Lecture 15

JACK LONDON (1876-1916)

Jack London, a famous American novelist and a short- story writer, was born in San Francisco, California. The family was very poor, and speaking of his childhood, the writer said later that those were the hungriest years in his life. When the boy was eight, he learned to read, and read everything he could get. He borrowed books from the public library and spent all his free time with a book. He began to work very early, when he was a boy of nine. He got up at three in the morning and delivered newspapers, after that he went to school. After school he delivered evening papers. At week-ends he worked as a porter in a hotel.

On finishing a grammar school at the age of thirteen, he continued working as a newspaper boy and did other small jobs. His father was seriously ill at that time and Jack had to feed the family. He found work at a factory, but his wages were so low that he worked overtime, standing at his machine for eighteen hours a day. When Jack was a boy, he dreamed of being a sailor and now, when he had a little free time, he spent it near the sea. On one such a day he was offered work as a sailor aboard a ship going to Japan. Jack London worked on that ship for a year and in 1893 came back to San Francisco. His family was near starvation. Jack found a job at a factory where for ten hours of hard work he earned one dollar. After a day at the factory Jack could think of nothing but sleep. Yet, it was at that period that his first short story was published. A San Francisco newspaper offered a prize for a story, Jack sent his short story and was awarded the first prize. [88]

It was more and more difficult to get a job in San Francisco and Jack London marched with the army of unemployed to Washington to ask for bread and work. Then he tramped all over the United States and Canada and spent a month in prison for tramping. That month in prison helped him to understand the class struggle. He saw men go mad or beaten to death there. In prison he met a man who spoke to him of socialism and of the books by Karl Marx. When London returned home, he began to read books on socialism and in 1895 joined the Socialist Labour Party. He decided to continue his education and after three months of study entered the University of California. But he spent there only a semester because his family needed his help. London found a job at a laundry and at the same time decided to try his luck in literature.

Working day and night, he wrote poetry essays and stories. He sent them to magazines, but nothing was published. Gold was found in Alaska at that time, so London went there. He hoped to become rich enough to devote himself to literature. He worked there for a year, but didn't find any gold. He found the heroes of his stories: strong and brave people. In 1898 Jack London returned home and found his father dead. Again he had to take different jobs washing windows, cleaning carpets. At the same time he continued to write, and in 1898 his story "To the Man on Trail" was published and was a success.

In the next four years the writer published his northern stories "The Son of the Wolf, "Children of the Frost", "A Daughter of Snows" and others, which made Jack London famous and brought him enough money to devote himself to literature.

In 1902 London visited the capital of England. He bought some old clothes, took a small room in the East End and lived there as a poor American sailor. He spent much time in the slums of London and later wrote one of his best books, "The people of the Abyss" (1903), where he showed a horrible picture of the poverty of English working people at that time. [89]

The Russian Revolution of 1905 led London to better understanding of the class struggle. His works 'The War of the Classes" (1905). "Revolution" (1908), and "The Iron Heel" (1907) were written under the influence of the Russian Revolution. The bourgeois press criticized London's progressive political ideas and his support of the Russian Revolution.

The years 1905-1909 were most successful for the writer. He published "White Fang", "The South Sea Tales", "Martin Eden" and many other works which brought him great fame. In "Martin Eden" he used many facts from his own life. That was the time of London's greatest activity in the socialist movement too. But the writer did not agree with some of the leaders of the Socialist Labour Party who were against the revolutionary struggle. In the last years of his life Jack London moved away from the working class, and his ideas on the socialist movement were changed. His literary works of that period were less important. He did not touch upon any social problems in them but showed the success in life of some men ("The Little Lady of the Big House"). In 1916 Jack London left the Socialist Labour Party. The same year the writer died.