ABSTRACT
In Chapter 23 we printed in full Davis’ long private correspondence with Walther Penck on landform analysis. He always treated Penck courteously and had a great respect for his deductive ability. Indeed at times we can detect an almost paternal warmth for the brilliant youngster. ‘The case of Davis versus Penck’ is so important to modern geomorphology and has been so grossly mishandled by historians that we intend to give a full account of it. As individuals, both suffered at the hands of critics on the other side of the Atlantic. Davis certainly had his fair share of misjudgments and misunderstandings largely because he outwrote most of his readers. Walther Penck was still more harshly dealt with but misinterpretations of his concepts were partly linguistic. When Germans criticized Davis they had his fine Die Erklärende Beschreibung der Landformen (1912J and 1924L) to consult, whereas with Walther Penck’s Die morphologische Analyse (1924) the English-speaking world lacked any generally available translation until 1953. Penck’s German was enigmatically telegrammatic; Davis’ English was the last word in endless explication. You need insight to read Penck and stamina to master Davis.
