Jack London Essay, Research Paper
Jack London fought his way up out of the factories and waterfront dives of West Oakland to become the highest paid, most popular novelist and short story writer of his day. He wrote passionately and prolifically about the great questions of life and death, the struggle to survive with dignity and integrity, and he wove these elemental ideas into stories of high adventure based on his own firsthand experiences at sea, or in Alaska, or in the fields and factories of California. As a result, his writing appealed not to the few, but to millions of people all around the world.
Along with his books and stories, however, Jack London was widely known for his personal exploits. He was a celebrity, a colorful and controversial personality who was often in the news. Generally fun-loving and playful, he could also be combative, and was quick to side with the underdog against injustice or oppression of any kind. He was a fiery and eloquent public speaker, and much sought after as a lecturer on socialism and other economic and political topics. Despite his avowed socialism, most people considered him a living symbol of rugged individualism, a man whose fabulous success was due not to special favor of any kind, but to a combination of unusual mental ability and immense vitality.
Strikingly handsome, full of laughter, restless and courageous to a fault, always eager for adventure on land or sea, he was one of the most attractive and romantic figures of his time.
Jack London ascribed his literary success largely to hard work – to “dig,” as he put it. He tried never to miss his early morning 1,000-word writing stint, and between 1900 and 1916 he completed over fifty books, including both fiction and non-fiction, hundreds of short stories, and numerous articles on a wide range of topics. Several of the books and many of the short stories are classics of their kind, well thought of in critical terms and still popular around the world. Today, almost countless editions of London’s writings are available and some of them have been translated into as many as seventy different languages.
In addition to his daily writing stint and his commitments as a lecturer, London also carried on voluminous correspondence (he received some 10,000 letters per year), read proofs of his work as it went to press, negotiated with his various agents and publishers, and conducted other business such as overseeing construction of his custom-built sailing ship, the Snark (1906 – 1907), construction of Wolf House (1910 – 1913), and the operation of his beloved Beauty Ranch, which became a primary preoccupation after about 1911. Along with all this, he had to continually generate new ideas for books and stories and do the research so necessary to his writing.
Somehow, he managed to do all these things and still find time to go swimming, horseback riding, or sailing on San Francisco Bay. He also spent 27 months cruising the South Pacific in the Snark, put in two tours of duty as an overseas war correspondent, traveled widely for pleasure, entertained a continual stream of guests whenever he was at home in Glen Ellen, and did his fair share of barroom socializing and debating. In order to fit all this living into the narrow confines of one lifetime, he often tried to make do with no more than four or five hours of sleep at night.
London was first attracted to the Sonoma Valley by its magnificent natural landscape, a unique combination of high hills, fields and streams, and a beautiful mixed forest of oaks, madrones, California buckeyes, Douglas Fir, and redwood trees. “When I first came here, tired of cities and people, I settled down on a little farm … 130 acres of the most beautiful, primitive land to be found in California.” He didn’t care that the farm was badly run-down. Instead, he reveled in its deep canyons and forests, its year-round springs and streams. “All I wanted,” he said later, “was a quiet place in the country to write and loaf in and get out of Nature that something which we all need, only the most of us don’t know it.” Soon, however, he was busy buying farm equipment and livestock for his “mountain ranch.” He also began work on a new barn and started planning a fine new house. “This is to be no summer-residence proposition,” he wrote to his publisher in June 1905, “but a home all the year round. I am anchoring good and solid, and anchoring for keeps …”
Born January 12, 1876, he was only 29, but he was already internationally famous for Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea Wolf (1904), and other literary and journalistic accomplishments. He was divorced from Bessie (Maddern), his first wife and the mother of his two daughters, Joan and Little Bess, and he had married Charmian (Kittredge).
Living and owning land near Glen Ellen was a way of escaping from Oakland – from the city way of life he called the “man-trap.” But excited as he was about his plans for the ranch, London was still too restless, too eager for foreign travel and adventure, to settle down and spend all his time there. While his barn and other ranch improvements were still under construction he decided to build a ship and go sailing around the world – exploring, writing, adventuring – enjoying the “big moments of living” that he craved and that would give him still more material to write about.
The great voyage was to last seven years and take Jack and Charmian around the world. In fact it lasted 27 months and took them “only” as far as the South Pacific and Australia. Discouraged by a variety of health problems, and heartbroken about having to abandon the trip and sell the Snark, London returned to Glen Ellen and to his plans for the ranch.
In 1909, ‘10 and ‘11 he bought more land, and in 1911 moved from Glen Ellen to a small ranch house in the middle of his holdings. He rode horseback throughout the countryside, exploring every canyon, glen and hill top. And he threw himself into farming – scientific agriculture – as one of the few justifiable, basic, and idealistic ways of making a living. A significant portion of his later writing – Burning Daylight (1910), Valley of the Moon (1913), Little Lady of the Big House (1916) – had to do with the simple pleasures of country life, the satisfaction of making a living directly and honestly from the land and thereby remaining close to the realities of the natural world.
Jack and Charmian London’s dream house began to take definite shape early in 1911 as Albert Farr, a well-known San Francisco architect, put their ideas on paper in the form of drawings and sketches, and then supervised the early stages of construction. It was to be a grand house – one that would remain standing for a thousand years. By August 1913, London had spent approximately $80,000 (in pre-World War I dollars), and the project was nearly complete. On August 22 final cleanup got underway and plans were laid for moving the Londons’ specially designed, custom-built furniture and other personal belongings into the mansion. That night – at 2 a. m. – word came that the house was burning. By the time the Londons arrived on the scene the house was ablaze in every corner, the roof had collapsed, and even a stack of lumber some distance away was burning. Nothing could be done.
London looked on philosophically, but inside he was seriously wounded, for the loss was a crushing financial blow and the wreck of a long-cherished dream. Worse yet, he also had to face the probability that the fire had been deliberately set – perhaps by someone close to him. To this day, the mystery remains unsolved, but there are strong indications that the fire started by spontaneous combustion of oily rags which had been left in the building on that hot August night. London planned to rebuild Wolf House eventually, but at the time of his death in 1916 the house remained as it stands today, the stark but eloquent vestige of a unique and fascinating but shattered dream.
The destruction of the Wolf House left London terribly depressed, but after a few days he forced himself to go back to work. Using a $2,000 advance from Cosmopolitan Magazine, he added a new study to the little wood-frame ranch house in which he had been living since 1911. Here, in the middle of his beloved ranch, he continued to turn out the articles, short stories, and novels for which there was an ever-growing international market.
From the time he went east to meet with his publishers in New York, or to San Francisco or Los Angeles on other business. He also spent a considerable amount of time living and working aboard his 30-foot yawl, the Roamer, which he loved to sail around San Francisco Bay and throughout the nearby Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In 1914 he went to Mexico as a war correspondent covering the role of U.S. troops and Navy ships in the Villa-Carranza revolt.
In 1915 and again in 1916 Charmian persuaded him to spend several months in Hawaii, where he seemed better able to relax and more willing to take care of himself. His greatest satisfaction, however, came from his ranch activities and from his ever more ambitious plans for expanding the ranch and increasing its productivity. These plans kept him perpetually in debt and under intense pressure to keep on writing as fast as he could, even though it might mean sacrificing quality in favor of quantity.
His doctors urged him to ease up, to change his work habits and his diet, to stop all use of alcohol, and to get more exercise. But he refused to change his way of life, and plunged on with his writing and his ranch, generously supporting friends and relations through it all. If anything, the press of his financial commitments and his increasingly severe health problems only made him expand his ambitions, dream even larger dreams, and work still harder and faster.
On November 22, 1916, Jack London died of gastrointestinal uremic poisoning. He was 40 years of age and had been suffering from a variety of ailments, including a kidney condition that was extraordinarily painful at times. Nevertheless, right up to the last day of his life he was full of bold plans and boundless enthusiasm for the future.
Автор множества рассказов и романов, чьи произведения романтически описывают всепобеждающую силу природы и борьбу за выживание. Лондоновское отождествление с дикой природой сделало его популярным среди движения "зеленых". Его левые взгляды видны в утопии "Железная пята" (1908). "Джон Ячменное Зерно" (1913), в котором описаны запои Лондона, связывает его с такими более поздними авторами -соотечественниками, как Чарльз Буковски и Джек Керуак. С другой стороны, взгляды автора о превосходстве белых и социал-дарвинизм относят его к ультраправым консерваторам.
«За выдумку платят лучше всего, и когда она хорошо сработана, ее легче всего продать. Хорошую шутку купят быстрее, чем хорошую поэму, и, если мерить кровью и потом, за лучшие деньги. Избегай печального финала, грубости, жестокости, трагизма, ужасов, если хочешь видеть вещи, которые пишешь, напечатанными. (Вот почему не делайте, как я делаю, делайте, как я говорю). Юмор писать тяжелее всего, легче всего продать, лучше всего оплачивается… Не пишите слишком много. Сосредоточьте усилия на одном рассказе вместо того, чтобы распыляться на дюжину. Не бездельничайте, зазывая вдохновение, гонитесь за ним с дубиной на перевес, а если не догоните, тем не менее все равно получите кое-что удивительно похожее на него. («Как печататься», 1903 г. журнал «Эдитор»).
Джек Лондон родился в Сан-Франциско. Отец, бродячий астролог «профессор» Вильям Генри Чейни, бросил его, он воспитывался в Окленде матерью - Флорой Веллман, учителем музыки и спиритисткой. Его отчим Джон Лондон, чью фамилию он взял, был обанкротившимся лавочником. Юность Лондона прошла в нужде. В десятилетнем возрасте он пристрастился к чтению и брал книги в Оклендской публичной библиотеке, где Айна Кулбёрс (Ina Coolbirth) советовала ему произведения Флобера, Толстого и других великих романистов.
В 14 лет покинув школу Лондон был моряком, бродяжничал, путешествуя на товарных поездах, и усвоил социалистические взгляды, будучи членом «Армии протеста» безработных. В 1984 он был арестован в Ниагаре и заключен в тюрьму за бродяжничество. Эти годы укрепили его в стремлении выйти из нужды, а также впоследствии дали материал для его книги «Морской волк» (1904), который частично основывался на ужасающем морском опыте в Тихом океане. «Дорога» (1907), сборник коротких рассказов, впоследствии вдохновил таких писателей, как Стейнбек и Керуак.
Недополучив образования официального, Лондон проводил много времени в публичных библиотеках за чтением беллетристики, поэзии, книг по философии, политологии, и в 19 лет поступил в Калифорнийский университет в Беркли. В это время он уже начал писать. Его первой большой любовью стала Мэйбл Эпплгейт, девушка из обеспеченной семьи, которая стала прообразом Руфи Морзе в романе «Мартин Иден» (1909). Позже Лондон писал Анне Струнски, второй любви в его жизни: «Её добродетели вели ее в никуда. Работа? Она не работала. Ее культура была налетом на поверхности, глубиной из глубин в пределах ее мелководья».
Не прошло и года, как Лондон покинул учебу и в 1897 г. отправился ловить фортуну посреди золотая лихорадки на Клондайке. Попытка была неудачной. Лондон провел зиму недалеко от Доусона, страдая от цинги. Весной он вернулся в Сан-Франциско. Его записная книжка была полна набросков будущих рассказов.
Остаток 1998 года Лондон провел в попытках заработать на жизнь ремеслом писателя. Его ранние рассказы вышли в ежемесячных журналах «Оверленд Мансли» и «Атлантик Мансли». В 1900 году он женился на Элизабет Маддерн; их дом стал полем битвы между Бесс и матерью Лондона Флорой. Три года спустя он покинул ее и их двух дочерей, чтобы жениться на редакторе и путешественнице Чармиан Киттридж. Брак с ней длился до смерти Лондона. Чармиан послужила прообразом характеров лондоновских героинь, таких как Паула в «Маленькой хозяйке большого дома» (1916 г.).
В 1901 году Лондон безрезультатно баллотировался от Социалистической партии на пост мэра Окленда. Он начинает упорно писать новеллы, очерки и короткие рассказы, становясь при жизни одним из самых известных авторов. До этого Лондон создал собственную систему вырабатывать ежедневную норму в тысячу слов. Он не отступал от нее даже во время своих путешествий и запоев. Первая повесть Лондона, «Сын волка», появилась в 1900 году. К 1904 году Лондон был автором десяти книг. У «Сына волка» было множество читателей, также как и у других «северных» произведений: «Зов предков», в котором домашний пес Бак обретает на Юконе природный инстинкт выживания, «Белый клык» (1906) и «Время не ждет» («Burning Daylight», 1910).
«Есть экстаз, знаменующий собою вершину жизни, высшее напряжение
жизненных сил. И парадоксально то, что экстаз этот есть полнота ощущения
жизни и в то же время - полное забвение себя и всего окружающего. Такой
самозабвенный восторг приходит к художнику-творцу в часы вдохновения. Он
охватывает воина на поле брани, и воин в упоении боя разит без пощады. В
таком именно экстазе Бак во главе стаи, с древним победным кличем волков,
гнался за добычей, мчавшейся впереди в лунном свете. Экстаз этот исходил из
неведомых ему самому недр его существа, возвращая его в глубину времен.
Жизнь кипела в нем, вставала бурным разливом, и каждый мускул, каждая жилка
играли, были в огне, и радость жизни претворялась в движение, в эту
исступленную скачку под звездами по мертвой, застывшей от холода земле». («Зов предков»).
В 1902 году Лондон приехал в Англию, где познавал оборотную сторону Британской империи: условия жизни в Ист-Энде и рабочих кварталах столицы. Первоначально он собирался в Южную Африку для репортажей с англо-бурской войны. Его книга об экономическом упадке и бедняках «Люди бездны» (1903 г.) имела неожиданный успех в Соединенных Штатах, но подверглась критике в Англии. Лондон создал этот классический образец репортажа-исследования за семь недель. Во время мучительной разлуки с супругой в 1904 г. он отправляется в Корею в качестве корреспондента газеты Хёрста для освещения русско-японской войны (1904-1905). Год спустя он публикует первый сборник документальных работ «Война классов», которая содержит его очерки о социализме. В 1907 Лондон и Чармиан отправились на борту «Снарка», небольшого парусника, построенного по проекту самого Лондона, в кругосветное плавание. На борту он начал писать роман «Мартин Иден». Испытывая большие трудности из-за неумелого капитана и плохо построенного судна, они прервали путешествие в Австралии. Финансы Лондона были в беспорядке, зубы постоянно болели, и он начал покупать наброски у начинающего писателя Синклера Льюиса, чтобы написать и продать больше рассказов и статей.
В 1910 году Лондон приобретает большой земельный участок близ г. Глен–Эллен в Сонома Каунти (Калифорния) и направляет свои усилия и финансы на улучшение и расширение своего ранчо «Бьюти». Он также много путешествует и ведет репортажи о мексиканской революции. В 1913 году все еще недостроенное ранчо сгорает; доктор сообщает ему, что отказывают почки. По некоторым сведениям, лондоновский «дом мечты» подожгли умышленно, и он не был застрахован.
Среди главных работ Лондона стоят «Морской волк» (1904), запоминающийся ницшеанским духом героя; роман-утопия «Железная пята» (1908); «Путешествие на Снарке» (1911), описание плавания по Тихому океану; полуавтобиографический «Мартин Иден». «Не подозревая о нуждах других, о нуждах всего общества», писал Лондон, «Мартин Иден жил только для себя, боролся только для себя и, если угодно, умер для себя».Главное действующее лицо с библейским именем (англ. «Edene» - Эдем, рай) - необразованный моряк, грубоватый пария, который стремится заработать состояние и получить статус в обществе, используя тягу к писательскому мастерству. Его влечет к Руфи Морзе, женщине, у которой есть все, как ему кажется, что он хочет от супруги - красота, обаяние, богатство. Прототипом Бриссендена, друга Идена, послужил Джордж Стерлинг, малоизвестный романтический поэт и близкий друг Лондона. К Идену приходи успех с его рассказом «Запоздалый». Он разочаровывается в жизни, возвращается в море уже в качестве пассажира первого класса на лайнере «Марипоза» и кончает с собой, выбросившись за борт в открытом море. «Возможно, Ницше был прав. Возможно, истины нет ни в чем, нет истины и в самой истине и это понятие – истина – просто выдумка. Но он быстро устал размышлять, с удовольствием опять уселся в шезлонг и задремал. […]. И вот он где-то внизу, рухнул во тьму. Это он еще понял. Рухнул во тьму. И в миг, когда осознал это, сознание оборвалось». Критика оценила книгу как провал и спад литературной известности Лондона.
За несколько месяцев до смерти Лондон вышел из Социалистической партии. Долги, алкоголизм, болезнь и страх потерять творческие силы – все это омрачало последние годы жизни писателя. Он скончался 22 ноября 1916 года, по официальной версии - от желудочно-кишечной уремии. Хотя блуждали слухи о самоубийстве Лондона при помощи морфия, но два найденных пузырька не содержали смертельной дозы, особенно для того, кто принимал морфий как обезболивающее. «Джек Лондон никогда не был оригинальным мыслителем. Он был, физически и интеллектульно, великим поглощателем мира. Он был из тех писателей, кто идет в какое-то место и пишет свои мечты о нем, кто находит там Идею, и обвивает свой дух вокруг него.» (Л. Доктороу, The New York Times, 11.12.1988).
В литературе образцами для Лондона были Киплинг, Стивенсон. На него также повлияли теории Дарвина, Спенсера, Маркса и Ницше. В последние годы Лондон читал работы Юнга. Он значительно повлиял на таких писателей, как Хемингуэй, Керуак, Руарк. Аптона Синклера часто называют литературным последователем Лондона.
Jack London took his place in American literature at the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time, the library shelves and bookshops of America were already full of books by well-known authors.
But Jack London’s stories were new stories: his heroes were not like heroes in books by famous authors, and the pictures he painted were not the same as their pictures. The men in his books live a difficult life, a life full of danger.
In the terrible world that Jack London shows us in his stories, a man who makes even the smallest mistake must fall and die in the snow. But his people are afraid of nothing, and nothing can stop them.
People in books by London never lose hope: they never stop fighting for life, even when the end seems near. That is the lesson every man and woman must learn – that in everything we want and everything we do, if we do not lose hope, we must and will win.
Jack London. The Biography (part 1)
Jack London’s credo
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them, I shall use my time.»
– Jack London 1876-1916
Кредо Джека Лондона (в переводе на русский язык)
Я предпочел бы гореть ярким пламенем, а не задыхаться от пыли. Я бы предпочел быть сверкающим метеором, а не спящей и вечной планетой. Человек должен жить, а не существовать. Я не собираюсь тратить свои дни, пытаясь продлить свое существование. Я тороплюсь ЖИТЬ!
Jack London’s life was not easy. And it was not long – he lived less than forty years. But he saw more and did more during those years than many other men see and do in almost a century.
Jack London was born in San Francisco, California, in 1876. His father was poor, and there were many other children in the family. They always needed money, and Jack, who was older than the other children, had to help as much as he could. When he was only eight years old, he was already selling newspapers and going to school at the same time. But after a few years, he had to leave school and go to work.
Like many other poor boys in California, he found work on the ships that went from America to the countries of the East, and to the islands of the South Seas. There he saw wonderful places: beautiful green islands in the endless blue sea, and high mountains that threw red fire into the black night sky. But the ships paid boys very little, and when Jack came back to California he had almost northing.
So he left home again, this time to look for work in the big cities of the United States, and in the great forests and on the great lakes and rivers of Canada. He never had a day’s rest and he worked from morning to night. But when the day’s work was over, he listens to the men’s jokes and their conversations about places and people, about workers and revolution.
When he came home again, Jack London was full of a new idea. He was going to become a writer. “I have been to such wonderful places and I have heard such interesting stories,” he thought. “I am sure they will be interesting to other people too.”
But to his surprise, when he tried to write, he couldn’t make the words tell the stories. His language was poor and it was full of mistakes, because he did not know grammar. “I never learned English,” he thought, “because I couldn’t go to school. But why can’t I go to school now? The pupils will be surprised when they see somebody so much older in the class room. But I’ll be ashamed when I can’t pronounce difficult words. But my memory isn’t bad, and if they can study physics and mathematics and biology, I can too. And I’ll learn English together with science!”
And he did! He learned from his teachers and from other pupils, but most of all, he learned from books. He read all the books on the shelves of the school library and the city library. He read all afternoon, and he sat half the night with a book or a textbook in front of him and a large dictionary at his side. As he read novels by well-known authors, he tried to notice the words they used and how they used them: he tried to discover the secrets of their art.
If you study English, find in the text and read aloud:
a) the sentences in the text about the places that Jack London visited:
b) the sentences that explain what is new in his stories:
* * *
Jack London. The Biography (part 2)
«I haven’t enough time to learn so slowly.»
Pupils went to high school for two years, but Jack London finished high school in three months. He even went to college for a short time, but then he decided not to continue. “I haven’t enough money to study,” he thought, “And I haven’t enough time to learn so slowly. I have always learned more from great thinkers than from lectures at college.”
Day after day, month after month, he wrote: short stories, poems, plays. But nobody noticed him: the magazines refused to publish his works. At first, Jack was helpless and angry, but then he said:” Perhaps they are right. I haven’t yet become a writer. But I haven’t lost this fight – no, I am only beginning.” Often he had no money, and he had to stop writing and look for work. But soon as he had some money, he stopped working and began to write again.
In 1896, when Jack London was twenty years old, gold was discovered in Alaska. The whole world suddenly became interested in this cold country, where almost nobody lived. Men who usually never went near a library began to go there, to study maps of the “new” country, its history and geography.
There were thousands and even millions of men in America who thought of Alaska, who wanted to go
there, but who could not decide to leave their homes in the south. Jack London was not one of them. He bought a ticket on the first ship to the North. He wanted to see the life of the thousands of men who came to look for gold in the mountains and rivers. Perhaps only a few could find gold, but they all hoped to be the lucky man.
Like the other men who came to Alaska, Jack hadn’t enough food, and he had no vegetables or fruit. At first, he didn’t think about what he was eating, and he refused to think that he was not well. But at last he became seriously ill, and he had to come back home to San Francisco.
He came back without gold, but with something better the yellow metal: in his memory was the whole rich world of the Far North. His life there, his conversations with people he met and the stories they told him were enough for a whole library of books. He remembered everything, and now he knew how to write!
He began again. When he was twenty three, a small magazine agreed to publish his stories: soon, well-known, important magazines invited him to write for them.
Who can say why a writer becomes popular? At the end of the 19 th century, book usually told about gentlemen in high hats and ladies in beautiful clothes, who always used the best language when they spoke. Jack London’s stories were about men who fought with animals and each other, who lived for months without daylight, and then for months without night, men who were left in the endless snow-fields until the wolves came….
Many ladies and gentlemen said: “This is not art!” But there were thousands and thousands who were afraid to know what happened to men in those terrible places, who understand and loved London’s books.
Jack London loved people and was sure that the man is strong and better than anything in the world.
If you study English,
a) try to say what you have learnt about Jack London, his books and his characters
b) say if you like Jack London and why
Jack London (12.01.1876 - 22.11.1916) - American writer.
John Griffith "Jack" London was born on 12 January 1876 in San Francisco. His mother, Flora Wellman, lived in Ohio but then moved to San Francisco where she worked as a music teacher. It also known that she was interested in spiritualism. Some biographers suppose that Jack London’s father was William Chaney who lived with Flora Wellman in San Francisco. It is not known if Flora and William were legally married. The house where Jack London spent his childhood was destroyed after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
In 1885 London read Ouida"s long Victorian novel Signa. Jack London maintained that this book was the beginning of his literary career. In 1886 he became acquainted with Ina Coolbrith who was a librarian in the Oakland Public Library. She encouraged London’s learning.
In 1889 he started working at Hickmott’s Cannery. His working day lasted 12 to 18 hours. Afterwards Jack London bought the sloop Razzle-Dazzle and became an oyster pirate. After a while he came to Oakland and entered Oakland High School where he started writing articles for the school’s magazine, The Aegis. The first work of London was “Typhoon off the Coast of Japan” in which he described his sailing experiences.
In 1896 Jack London entered the University of California, Berkeley but because of financial difficulties he left the university in a year. Jack London spent a lot of time at Heinold’s saloon where he met Alexander McLean. He was a cruel captain whom the character Wolf Larsen in London’s novel is based.
At the age of 21 Jack London joined the Klondike Gold Rush. This period of life was a basis for some of his popular stories but his health declined there. As a result London had the scurvy. All the events in the Klondike were an incitement for him to write a short story “To Build a Fire” which is considered one of his best.
From 1898 Jack London started working intentionally to publish his writings. The first published work was “To the Man on Trail”. When London began his literary career the new printing technologies appeared. Consequently popular magazines became available for many people and in 1900 he could earn $2,500. In 1903 The Saturday Evening Post bought London’s work The call of the Wild for $750. In addition to that he sold the book rights to Macmillan for $2,000 and as a result London achieved a swift success. When London lived in Oakland he became acquainted with poet George Sterling who became his best friend. Sterling was described in London’s autobiographical novel Martin Eden as Russ Brissenden.
Jack London’s first marriage was in 1900. He married Elizabeth “Bessie” Maddern with whom he had two children: Joan and Bessie (later called Becky). But they divorced and London married Charmian Kittredge in 1905. They didn’t have children because the first child died at birth and the second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
Jack London died November 22, 1916. There are a lot of different suppositions about London’s death. Some people consider that he could commit a suicide but his death certificate gives the cause as uremia. His ashes were interred in Jack London State Historic Park, in Glen Ellen, California.
Биография Джека Лондона на английском языке приведена в этой статье.
Джек Лондон биография на английском
Jack London"s full name was John Griffith London, and he was born in San Francisco. After completing grammar school, London worked at various jobs to help support his family. He briefly enrolled in a university and took English classes, for he loved to read and write. However, he was not happy with this formal education and he soon dropped out.
In 1897 and 1898, London, like many other American and Canadian men, went north to Alaska and the Klondike region of Canada to search for gold. This was the Alaska Gold Rush. Although London never found any gold, his experience in the extreme environment of this cold part of the world gave him ideas for the stories he would write when he decided to return to California.
Upon his return to the San Francisco area, he began to write about his experiences.
After winning a writing contest, he succeeded in selling some of his stories and in 1900, he published a collection of his short stories, The Son of the Wolf.
Like Stephen Crane, London wrote in a Naturalistic style, in which a story"s actions and events are caused mainly by man"s internal biological needs, or by the external forces of nature and the environment.
Many of his stories, including his masterpiece The Call of the Wild (1903), deal with civilized man getting back in touch with his deep, animal instincts.
Among London"s most important books were People of the Abyss (1903), written about the poor people of London, England; The Sea Wolf (1904), a novel based on the author"s experiences as a seal hunter; John Barleycorn (1913), an autobiographical novel about his struggle against alcoholism; and The Star Rover (1915), a collection of related stories dealing with reincarnation.
London wrote more than 50 books and enjoyed enormous international popularity as an author. His exciting, often violent and brutal writing style attracted readers from all over the world and his stories and novels were translated into many different > Despite his success, however, alcohol and two broken marriages added to his growing unhappiness. In 1916, at the age of only 40, Jack London committed suicide.
словарь
achieve
- достигать;
добиваться
to achieve success
- добиться успеха
advertise
- рекламировать;
помещать объявления
arrest
- 1. арест, задержание 2. арестовать
to be arrested
- быть арестованным
When was he arrested?
ashamed
- пристыженный
to be ashamed
- стесняться
shame
- 1. стыд 2. стыдить
attempt
- попытка
to make an attempt
- попытаться
audience
- публика, аудитория, зрители (употр. с глаголом в единственном числе);
аудиенция
awful
- ужасный
base
- 1. основа, основание;
база 2. основывать 3. низкий, низменный, подлый
to be based
- быть основанным
Many of London"s stories were based on his own experience.
betray
- изменять, изменять
break (broke, broken) with
- порвать с (кем-либо, чем-либо)
condition
- условие, обстоятельство
conditions of life / living conditions -
условия жизни
conflict
- конфликт, столкновение
contest
- соревнования, соревнования, конкурс
decide
- решать, принимать решения
describe
- описывать, изображать
experience
- 1. (жизненный) опыт;
впечатления, переживания 2. чувствовать, узнавать из опыта
fang
- клык;
корень зуба
frustration
- разочарование;
крах, крах
gain
- 1. прибыль, прирост, выигрыш 2. получать, приобретать
to gain friends
(experience, a wide audience) - приобретать друзей (опыт, широкую аудиторию)
gold rush
- (ист.) золотая лихорадка
heel
- 1. пятая 2. каблук
hope
- надежда, надежда
impulse
- порыв, побуждение, влечение, импульс
individual
- 1. личность, индивидуум 2. личный, индивидуальный, характерный
justice
- справедливость;
правосудия;
юстиция
injustice
- несправедливость
job
- работа, место службы
kind
- 1. хороший 2. сорт, вид, класс, разряд
main
- основной, главный
to move to
- переезжать, переселяться в When did the Browns move to Boston?
- Когда Брауны переехали в Бостон?
movement
- движение
observation
- наблюдение, изучение
observe
- 1. наблюдать, следить за 2. соблюдать
poor
- бедный, неимущий
the poor
- бедные, бедные, неимущие
prison
- тюрьма
quit (quit / quitted, quit / quitted)
- прекращать, бросать, оставлять
realize
- (ясно) понимать, осознавать
reflect
- отображать, отражать
ride (rode, ridden)
- ехать, ездить (верхом, на велосипеде, лошади и т.д.)
sailor
- моряк, матрос
social order
- общественный строй / порядок
storyteller
- рассказчик
struggle for
- борьба за
success
- успех, удача
suicide
- самоубийство
survive
- выжить, уцелеть
theme
- тема
tramp
- 1. бродяга 2. путешествие пешком 3. путешествовать пешком
tuition
- плата за обучение
to turn to smth
- приниматься, браться за что-нибудь
unemployed
- безработный, незанятый
used to
- иметь обычай (в прошлом)
vagrancy
- 1. лишения, бродячая жизнь 2. (юр.) бродяжничество
vagrant
- 1. бродяга, бездельник 2. бродячий, путешествующий
vagabond
- 1. бродяга;
(Разг.) Бездельник 2 бродячий
wild
- дикий
the Wild
- дикая природа