 | Jack London |  |
JACK LONDON
—
BY HENRY MEADE BLAND
JACK LONDON has, perhaps as no other American author, put his own life into his books. He has lived his art. It is this feature of London's work that makes one ready to prophesy that his sojourn as war correspondent at the seat of the great conflict between Russia and Japan will result in, unless the drudgery of newspaper hack-work interferes, at least one new volume of powerful delineation of life.
London's first series of personal adventure was aboard a whaler on the seas northeast of Japan. Perhaps his return to Japan means an Oriental sea-story. London has already in mind a striking title, which the writer of this article is sworn not to reveal, but which, it is permitted to say, indicates a tale of the deep.
At any rate, we may rest assured that the author of "The Call of the Wild" is now building a new and important epoch in the long list of his startling experiences. That these experiences mean another book is merely the logic of London's life. It is this relation between his own active life and his literary art that makes his biography intensely fascinating.
Jack London is a native son of California. His father and mother have resided in California for more than thirty years. Mr. London, senior, was a Civil War veteran, and while in the service contracted diseases, which, after entailing much expense and hardship on the entire family, ultimately carried him to his grave.
Livermore, Oakland, Alameda and San Francisco have at various times been the family residence. Jack was born twenty-eight years ago on the twelfth of last January.
The mother of the boy aided in bread-getting by giving music lessons; and it may, very probably, be that her keen sense of musical rhythm contributed largely to form in her son that instinct for the harmonious which often appears in his prose.
The boy was a great reader, and often said in a childish way: "When I am a man I'm going to have a whole house full of books." This love of reading is a first step in the development of literary genius. He attended the public school and completed its work. The increasing age and illness of his father, however, made it necessary for a time after he left the common schools to contribute in earnest to the family living, and he was initiated into a life of toil.
It was at this time that his thirst for adventure showed itself. He chose work which took him on San Francisco Bay. He was employed to patrol the oyster beds in search of oyster pirates. This work seems to have been eminently to his liking, although he was but fourteen years old, and the work carried with it much hardship.
A year or more later, he was sent to sea by his parents, who wished to satisfy his longing for adventure,
He went with a whaling crew on the seas to the North and Northeast of Japan. In this Pacific cruise he touched the Orient at Yokohama. His stay on the islands at this time was but three weeks, when he put to sea again on the whaler. While on the broad seas the crew mutinied. The captain of the whaler attempted to pay the sailors in foreign coin. The men rebelled, as the foreign money was at a discount, and to accept it would involve a loss. All the men, even the youngster Jack, took part against the captain, who was brought to terms.
In such experiences as these London was gaining an insight into human nature and thus laying a foundation to his life work.
On his return to California, new and more startling adventures were in store for him. His love for literary work had lead him to join a debating society, "The Henry Clay," which afterwards proved to be an important element in his education. "The Henry Clay" had planned an open debate, and in this London was to take a prominent part. When the day before the debate was to occur came, Jack could nowhere be found. He had followed Coxey's army of the unemployed off to Washington. A strong instinctive sympathy with humanity had wakened in him a vital interest in the unfortunate men who composed the army, many of whom were union men out of employment. After Coxey had been gone several days from Oakland, London suddenly concluded to follow. Allying himself with an ordinary tramp, the two riding brake-beams and roaming after the manner of ordinary wanderers, found themselves with a few of "army's" stragglers at Buffalo, New York.
Here arrested for vagrancy with a bunch of twenty-four tramps, rounded up by the Buffalo police, he was railroaded into jail with but the shadow of a trial. His sentence was for three months. The whole proceeding was a rude shock to London's ideas of American justice. He was, however, made a trusty by the prison authorities, so that his term in jail was not an exceedingly hard one. He succeeded in hiding thirty dollars which he had in his pocket when arrested. With this to go on after his release he continued his strange tour of the East, visiting all the large cities, sometimes sojourning with relatives, at other times wholly adrift among strangers; but all the time gathering up the fund of experience which was afterwards woven into his books. He returned to California, by way of the Canadian Pacific, still riding the brake-beam most of the way.
The passion for literary expression grew rapidly in him during this stay in the East, and once again home he began to write. Many short stories were produced with the net result that the author only had good practice in composing them.
During the Eastern trip the motive, an intense interest in the wrongs and sufferings of humanity, which has since most largely swayed his destinies, took permanent hold of him. He felt the need of a better education, and when once again in Oakland, he laid plans to secure a formal scholastic training. He entered the Oakland High School. Here he wrote a number of times for the school paper, the "Aegis."
His aim was now firmly fixed on preparation for college, but he was in a hurry to get through the preliminary work. He decided that the high school was too slow. Leaving it to gain time, he entered Anderson's academy, and studied there three months. The private school was too expensive, besides being tedious. He therefore determined to prepare himself by private study for the university.
He was still a moving spirit in the "Henry Clay" debating society. The membership of this society at one time reached twenty-five, and its debaters without doubt did much to strengthen London's power of expression.
His self-preparation for the university was rapidly progressing, and after three months of incessant toil, in which he covered more than a year of ordinary work, he readily passed the entrance examinations to the college at Berkeley.
London's course in the university lasted but a short time. The most conspicuous influence upon him came in his reading of Carlyle's "French Revolution." He studied the Scotch philosopher with an increasing interest and rejoiced in the vigorous portrayals of the scenes of the Revolution. In his study of history he became confirmed in his already growing belief in socialism. The conservative economic views current at the university were very unsatisfactory to him, and the young thinker was often in open war against the college propaganda. Nor did London get in his English studies at the University what he said he afterward sorely needed in the production of his books.
During all the time he was working for an education, scarcity of money necessitated constant toil outside the lines of study for a livelihood.
He undertook anything at hand to do, even if the wages in payment were small. When the inspiration seized him to write, though, he threw everything aside and buried himself in his manuscript. Sorrow and suffering at this time were the lot of the London family, as the father's life had slowly ebbed away as a result of the illness contracted during the war, and he now lay at death's door.
When the Klondike gold fever broke out, London went with the crowd to the North. On this trip he got inspiration for the best books he has written. As far as moneymaking went, the Klondike adventure was a failure. He spent most
On his way from the Klondike back to civilization he drifted with three other men down the Yukon on a raft. After many perilous escapes among the river rapids all were finally taken from the raft by a steamer and conveyed to St. Michael's. In order that he might save the small sum of money that he had left over from his expense account in the North when he was ready to return to California he shipped as coal-heaver and worked his passage home.
The passion to write on his return fell upon him, and every spare moment he was busy with his pen. He was slowly and by dogged persistence winning his way in his art.
He was now close to the door of fame. One after another, in rapid succession, he sent the products of his pen to various publications; but he made no great strike until "The White Silence" was mailed to the Overland Monthly, which had already published one of his short stories, "To the Man on the Trail."
When "The White Silence" arrived at the Overland office the editor-in-chief, James Bridge, was in the East. The assistant editor, Charles S. Greene, had in his chief's absence, accepted the manuscript and the tale appeared in print. Mr. Bridge saw the story while on the train on his way home, having purchased a number of his own magazine from the newsboy. He read the story and declared it "great." On the editor's return to San Francisco negotiations were entered upon with the author, who agreed to contribute a serial to the magazine. This duly appeared in the following Overland numbers, and the tales thus published have been collected with others into one volume, "The Son of the Wolf." London was thus for the first time launched on his career as an author.
Miss Elizabeth Maddern in the spring of nineteen hundred became the novelist's wife and since their marriage two children, both girls, have been borne to them. It was about this time that a number of visits were made to the "sun-kissed" valley of the Santa Clara; and the beautiful groves around College Park seemed to have formed the environment which gave a strong impetus to the contemplative thought which is so marked in "The Call of the Wild." These were sunny times in the author's life.
Mr. London's close friend, Mr. Louis Bond, son of Judge Bond, who was the original of "Judge Miller" in "The Call of the Wild," lives in the town of Santa Clara near College Park. London's acquaintance with Mr. Louis Bond began in the Klondike, and the prototype of the genial Louis without doubt appears in "The Son of the Wolf" in the character of Stanley Prince. The original of Buck, the dog hero of "The Call of the Wild," belonged to Louis Bond. Buck was a beautiful long-haired animal with a Scotch collie and Saint Bernard ancestry behind him. Any one who has strolled in the picturesque grounds around Judge Bond's home will appreciate London's description of Buck's home, and will certainly take more delight in the opening chapters of "The Call of the Wild."
During the Boer troubles in South Africa Mr. London received a call from the American Press Association to interview the Boer commanders. But on his way to the Transvaal, when in New York, he was informed of the censorship at that time established over war news from the Cape, and was obliged to change his plans.
Instead of returning home he went to England, and after a short rest in London, during which he saw the coronation ceremonies of
He was to tell the truth even if it did make those in high places cringe at the knowledge of the awful conditions which might be brought to light, and for which they might be held responsible.
When the manuscript of this study was finished the magazine which was to publish it failed. The work was then published in book form with the title, "The People of the Abyss."
Of the books London has written, "The Son of the Wolf," "The God of his Fathers," "A Daughter of the Snows," and "The Children of the Frost," all grow out of his experiences in the North. "The Cruise of the Dazzler," a boys' story, recites in the main the story of his own adventures as a boy on San Francisco bay.
"The Call of the Wild" is a story of Northern gold-fields—an animal story; and a story of wonderful effect it is. Its very first reading in manuscript brought tears to the eyes of the usually imperturbable reader of Macmillan & Company, to whom it had been assigned to determine its worthiness for publication. Its success was assured from the time Manager Brett received the report of this reading.
For the manuscript of this book the author received but seven hundred dollars. The publishers have sold over two hundred thousand copies of "The Call." This is a conservative estimate of the sales. It is said that the publishers are paying this gifted writer a royalty in addition to the mere pittance first received for the manuscript. In all London has received about five
The volume known as "A Daughter of the Snows" was written at the request of the Macmillan Company, who advanced the author one hundred and fifty dollars per month, in order that he might write continuously on the story. This was London's first successful novel.
In personal appearance London is not especially striking. He has light curly hair, blue eyes, square face, firm-set chin, and rather prominent cheek bones. He is of medium height, and now weighs about one hundred and sixty pounds. He is agile and strong, his training on the seas having strongly developed the athletic in him. In dress he is not fastidious, and is very averse to social functions. He cannot be coaxed into a dress suit. His favorite costume is the bicycle suit with sweater or neglige shirt.
There are two striking features of Jack London's career. The one is the tenacity with which, even in the most adverse circumstances, he worked his ideal as a literary artist. The other is his wonderful success in putting a romantic and checkered experience into books so acceptable to the reading public.
Throughout his works are to be found unmistakable traces of the motive of his work. There is a growing sympathy with humanity. There is hatred of sham and pretense, of meanness and selfishness. While he consciously portrays the horrible, and uses it as a means of arousing the interest of his readers, yet, in his extended novels, the good and the true find ultimately a setting of peace and happiness. While the selfish as Mercedes, Hal, and Charles in "The Call of the Wild," or Carter Wetherbee and Percy Cuthfert in "The Son of a Wolf" go down to the miserable deaths which their meanness had prepared for them, yet London always has a noble touch for the strong, rough, good-hearted characters of the Northland. One feels that it is a righteous will that permits Buck of "The Call of the Wild" to earn the life of bliss which finally came to him as leader of the wild wolfpack of the Northland.
There is a deep spiritual significance in the mysterious voice that beckoned the great, shaggy Buck back to the land of primordial life. In this call do we not ourselves hear a voice from out the illimitable deep, a voice for those who possess the "restless, unsatisfied longing," who have the eternal aspiration for the life that now lives for us only in shadowy dreams, the life that is to be?
Jack London himself has this infinite aspiration, this longing for the unattainable. It is this which marks him as a strong writer in the new school of literature which is the product of the twentieth century.
| Jack London | |