Northern stories

2.2. Traditionalism in D. London's "Northern Tales"

Until now, the debate continues about whether northern stories should be considered realistic or romantic works. Opinions usually differ because the stories provide a basis for both claims. In fact, if we turn to their content, then there will be nothing supernatural, irrational, mystical. They are based on real incidents, and the main place is occupied by living people and real northern nature. But, on the other hand, in the northern stories, the degree of realistic typification is very limited. In favor of romanticism is also the fact that the action of the stories takes place far from bourgeois civilization, in the Far North, against the backdrop of its exoticism. The writer in most cases tells about the events of exceptional, romantic adventures. The focus is on romantically elevated, exceptional personalities: hunters, vagabonds, gold diggers. They flee from a corrupt civilization and lead a free, independent life full of dangers and adventures in the conditions of the North.

London eschews everyday life, opposing romanticized images to it. From this it does not at all follow that northern stories from beginning to end are the fruit of the writer's fantasy. It must be borne in mind that romance does not at all exclude a real description of life, the presence of living people. Heroes of northern stories existed in reality, and London, of course, met them in Alaska, but against the general background of American life, they were a special, exceptional phenomenon.
Equally exceptional were the conditions of life in the North, which differed sharply from the conditions that existed in the territory of the United States proper. It is no coincidence that London constantly emphasizes that in the North there is a different morality, other mores and customs, not similar to the morals and mores of bourgeois society,
Reflections on the nature of northern stories inevitably lead us to the problem of tradition, raise the question of London's connections with other American writers. Indeed, with whom London was connected, did it have predecessors, in what traditions were northern stories created - these are the questions that need to be answered.
If we cast even a cursory glance at American literature of the 19th century, we cannot fail to notice that the 19th century in the United States was the time of the development of romanticism. Such major writers as Irving , Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne , Bret Harte and others were romantics. Thus, the romantic tradition had deep roots in American literature. There is an undoubted connection between London and its predecessors. Northern stories were not created outside the traditions of American literature. This connection is easy to detect if we turn to the so-called " frontier theme ".
frontier is a border, a line separating the "civilized world" from untouched by culture territories. From the frontier one can judge how the political border of the United States has changed, how its territory has increased from East to West, from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean. But the frontier is not only a border, not just some kind of line separating civilization from savagery, it is a whole peculiar world with its own laws, customs and mores, in which old traditions clashed with new orders, old morality with the morality of bourgeois society, indigenous inhabitants these places with new aliens. Many American writers addressed the topic of the frontier .
Directly related to it is the famous series of novels by F. Cooper about the Leather Stocking. If we consider them not in the order of writing, but according to the sequence of events set forth there, then we can get a clear picture of what the frontier was like in the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. Virgin forests, untouched rivers and lakes, a lot of unscared game—such are the pictures of nature in St. John's Wort. Numerous Indian tribes live on the banks of the Mohawk and Susqueganna , in the region of Lake Ontario, who hunt, fish, wage wars among themselves. And only occasionally white settlers settle in these places, like old Hutter , and hunters and trappers like Hawkeye and Harry March appear . This is the picture of the frontier , against which the personal destinies of the heroes are depicted. In the novels Pathfinder and The Last of the Mohicans, this territory becomes the scene of a fierce struggle between the British and French, in which both sides use Indian tribes to set each other against each other. And they die, exterminating each other, the Iroquois, the Delawares , the last Mohicans ...
Again, Cooper tells about these places in the novel "Pioneers". But what dramatic changes have taken place here! Centuries-old forests have been cut down, waters have been polluted, forest animals, birds and fish are being rapaciously destroyed. The former inhabitants, the Indians, disappeared, and white settlers appeared in their place. All this happened because the border moved further to the West, and bourgeois progress took its place. Escaping from him, from new people and the laws they brought, old Natty Bumpo , who is despised and persecuted in this world, leaves his native ashes and goes to distant prairies, where civilization has not yet managed to reach. With the life of the frontier , colorful, bright, full of adventure, we meet again in the "Prairie".
True, instead of endless native forests, Natty Bumpo sees the endless prairie. But here, while simple natural laws reign, brave courageous Indians live. All this is close and understandable to the old hunter.
However, the time is not far off when civilization will reach these remote places and they will suffer the fate of Natty 's native land. Bumpo . Such a symbol of the destructive forces of bourgeois progress is the family of Ishmael Bush - rude, selfish people, the first messengers of the civilization following on their heels.
The Leatherstocking series of novels covers many important philosophical, political, moral issues that are beyond the scope of our work. The theme of the frontier is only one of them, which, however, had considerable significance in the work of Cooper.
A different interpretation of the frontier theme is given by Cooper's contemporary Washington Irving in Astoria and in The Adventures of Captain Bonneville . The main difference between the writers was that Irving did not condemn bourgeois progress as sharply as F. Cooper did. Therefore, in his books there is no that severe condemnation of civilization, which is clearly heard in the "Leather Stocking". On the contrary, there is a noticeable tendency to embellish, to show in a romantic light the activities of bourgeois entrepreneurs. This is especially evident in the book " Astoria ", which tells about the career of the famous capitalist businessman Astor , who created a huge trading company to buy furs from the Indians.
Admiring the entrepreneurial spirit of Astor caused a sharp condemnation of F. Cooper.
Following Cooper and Irving , Bret Hart and Mark Twain turn to the topic of the frontier : They create wonderful stories about the Far West and California, where the “border” had moved by that time. They acquaint readers with the life of gold miners, tramps, eccentrics, use folklore stories, talk about the life and customs of California.
On the territory of the United States proper, the frontier , as such, disappears in the second half of the 19th century. By this time, almost without exception, Indian tribes are destroyed . Their miserable remnants are driven into reservations, where these once free sons of nature drag out an unhappy existence. Bourgeois civilization inexorably penetrates into all the most remote corners, bringing destruction to the partiarchal way of life and imposing new laws. And only in distant Alaska, far from urban centers, a different way of life was still preserved, corresponding to the requirements of the frontier , reminiscent of the relations that existed on the old "borders".
This northern frontier world is portrayed by Jack London. If we compare the writer with his predecessors, then he is closest to Cooper and Bret Hart. With Cooper, he is related by a critical attitude towards bourgeois progress. Just as Cooper contrasts the world of the frontier with the noisy life in cities and towns, so London's Northern Territory contrasts with bourgeois society. Cooper's novels both directly and indirectly condemn proprietary relations and predatory bourgeois morality. The same applies to them and Jack London.
In the Leather Stocking series, and in other works by Cooper, the Rousseau ideal is clearly visible, the desire to separate, fence off pure, unspoiled nature from the corrupting influence of selfish human relations.
Notes of Rousseauism sound in the works of London, especially intensifying towards the end of his career.
As already noted, the northern stories were created by the writer over a number of years. And they can testify to how his worldview has changed.
If in the earliest stories the heroes talk about the difficulties of life in the North and dream of returning to the fertile South (as, for example, Neil Bonner in The History of Jees-Uk ), then this note becomes more and more muffled, and then disappears completely. Instead, another sounds louder and louder - the desire to escape to the North, hide away from human society, stay alone with nature.
The heroes of the later northern stories simply feel a physical need to merge with nature, they want to “simplify”, become more natural.
The call for such a life is loudly heard in the latest collection - in Smoke Bellew ": "He thought with horror about how the years of his city life had been in vain for him , about the mediocrity of all school and book philosophies, about the clever cynicism of editorial offices and art workshops, about the hypocrisy of businessmen resting in their clubs. They do not know what a wolfish appetite is, the soundest sleep, iron health; they have never experienced real hunger, real fatigue, they are unfamiliar with the intoxication of work, from which the blood boils in their veins like wine. This beautiful, wise, harsh Northern country has always existed, but he knew nothing about it” [Sh, 494-495].