Debs and London

In July of 1894, Terre Haute’s Eugene V. Debs was clapped into the Cook County Jail in Chicago for his part in the Pullman strike, one of the most famous labor struggles in American history. He was soon released but later stood trial for contempt and was sentenced to six months in the Woodstock jail north of Chicago. Debs scholars have seen this event in his public career as a turning point.

Debs was forty years old. He would go on to lead the Socialist Party of America and run five times for President of the United States. Debs was surrounded by the press of the world as he entered and left jail.

Across the country in Buffalo, New York, on a date close to Debs’s incarceration, Jack London was having his hair clipped short, his mustache removed and the ragged clothes he was wearing traded in for convict stripes. He was chained to another prisoner and marched lock-step into the Erie County Penitentiary on June 29, 1894. London had been found guilty of vagrancy.

Unceremoniously thrown into prison as a “Tramp,” London served thirty days and experienced the horrors common to the corrupt prisons of the day. In this penitentiary he became a part of what he would later call “the shambles of the bottom of the Social Pit.” Debs would later describe the rats and the vermin sharing his cell in the Cook County Jail; London held his experience at arms length and would only note the occurrence of “unprintable details.”

Upon leaving this “Social Pit,” he was, in his words, living “on the ragged edge of nonentity,” an anonymous hobo. After months of riding the rails through Canada, London found his way back to his home in Oakland, destitute but determined. London was eighteen years old.

Writing about this time in his life, London said, “I ran back to California and opened the books.” Among the books he opened were works by Karl Marx and socialist philosophers. Long hours of passionate study and a life led on the hard side of the fence led him to Socialism. On Christmas day 1895, the San Francisco Examiner published London’s short essay, “What Socialism Is.” A colorful profile accompanying London’s piece called him “The Boy Socialist.”

And is “The Boy Socialist,” the tramp on the road, the kid wrongly convicted of being a vagrant who did hard time, are any parts of these Jack Londons to be found in “The Call of the Wild”?

Many reading “The Call of the Wild” are aware of the fact that London was a part of the stampede north into the Yukon gold fields in 1897. And most recognize that what he brought back from the north wasn’t gold. London returned instead with rich observations of raw nature and stories, true and tall, told around camp fires and shared in the rough miner’s town of Dawson City. We find these riches now in “The Call of the Wild.”

But it is also worth thinking about what Jack London carried with him to the Yukon as well as what he found there. We know this voracious reader and self-taught student of life took two books along, Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” and John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.”

Open “The Call of the Wild” to any page and Darwin’s influence can usually be found–themes of struggle, adaptation, and survival abound. And the atheist Jack London reading the Christian Milton might well have fixed on these famous passages from “Paradise Lost”:

“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n.”

“Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav’n.”

Milton’s influence might be seen coming through in Buck– his “imagination” and his choosing the free, albeit violent, “hell” of nature rather than the obedience and boredom of civilization.

And those dark memories of “the shambles of the bottom of the Social Pit”? Was the Erie County prison a place where a kind of “Law of Club and Fang” also prevailed? And “The Boy Socialist,” filled with the theories of Marx and hard hours of work in the canneries on the docks of San Francisco? Did the personalities and work ethic of Buck’s sled dog “comrades” resemble what London had seen in the struggles early in his life, men of all kinds and character tied to assembly lines like sled dogs of varied traits and spirit harnessed in the traces?

London’s hero early, late and always was Eugene V. Debs. Is it a stretch to imagine some of Debs in John Thornton, the only human being Buck ever really trusted and loved as an equal?

If there is any truth in this last interpretation, Jack London paid Debs a very high tribute. In turn, Debs in a published eulogy at the time of London’s death at age forty, would write, “I felt the great heart of him, loved him, read nearly everything he wrote, and rejoiced in applauding his genius.”
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from Terre Haute Tribune Star, March 22, 2009

"Blurbers" Revealed

Blurb #1: “My wife read Jack London stories to me on my death bed. Thank you, Nadeszhda.”–Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
If you’re not Don Layton, or if you haven’t read much about the Russian Revolution, then you probably don’t recognize Mr. Ulyanov as the revolutionary leader, V.I. Lenin. I’ll come clean and admit that Lenin didn’t send this blurb from beyond his cold grave. But the facts are true, reported in Nadeszhda’s [Lenin's wife] memoir, only the blurb is fabricated. Jack London, by the way, was the most read and honored American author in all the Soviet Union.

Blurb #2: “Jack London’s great theme is the cruelty of Nature. Life is a savage struggle, and victory has nothing to do with justice.”–Eric Blair

Now consider this line by Eric Blair: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face–forever.” And then this excerpt from an author Blair valued highly: “...no appeal...can ever touch you. Your hearts are as hard as your heels as they tread upon the faces of the poor.”

Eric Blair’s pen name was George Orwell. The first of these boot quotations is from Orwell’s famous dystopian novel, “1984.” Those hard-hearted heels on the faces of the poor? This is from Jack London’s disturbing novel, “The Iron Heel,” written in 1908. Orwell also wrote “Animal Farm,” a novel filled with animals acting like people (and one, Old Napoleon, definitely resembles Lenin).

And finally, bringing the endorsements up-to-date, if not necessarily to a higher plane, we have this for your consideration:

Blurb #3: “I read it [“The Call of the Wild”] when I was eight. It’s about my favorite place in the world.”–Samuel Wurzelbacher

Sam, Sam, the next thing you’re going to tell us is how honored you would be to serve as Vice-President in a Sarah Palin administration. Joe the Plumber/Samuel Wurzelbacher’s first book, with co-author Tom Tabback, “Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream,” was just released. I haven’t read it so I can’t report on boots or animals in “Joe’s” work.

It’s clear that London’s writing and “The Call of the Wild” has appeal that is wide and deep. The Big Read is hoping to expand this circle to include readers open to a tale wise and haunting

And the bonus question? -- The beautiful woman in the Blurber quiz post is Jack London's second wife, Charmian. Here she is with Jack in Hawaii. London sometimes called her "Woman Companion," a "type" of woman he contrasted with the "Woman Mother" "type." You might think of this labeling as sexism 1900 style. London should have been wiser about these things. He personally knew the great feminist writer and philosopher of the day, Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Any thoughts on the meager presentation of women (human, canine, canine/human) in "The Call of the Wild"?

Name that "Blurber"

How does London do it? It’s art. It’s magic. It’s reading.

Put quotation marks around that last paragraph and it sounds like a blurb, one of those instant endorsements you see on the back of book covers. Shamelessly, I could claim it came from a Big Read supporter, say, Larry Bird, Michelle Obama, Duke Bennett, Bradgelina.

So here’s a short quiz. Name the authors of these authentic “The Call of the Wild” blurbs (the names attached are authentic, but not the monikers by which they are best known.

Blurb #1: “My wife read Jack London stories to me on my death bed. Thank you, Nadeszhda.”–Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov

Blurb #2: “Jack London’s great theme is the cruelty of Nature. Life is a savage struggle, and victory has nothing to do with justice.”–Eric Blair

Blurb #3: “I read it [“The Call of the Wild”] when I was eight. It’s about my favorite place in the world.”–Samuel Wurzelbacher

And as a bonus, name the woman above who was very much a part of Jack London's life.

Answers will be posted tomorrow.

Hal, Charles and Mercedes -- Any Sympathy Out There

NYT March 13, 2009

Dog Sledding in Montana’s Wilderness
By GREG BREINING

DOG sledding is an exercise in changed states, of chaos turning to order. One moment dogs were barking, yapping, whining, snarling, scrapping, jumping, biting and all the other things dogs do. The next moment they were straining at the gang line, and with a burst of acceleration, all turned silent but for the hiss of the runners on the snow and the sound of my own exhilarated breathing. . . .
GO HERE

If your dog sled is gathering dust in the garage, if eight to twelve huskies are too many mouths to feed in these perilous economic times, if you can’t afford a “Hal, Charles and Mercedes” type trip to Yellowstone, there’s still a way to get your Mush! Fix. On April 9, the Big Read will feature a program “Iditarod with Karen Land.” Ms. Land is an Indiana native and a three-time Iditatod sled dog race participant.

More details later. In the meantime, read “The Call of the Wild” and post your views on the characters “Hal, Charles and Mercedes” right here.

Not Just for Kids - Part 2

[In our youth we read] under the influence of innocence. We turn an important corner in life when we read under the influence of knowing.

All can agree that years of life provide each reader a store of experiences. We develop a consciousness about the deeper meanings of life, change, resistance, persistence, death and much more. To read “The Call of the Wild” today is to read a classic through this glass of experience, through all that life and history has thrown our way.

For us today, London’s masterpiece becomes a fresh, engaging book of ideas as well as a story of adventure with a satisfying resolution. Our maturity transforms the story of Buck into something broader and deeper. Can you read the following passage with attention and not be brought up short?

“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad on a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, . . .”

So be forewarned. Reading or re-reading Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild” through your life’s own personal prism, with honesty and curiosity, is not an exercise for the timid. Reading deeply never is.

Full Terre Haute Tribune Star column here.

Mild Rant on Non-Reading

The NEA has fully documented a critical decline in reading for pleasure among American adults. Who can argue with the obvious?

A few facts, and then I’ll shut up about the embarrassing, non-reading scourge spread-eagled across this nation. In the five minutes it takes to read this column (if you finish it), you will have logged exactly half the time the average 15- to 24-year-old now spends reading for pleasure each day.

And if you’re over twenty-four, have never played a video game and think MySpace is a craft outlet store, what do these reading studies have to say about you? To use the hackneyed grabber expression we hear every day on sensationalist TV news: “You won’t believe . . . .” Believe it. Reading is down, way down, for every age group.

It’s all there and more in the gruesome statistics of two NEA reports: “Reading at Risk” and “To Read Or Not to Read.” You tell me, can this be a good thing?

Full Terre Haute Tribune Star article HERE

Jack London wrote 1000 words a day--add it up

I don’t know about you, but I never fail to be amazed by the volume of work some authors turn out in the course of their careers.

The passing of John Updike on January 28, 2009, leaves a yawning hole in American letters. Updike published over 60 books along with reams of essays, poetry and art criticism in his storied career. Each day he sat down to write he ended up with three pages of work.

Joyce Carol Oates, quite likely the United States’ next Nobel for literature recipient, writes in longhand, working from “8 till 1 every day, then again for two or three hours in the evening." I haven’t seen a count toting up her production lately, but novels, essays, criticism pour like a flooding river on steroids from her genius pen. She probably just finished another work as you were reading this.

Isaac Asimov, however, is easily the Prince of the Prolific. According to his Wikipedia entry, he wrote or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 9,000 letters and postcards. Postcards? The guy probably filled whole mail drop boxes with them each day of his life. His subject matter ran the spectrum of science to Shakespeare, the Bible to a late in life book, The Sensuous Dirty Old Man.

How about Jack London? Facts, comments and thoughts on the volume of his literary and journalistic production?

Wolf to Woof or Woof to Wolf?

If you thought you knew the answer to this question, maybe you should think again.

GO HERE

Jack London’s famous “Buck” in The Call of the Wild is an interesting mixed breed. What is Buck’s pedigree? Do Woof/Wolves of this sort really exist? If you can, post pictures of what Buck looked like in the comment section of this blog.

Do you think Buck would find a place in this week’s famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City? Somehow I doubt that Jack London, and certainly not Buck, would be all that concerned if he wasn’t allowed to prance with the poodles. But I don’t know this for a fact. After all, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show came on the scene in 1877, twenty-six years before London’s book was written.

GO HERE to see Buck’s competition.

Not Just for Kids

An Interview with Sara S. Hodson

On August 28, 2007, Adam Kampe of the National Endowment for the Arts interviewed Jack London scholar Sara S. Hodson, curator of literary manuscripts at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. An excerpt from their conversation follows.

AK: Why is The Call of the Wild still considered a worldwide classic?

SH: The Call of the Wild is a timeless book in that it’s appropriate, useful, and enjoyable to read for anyone at any age at any time. It is a book about survival, and survival is an issue for everyone no matter whether we’re surviving a day in the office, a hard day of manual labor, a bad relationship, or the Klondike without fire or food. A story of survival speaks to all of us, because it makes us look within. Would I have what it takes to survive in that kind of environment? What would happen to me? It lets you imagine yourself in that circumstance.
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Why The Call of the Wild is classified by some and dismissed by others as a “young adult” book is a mystery to me. Sara Hodson seems to have it right in calling London’s classic “enjoyable to read for anyone at any age at any time.”

What do you think?
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