Bog'liq Critical realism in American literature (2)
Jack London was born in California. The circumstances of his family life did not give him a chance to get a proper education but made him try different jobs: a sailor & quite odd occupations (for example he was involved into the Gold Rush which brought him to Alaska). He was greatly influenced by thesocialist ideas & joined the American socialist party, took part in marches & demonstrations. All these experiences were reflected in his writing which was also influenced by his reading on different, sometimes contrasting authors - Spenser (a philosopher - positivist), Marx, Engels, Nietzsche, Darwin, etc.
The real fame came to London when he published his collection of stories "'The Son of The Wolf” Actually he wrote an enormous number of short stories. Their value varies - as London had decided to become a rich man one day, he was often like a literary time worker. Nevertheless many of his works are really brilliant; they are examples of real mastery & a combination of realism, romanticism & of course, naturalism. They certainly influenced the next generations of writers. Among London's best & most famous novels & most famous stories of the 1s' period of his work are the following ones:
"A Daughter of The Snows" (1902);"The Call of the Wind" (1903) - a collection of animal short stories about a dog which becomes a wild wolf; “The White Fang” (1906) a collection of animal short stories;“Children of The Frost” (1902) - a collection of stories.
London’s first works were all based on his dramatic experience of the life in the North. In many of them the writer turns to the theme of nature, human & animal life, and very often the animal world is shown kinder & fairer than the world of people. Besides their entertaining plot the stories show the great power of psychological insight & analysis.
London’s social works are also very important & written at the beginning of the 20th c.:
--- "The People of The Abyss" (1903) - it is a publicist work which gives a picture of the life of the working class people, proletariat, which London knew from his experience as he had spent several months in London & there he witnessed the misery & privations of the people as well as their struggle for belter wages & better conditions;
— "The Iron Heel" (1907) this novel call be considered one of the very first books which touched upon the genre of dislopia in llic 20th c. & which raised the problem of future possibilily of fascism with its dictatorship of the Iron Heel;
—"Martin Eden" (1909) - it is an autobiographical novel which traces all the life stages & hardships that London himself had overcome; the story deals with the eternal problem of the artist & society. The novel depicts the inner stresses of the American Dream as London experienced them during his meteoric rise from obscure poverty to wealth & fame. Eden, an impoverished but intelligent & hardworking sailor & laborer, is determined to become a writer. Eventually, his writing makes him rich & well-known, but Eden realizes that the woman he loves cares only for his money &fame. His despair over her inability to love causes him to lose faith in human nature. He also suffers from class alienation, for he no longer belongs to the working class, while he rejects the materialistic values of the wealthy whom he worked so hard to join. He sails for the South Pacific & commits suicide by jumping into the sea. Actually in this novel London predicts the end of his own life. He was disillusioned & disappointed with his dreams, ambitions & may have committed suicide – he took an overdose of drugs, though no one can say for sure whether he did it deliberately or by chance.
Like many of the best novels of that time "Martin Eden" is an unsuccessful story. It looks ahead to F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" in its revelation of despair amid great wealth.
Jack London was often called a "socialist boy" by the press. But by the end of his life he got disappointed with the socialist idea & abandoned his membership in the socialist parly in 1916. London's psychological crisis was deepened by his chronic alcoholism & the shock he had experienced after the fire in his mansion house (London had put almost all his money into this house, the dream of which he had described in his novel "The Little Lady of the Big House". Thus the novels he wrote in his last years show his attempt to find some other ideals & life principles. These works concentrate mostly on family affairs and devoid of any social conflicts: "The Valley of the Moon" (1913) - a novel; "The Scarlet Plague" (1915) - a long short story;"Hearts of Three" (1920) - a novel.
