. Hold My Hand I'm Dying[10]
• Hong Kong Through the Looking Glass (1969). ISBN 0-902582-00-3., non-fiction book of colour photographs of Hong Kong by Ted Smart and Pat Fok, with accompanying text by John Gordon Davis
• Cape of Storms (1970). ISBN 0-718107-17-9., novel set on a whaling ship in the Antarctic
• Operation Rhino (1972). ISBN 0-718108-88-4., non-fiction account, set in Rhodesia, of the capture of wild black rhinos and their transport to the Gonarezhou game reserve to save them from poachers
• The Years of the Hungry Tiger (1974). ISBN 0718111923., novel set in Hong Kong, charting the political tensions between British rule and communism
• Taller Than Trees (1975). ISBN 0718113667., novel about an elephant hunter and his confrontation with a fearsome elephant known as Dhlulamiti
• Leviathan (1976). ISBN 0525144609., novel about a film-maker who sets out to save whales by sabotaging whaling ships
• Typhoon (1978). ISBN 0718116623., novel involving the Triads secret criminal society in Hong Kong
• Fear No Evil (1982). ISBN 0025299204., novel set in the United States about a clandestine plot to release circus and zoo animals in the wild
• Seize the Reckless Wind (1984). ISBN 0002228386., novel in which Joseph Mahoney, the protagonist of Hold My Hand I'm Dying, has moved to England and builds a plane intended to revolutionise the face of commercial flying
• A Woman Involved (1987). ISBN 0002231581., novel about a worldwide conspiracy that goes to the top of seemingly respectable governments and religious institutions
• The Land God Made in Anger (1990). ISBN 0312051077., novel about a neo-Nazi plot in South West Africa (present-day Namibia)
• Talk to Me Tenderly, Tell Me Lies (1992). ISBN 0002236648., novel about a woman living alone on an isolated farm in the Australian outback
• Roots of Outrage (1994). ISBN 0002236656., novel; a political epic set in apartheid South Africa
• The Year of Dangerous Loving (1997). ISBN 0002236664., novel set in Hong Kong in the last year of British rule
• Unofficial and Deniable (1999). ISBN 0002258048., novel around South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

References

1. "John Gordon Davis". www.goodreads.com.
2. "John Gordon Davis: Rhodesian-born author of 'Hold My Hand I'm Dying'". The Sunday Times. 9 November 2014 – via PressReader.com.
3. "John Gordon-Davis". www.fantasticfiction.com.
4. "John Gordon Davis". www.euroweeklynews.com.
5. Smith, Wilbur (2018). On Leopard Rock: A Life of Adventures. ISBN 9781785768125.
6. "Hold my Hand - The Life and Times of John Gordon Davis".
7. Davis, John Gordon (1967). Hold My Hand I'm Dying. ISBN 0-552-11241-0. – praise cited on back cover.
8. Davis, John Gordon (1999). Unofficial and Deniable. ISBN 0002258048. – praise cited on front cover.
9. "Fear No Evil. Kirkus Review".
10. "Blind Justice". IMDb. 1 December 1989. Retrieved 5 February 2020 – via IMDb.