Jack London years of life and death. Jack London

Jack London(English) Jack London; born John Griffith Cheney, John Griffith Chaney; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916) was an American writer, socialist, and public figure, best known as an author of adventure stories and novels. Jack London was the second foreign writer after G. H. Andersen in terms of publishing in the USSR in 1918-1986: the total circulation of 956 publications amounted to 77.153 million copies.

Jack London was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco. His mother, Flora Wellman, was the fifth and last child of the builder of the Pennsylvania Canal, Marshall Wellman, descended in the male line from Thomas Wellman (1615-1672), an English Puritan who settled in Massachusetts. Flora's mother was Welsh Eleanor Garrett Jones. Flora Wellman was a music teacher who was fond of spiritualism. She became pregnant by the astrologer William Cheney, an ethnic Irishman with whom she lived together for some time in San Francisco. Upon learning of Flora's pregnancy, William began to insist that she have an abortion. Flora categorically refused and, in a fit of desperation, tried to shoot herself, but only slightly wounded herself. In the newspapers of that time, a terrible sensation was raised (for example, in the article "Abandoned Wife" in the Chronicle), the name of Professor Cheney was defamed, which subsequently caused him to refuse paternity (in 1897, Jack London sent Cheney several letters in which asked if he was his father or not, but the professor unequivocally denied paternity).

After the birth of the baby, Flora left him for some time in the care of her former slave Virginia Prentiss, who remained for London important person throughout his life. At the end of the same 1876, Flora married John London, an invalid and a veteran of the American Civil War, after which she took the baby back to her. It was then that the boy received the name John London (Jack is a diminutive form of the name John). The London family (John London brought his two daughters into the family, the eldest, Eliza, became Jack's true friend and guardian angel for life) settled in the working-class area of ​​San Francisco, south of Market Street. At this time, the country was gripped by a severe economic crisis that began in 1873, hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs and wandered from city to city in search of odd jobs. Jack's stepfather made several attempts at farming, which were thwarted by Flora, who was always running around with adventurous plans to get rich quick. Constantly in need, the family moved from place to place until they settled in the city of Oakland, neighboring San Francisco, where London eventually graduated from elementary school.

Jack London early began an independent working life full of hardships. As a schoolboy, he sold morning and evening newspapers, worked part-time at the bowling alley, arranging skittles, and also as a cleaner of beer pavilions in the park. After graduating from elementary school, at the age of fourteen, he entered a canning factory as a worker. The work was very hard, and he left the factory, in order, in his words, "finally not turn into a working animal." For $300 borrowed from Virginia (Jenny) Prentiss, he bought a used Razzle Dazzle schooner and became an "oyster pirate": illegally fishing oysters in San Francisco Bay and selling them to restaurants. In those years, there was a poaching "oyster flotilla" there. A fifteen-year-old teenager has fully mastered adult life and even got himself a girlfriend. Thanks to the brave character of Jack (he soon became the "king of the pirates"), he was lured into the service by a fishing patrol, which was just fighting poachers. This period of Jack London's life is dedicated to "Tales of the Fishing Patrol".

In 1893, he was hired as a sailor on the fishing schooner Sophie Sutherland, setting off to catch seals off the coast of Japan and in the Bering Sea. The first voyage gave London many vivid impressions, which later formed the basis of many of his sea stories and novels (The Sea Wolf, etc.). Returning home seven months later, he worked for a time in a jute factory, as an ironer in a laundry, and as a stoker (the novels Martin Eden and John Barleycorn).

London's first essay, "A Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan", for which he received the first prize from a San Francisco newspaper, was published on November 12, 1893, and served as the start of his literary career.

In 1894, he took part in the march of the unemployed to Washington (feature "Hold on!"), Was arrested near Niagara Falls for vagrancy, after which he spent a month in prison in Buffalo ("Straightjacket"). While wandering along the roads with an army of vagabonds, London came to the conclusion that physical labor cannot provide a person with a decent existence and only intellectual labor is valued. At this time, he becomes convinced that he should become a writer. During the campaign, for the first time, he thoroughly acquainted himself with socialist ideas (and, in particular, with the “Manifesto of the Communist Party” of Marx and Engels), which made a huge impression on him. In 1895, he joined the Socialist Labor Party of America, since 1900 (some sources indicate 1901) - a member of the Socialist Party of America, from which he left in 1914 (some sources indicate 1916). In a statement about leaving the party, the reason was the loss of faith in its "fighting spirit" (meaning the party's departure from the path of revolutionary transformation of society and its course on a gradual reformist path to socialism). Returning home, Jack enters high school. In the school magazine "Aegis" he publishes his first socialist essays and stories about the times of his wanderings along the roads of the United States. The pace of learning categorically did not suit him, and he decides to leave school and prepare on his own to enter the University of California.

Having successfully passed the entrance exams, Jack London entered the University of California, but after the 3rd semester, due to lack of funds for his studies, he was forced to leave.

In the spring of 1897, Jack London succumbed to the "gold rush" and left for Alaska. At first, Jack and his comrades were lucky - ahead of many other gold diggers, they were able to break through to the headwaters of the Yukon River and stake out a site. But there was no gold on it, and it was not possible to stake out a new one until spring, and, to top it all off, London fell ill with scurvy during the winter. He returned to San Francisco in 1898, having experienced all the charms of the northern winter. Instead of gold, fate endowed Jack London with meetings with the future heroes of his works.

He began to engage in literature more seriously at the age of 23, after returning from Alaska: the first "northern" stories were published in 1899, and already in 1900 his first book was published - a collection of stories "Son of the Wolf". This was followed by the following collections of short stories: "The God of His Fathers" (Chicago, 1901), "Children of the Frost" (New York, 1902), "Faith in Man" (New York, 1904), "Moon Face" (New York , 1906), The Lost Face (New York, 1910), as well as the novels The Daughter of the Snows (1902), The Sea Wolf (1904), Martin Eden (1909), which brought the writer the widest popularity. The writer worked very hard, 15-17 hours a day, and wrote about 40 books in his entire not very long writing life.

The artistic method of London is expressed primarily in the desire to show a person in a difficult life situation, at the turn of fate, realistic descriptions of circumstances are combined with the spirit of romance and adventure (the author himself defined his style as "inspired realism, imbued with faith in a person and his aspirations"). London's works are characterized by a special poetic language, a quick introduction of the reader into the action of his work, the principle of symmetrical narration, characterization of characters through dialogues and thoughts. He considered R. Stevenson and R. Kipling his literary teachers (although London did not agree with the chauvinistic worldview of the latter, admiring only his stylistic merits). Huge impact on life philosophy the writer was provided by G. Spencer, C. Darwin, K. Marx and F. Engels and, to some extent, F. Nietzsche. Jack London highly appreciated the works of Russian writers, especially M. Gorky (London calls his novel "Foma Gordeev" a "healing book" that "affirms the good").

In 1902 London visited England. A stay in London gave him material for writing the book "People of the Abyss", which was a success in the USA (unlike England). Upon his return to America, he gives lectures in various cities, mostly of a socialist nature, and organizes departments of the “Common Student Society”.

In January 1900, Jack London married the bride of his deceased university friend, Bessie Maddern, who bore him two daughters, Joan and Bess. In the summer of 1903, having fallen in love with Charmian Kittredge, the writer leaves the family and in November 1905 marries her. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. London works as a war correspondent. In 1907, the writer undertakes a round-the-world trip on the Snark ship built according to his own drawings (according to London's plan, the trip was supposed to last 7 years, but was interrupted in 1909 due to the writer's illness). During the journey, rich material was collected for the books The Voyage of the Snark, Tales of the South Seas, and Son of the Sun. By this time, thanks to high fees, London becomes a wealthy person. His fee reached 50 thousand dollars for a book, which was a very large amount. However, the writer himself was constantly short of money.

London's many-sided talent brought him success in writing utopian and science fiction stories. Goliath, Enemy of the World, Scarlet Plague, When the World Was Young and others attract with originality of style, richness of imagination and unexpected moves despite a certain schematicity and incompleteness. Developed intuition and life observations in the country of the “yellow devil” allowed London to foresee and vividly portray the onset of the era of dictators and social upheavals (“Iron Heel” - the formation of an oligarchic dictatorship in the USA), world wars and monstrous inventions that threaten the existence of mankind.

In 1905, the writer purchased a ranch in Glen Ellen (California), which he repeatedly expanded in subsequent years. carried away agriculture, London actively introduced the latest farming methods on its land, trying to create an "ideal farm", which eventually led him to thousands of debts. To cover his debts, the writer was forced to engage in literary day labor, writing low-quality works for the needs of popular magazines (such, according to the author himself, were Adventure, Smoke Bellew). At some point, writing even began to disgust London. In the spring of 1914, on the instructions of the Colliers magazine, he was sent as a war correspondent to Mexico, where he wrote articles justifying US interference in the internal affairs of other states, which caused an uproar from his party comrades.

In recent years, London experienced a creative crisis, in connection with which he began to abuse alcohol (later he quit). Because of the crisis, the writer was even forced to purchase a plot for a new novel. Such a plot was sold to London by the aspiring American writer Sinclair Lewis. London managed to give the future novel the name "The Murder Bureau", but he managed to write very little, as he soon died.

John Cheney, known worldwide as Jack London, died on November 22, 1916, at the age of 41, in Glen Ellen. In recent years, he suffered from a kidney disease (uremia) and died from poisoning with morphine prescribed to him. The most famous is the version of suicide. A version of deliberate self-poisoning also began to spread in more recent times - suffice it to recall the death of Sigmund Freud. Reasoning about the sources of suicides existed in the writer's head - for example, this can be judged from the plot events of the novel "Martin Eden". London also mentions his thoughts about suicide in his autobiographical story John Barleycorn.

Flora Wellman outlived her great son by six years.

Bibliography

Novels and short stories

stories

Jack London has written over 200 short stories in 16 collections:

stories:

• "Aloha Oe" (1908)
• Atu them, atu! (1908)
• white silence ( The White Silence, 1899)
• Shameless
• The Sickness of the Lone Chief (1902)
• Tramp and fairy
• brown wolf
• "Bulls"
• In the Wilds of the North (1901)
• great riddle
• Great magician (1901)
• faith in man
• hyperborean drink
• The rot has started in Idaho (article, 1906)
• John Barleycorn
• Mapui House (1908)
• Road ( The Road, 1907)
• Daughter of the Northern Lights
• Devils on Fuatino
• Pearls of Parley
• King's wife
• Women's contempt
• For those who are on the way!
• Law of Life (1900)
• The Call of the Wild (novel, 1903)
• gold mine
• Golden Canyon (1905)
• golden poppy
• sperm whale tooth
• History of Jis-Uk
• Like the Argonauts of old
• How I Became a Socialist How I became a socialist)
• Pictures
• Kish, son of Kish Keesh, the Son of Keesh, 1901)
• When the gods laugh
• end of fairy tale
• Bonfire
• Koolau the leper ( Koolau the Leper, 1919)
• Piece of meat
• League of Old Men The League of the Old Men, 1902)
• amateur evening
• Love of life ( love of life, 1905)
• Small bill to Swithin Hall
• Mauki
• Mexican ( The Mexican, 1911)
• local color
• Tagged
• Wisdom of the Snow Trail
• The courage of a woman
• On the banks of Sacramento
• Night on Goboto ( A Goboto Night, 1911)
• In a distant land
• On Fortieth Mile
• On a Macaloa mat
• Nam-bok is a liar
• unexpected
• Indomitable White Man (1908)
• About myself
• One day stay
• Renegade ( The Apostate, 1906)
• Feathers of the Sun
• primeval poet
• By right of the priest
• Under a sail awning
• Benefits of Doubt
• Descendant of McCoy (1909)
• Surf Kanaka
• Confession
• Adventure in the air ocean
• Farewell, Jack! (1909)
• born in the night
• Northern Odyssey
• Light-Skinned Lee Wang (1901)
• The strength of the strong
• The legend of Kish
• Straitjacket
• Smoke Bellew
• Smoke and Baby
• Scary Solomons (1908)
• "Catched" ( "Pinched", 1907)
• Son of the Wolf The Son of the Wolf)
• Where the paths diverge
• The path of false suns ( The Sun Dog Trail, 1910)
• a thousand dozen
• kill a man
• temple of pride
• The man with the scar
• Through the rapids to the Klondike
• What does life mean to me
• Chun Ah-chun
• Sheriff of Kona
• Porportuk joke ( The Wit of Porportuk, 1910)
• New Gibbon Jokers
• Pagan (1908)

Other works

• The Road (1907) - The Road (autobiographical sketch)
• John Barleycorn (1913) - John Barleycorn (autobiographical sketch)
• The People of the Abyss (1903) - People from the Abyss (essay)
• Revolution, and other Essays (1910) - Revolution (essay)
• The Cruise of the Snark (1911) - Voyage on the Snark (essay)
• The Theft (1910) - Theft (play)

Translations into Russian

Collected works

• Jack London. Collected works in 7 volumes + additional volume. - M.: State publishing house of fiction, 1954-1957.
• Jack London. Collected works in 14 volumes. - M .: "Pravda", 1961. - (Library "Spark").
• Jack London. Collected works in 13 volumes. - M .: "Pravda", 1976. - (Library "Spark").
• Jack London. Collected Works in 8 volumes. - M .: "Fatherland", "Polygran", 1993-1995.
• Jack London. Collected works in 16 volumes. - Kharkov: "Folio", 1994.
• Jack London. Collected works in 20 volumes. - M.: "Terra", 1998-1999.
• Jack London. Collected works in 13 volumes. - Kharkov-Belgorod: "Book Club", 2009.

Screen adaptations

Films based on the works of London were staged repeatedly. There are more than a hundred film adaptations of the works of Jack London. The writer himself once played the episodic role of a sailor in the first film adaptation of his novel The Sea Wolf (1913).

Is it because once his own father refused to consider him a son? Or because the mother of the girl he loved didn't want to call him "my son" either? Or maybe because the Lord did not give him his own son, whom he so passionately dreamed of?

He was born in a part of the world where people allowed themselves to dream of a hearty meal, a pair of sturdy shoes, and a roof that didn't leak. And he turned out to be an incorrigible dreamer and, working at a canning factory, dreamed of becoming a great writer, conquering the sea and making the land reckon with his existence.

His working day lasted 10 hours, he was paid 10 cents an hour. He kept a strict record of money: 5 cents spent on lemons, 6 on milk, 4 on bread. This is for a week. His mother saw to it that when he washed himself, he used the dirty remnant sparingly: how else would she, pray tell, wash the dishes? His stepfather, John London, who had recently been run over by a train, was lying on a trestle bed covered with rags that did not resemble sheets in any way, and cursed fate: is it necessary to have such an unfortunate accident in order to remain a cripple, but at the same time - a cripple alive ?! Now Jack has to feed the whole crowd: his mother Flora, two half-sisters (his, John, daughters), John himself ... And the boy is only 13, and it seems that he has a head on his shoulders. I would read books, go to this library of my own in Auckland - you see, he would come out of it ... Damn fate! And John, groaning, turned on the other side, so as not to accidentally meet Jack's gaze. He loved his stepson and almost forgave Flora that she gave birth to him by God knows who...

Chatted that his father is a famous professor of astrology, an Irishman, Mr. Chani. They also chatted that he had never married his mother, although he lived with her in furnished rooms on First Avenue in San Francisco, and it was thanks to him that she also studied astrology for some time, and along the way - spiritualism ... Chatted also that, having become pregnant, Flora at first frankly told the professor that it was unlikely that the child was from him: he was too old (Chani was about fifty at that time), and when he refused to recognize the child, she attempted suicide. There was a terrible scandal: the Chronicle poured more than one tub of dirt on Mr. Chani, although no one even bothered to check whether this person really shot herself unsuccessfully in the temple, or (more likely) simply scratched the skin on her head to arouse the sympathy of the neighbors ... Little Jack nevertheless was born a strong and healthy baby with a well-trained voice. He wanted to live, wanted to eat and yelled like a cut. And Flora definitely did not know how to help him, for she was completely and completely absorbed in the prospect of a future marriage with John London, a widower and a very worthy man. The baby, so that he would leave her alone, found a nurse - a black woman Jenny. Jenny's heart was as huge as the size of a bust. She sang to the little one white boy Negro songs, combed his locks and loved him with a tenderness that his eccentric mother was not capable of. As an adult, Jack forgave Flora and did not forget Jenny. He helped them both, considering himself the son of both.

And his stepfather, John, he loved too. It was great to wander through the fields with him, not saying anything to each other, but understanding everything. It was great to go to the market with him to sell potatoes - in those happy, but quickly sunk into oblivion years, when John was a completely prosperous farmer, and Flora, with her destructive energy, had not yet had time to make a couple of rationalization proposals to the farm and thereby completely ruin it. With him you could fish on the embankment or hunt ducks: John even gave Jack a small gun and a fishing rod, real ones! With John, at last, it was possible to go to the Oakland theater sometimes. On Sundays, the audience was treated to simple plays, sandwiches and beer there, so it was more like a cross between a pub and a temple of the arts, but little Jack liked everything: his stepfather sat him right on the table, from where he had a perfect view of the stage, patted him on the top of his head, laughed merrily... But father! Who is he? What is he? Why did he leave the dissolute but harmless Flora Wellman in that distant 1876? .. Why did he never make himself known, never come to even have a glimpse of his son? ..

However, all this was in the past: going to the theater, and elementary school, which he managed to finish, and the public library, where the kind Mrs. Aina Coolbrith saved for him books about unknown lands and brave, salty sailors and sails, trembling in anticipation of the wind. ... In the present, there was only a hated cannery and work to the point of exhaustion. And in the future?..

I'll be a writer, Frank, you'll see, Jack once said to his school friend, with whom they shot wild cats with slingshots in the Piedmont Hills.

Well you said! Writer! Frank whistled.

Best of the day

In his mind, one might as well want to become the king of England or the crown prince. There was not a single living writer in the vicinity of their life - all completely exhausted factory workers, postmen, janitors and porters. With a certain amount of imagination, one could dream of a career as a school teacher or a doctor, although it is clear that to obtain any diploma one needs such a lot of money that one can never earn by twisting tin cans. Who else is out there? Oh yes, sailors!

The sea lapped right there, nearby, three paces from the shack Jack called home. The sea beckoned with freedom, space, blue, and it was inhabited by characters more like heroes of adventure novels than real people: honest fishermen and oyster pirates raiding other people's cages ... "Oysters, oysters, buy oysters!" - from the morning the merchants shouted at the pier, having bought them at dawn from the pirates, who "took" someone else's catch at night. These pirates, Jack knew, made as much a day as he earns in a few months. And not for the first time, barely alive returning from the factory and hearing how the pirates, swearing and laughing, get ready for work, I thought: it’s better to live not too honestly - like they do, than to die obediently defending the years allotted to you behind the machine. .. But where can I get a boat? ..

And one day he learned that one of the pirates, nicknamed the Frenchman, a drunkard and a brawler, was selling his sloop. Price - 300 dollars. Jack said without hesitation: "I'm buying!" - and rushed to his wet nurse, jenny's black mother.

Jenny, I need money!

Of course, my boy, - she said and crawled under the mattress, where she kept all her treasures. - How?

Three hundred dollars, Jenny!

Okay, Jack... But that's all I have.

I will give it back. You'll see, I'll give it. Very soon, Jenny!

It never occurred to him that adult hardened men "work" as pirates, and he is not yet fifteen, that the sea is not only beautiful, but also dangerous, and that if there was a strong storm, he would never cope with the sloop, and the nanny forever lose his 300 dollars, and possibly his beloved boy. Such a simple and, in essence, widespread feeling - fear - was completely unfamiliar to him. He never experienced it.

And Jack bought a boat from the Frenchman, and with it, as it turned out, his girlfriend, sixteen-year-old Mamie. Mamie fell in love with the handsome blond as soon as she looked at him. And while the Frenchman was counting the money, she hid in the sloop's cabin. Having completed the deal, overjoyed, Jack walked around his treasure - and found a girl, and a pretty one at that.

I'll be yours now, Jack, - said Mami. - Can?

Okay, well, Jack mumbled. Do not admit to this pun that he is not yet very aware of what real pirates do with girls!

However, Mamie quickly taught him this simple science, and he, apparently, turned out to be a capable student. And although for the right to "register" in this peculiar team and to steal other people's oysters on an equal basis with everyone else (and even with someone else's girl!) Jack had to use his fists - so what! But for his first raid, he earned as much as for three months of work at the factory. He bought Mamie a shiny trinket, gave part of the debt to the nanny, and brought the rest of the money to his mother. And Flora, without saying a word, bought a new bar of soap the same day.

Jack has not yet had time to really grow up, and his adult life has already begun. He drank whiskey on a par with the pirates, and even more than them. He swore like them, and even louder. He got involved in the most brutal fights, where it was easier to die than to stay alive, and in one of them he lost two front teeth. He took his sloop out to sea on nights like these when even the most desperate remained on the shore. He let Mami take care of himself and kissed her on the lips in front of everyone. In general, he did everything so that no one would dare to doubt: he is a real man. "This guy won't last even a year," old sailors gossiped about him, whose life experience weighed more than the largest oyster haul. “It’s a pity: he would have made an excellent captain.” “He’ll get drunk,” some sighed. “They’ll kill,” others shook their heads. "And he's not afraid of a damn thing..." "The sea loves him too much," was the answer. And he's not too afraid. The sea takes such desperate ones..."

Jack only laughed, listening to such prophecies. He generally did everything loudly, almost for show. And he indulged in only one occupation in complete solitude, carefully making sure that the doors in the sloop's cabin were properly battened down - reading. Barely tearing his eyes in the morning and dipping his buzzing head into the salty sea ​​water He read passionately, avidly, what Mrs. Ina Coolbrith still had in store for him. All the novelties of the New York book market, the volumes of Zola, Melville, and Kipling still smelling of typography, were read up and down and almost learned by heart. Satan Nelson would die of laughter, find out what exotic leisure his young friend indulges in his free time from drunkenness and robbery!

But Satan Nelson died from a knife in some drunken brawl, without having time to convict Jack of this weakness. And Jack, not having time to die, went on a real big voyage - and thank God, otherwise the gloomy predictions of the old sailors would have come true. He, who never once went to the open sea, hired himself - unheard of impudence! - as a first-class sailor on one of the last sailing ships in the world - the high-speed schooner "Sophie Sutherland", heading for Korea and Japan ... And if he were at least a little more cowardly and a little bit lazier, if he knew at least an iota less the psychology of sailors , in this voyage he would not have been good. "Snot! He should run as a cabin boy!" - thought the sailors, who spent more than one year at sea. - And he blabbed the devil knows what to earn more ... Jack read all this in their narrowed eyes, as in his favorite books. And I knew that there was only one way to prove that you were not a yap: open your mouth as little as possible and work hard as much as possible. He flew up the shrouds like a bird. He was the last to leave the watch. He went down to the cockpit only when he personally made sure that all the rigging was in order. And all the same, he was forgiven for his youth only when the Sophie Sutherland fell into a severe storm and, breathless from the wind, he steered the ship on the right course for an hour - so that even the captain, nodding approvingly, calmly went to dinner ... After this no one said a word to Jack during the storm, but he realized that he had become his own.

He could have stayed in this world forever. He loved the sea and it loved him. But lying on the deck at night, looking at the huge sky, counting the stars above his head, Jack looked for his own among them - the largest and brightest - and said to her in a whisper: "I will become a writer. Do you hear? I will become a writer, and my father, whoever he would be proud of me!" It didn't sound like a request - more like a conspiracy or even an order.

He just didn't know what to do yet. And so every time, returning to Oakland, Jack, comforting his mother, promised to change his mind and get some dreary job for which they paid pennies - now even less than before, because the crisis of 1893 struck. Eight thousand American enterprises failed, and cheerful wits noticed that there were more unemployed in the United States than the dead. But he was lucky so far, he was so young and strong that he was taken either to the jute factory or to the power station of the Auckland tram depot for the transfer of coal. He transported coal to the stoker so quickly that the workers could not keep up with him, and received $ 30 a month for this ... And then he could not stand it again, broke down, left, ran away, sailed away. When the "gold rush" breaks out, he will leave for the Klondike and bring back more than the most successful gold digger - "ore" for his brilliant stories. But that's later. In the meantime, he found himself a new adventure, a new brotherhood - the brotherhood of the people of the Road. This meant the following: you do not live anywhere, but you travel everywhere. Of course, without money and tickets. Of course, at your own risk. Wherever you can, beg for alms or a piece of bread. Where you can't, you steal. What for? And to see the world, while others are dying of hunger or fatigue, working hard for 15 hours a day. If you stay at home and at the same time your last name is not Rockefeller, then America at the end of the 19th century is not able to offer you another way. But the Road is always waiting for you!

And Jack became a Knight of the Road. He traveled around the country either on the roof of the car, or under it, clinging tightly to the iron ledges; dying from the cold and suffocating from the heat; for three days without having a crumb in my mouth. One day he was incredibly lucky: he spent the whole evening telling stories to some wealthy, impressionable old lady, and for this she fed him real pies with real meat ... could talk to death, weave with three boxes and completely convince the "cop" that he was not a tramp, but simply an unfortunate person who had fallen behind the train.

The lady ran out of pies before Jack's tales, and she offered him tea and cheesecake. And then she asked who he would have become if not for the fatal circumstances of his life (which he only powdered a little with fiction, but mostly gave out the pure truth: about his father, almost an astrologer, and his mother, almost crazy, about oysters and pirates, about catching fur seals off the coast of Japan). "Who would I be?" repeated Jack, eating the cake and sipping tea from a thin china cup, which he was unaccustomed to crush. "I would be a writer. Yes, I will be one anyway!" The lady looked at him - ragged, dirty, without front teeth, but still an incredibly handsome 18-year-old boy - and burst out laughing heartily. How could she know that that very evening he would sketch her portrait with a pencil stub in his greasy notebook and she would become one of the characters on his Road, thereby going down in history - along with her china cups, cheese cake and light burr?

And you know what's good? - Laughing, the lady asked to smooth over the awkwardness.

I know, Jack muttered.

Where? - the lady was surprised.

My mother told me,” he replied.

In fact, it was Mami who had left him a long time ago who told him about it. And those unambiguous glances that the broken women from the Road threw at him, and the ease with which plain girls in the port shared a bed with him, and the fact that it was not difficult for him to enter anywhere without a ticket if the controller was female. But the trouble was that Jack liked completely different girls. Those who wore long puffy skirts and modest blouses with round collars. The ones who only left home to go to church, college, or university. Those who not only did not speak - never heard curses. In short, Jack liked girls "from good families." And he, who was not afraid of the devil or the devil, was desperately shy even to approach such girls. He looked at them from a distance, stealthily, just as afraid of being caught off guard in this unworthy occupation, as he had once done in reading books. The thirst for pure love in his world seemed as anomalous as the thirst to read, and even more so - to write. In this world, women were given to men for two essential needs - pleasure and procreation. Feeling for them was as strange as loving a mug of beer or a piece of meat. Jack wanted to admire them. And the girl who, spitting savoryly, immediately lifted her skirt ("Hey, handsome ... Come on, I'm all on fire!"), He could not admire with all his desire.

Jack returned to Oakland again, graduated from high school (God only knows what it cost him, a 19-year-old sea tamer and Knight of the Road, to be in the same class with yellow-mouthed brats!), entered the University of California and fell in love with a student of the same university, Mabel Applegarth, a girl from an intelligent English family, with an impeccable pronunciation and lush hair the color of the sun. Jack could wrap his fingers around the waist of this celestial creature - if, of course, he dared to touch it. Mabel Applegart played the piano and never washed the dishes in her life ... In short, she was perfection, and Jack realized that he was gone forever.

Fortunately, Mabel had a brother, Edward, a smart guy without snobbish manners and with a virus of socialist ideas about universal equality. Edward found Jack's company very entertaining. They spent hours in earnest conversations about a classless society, interpreting to each other the postulates of communism, which was already roaming like a ghost, not only in Europe, but also in America. Mabel sometimes joined in these conversations. Then Jack was especially careful that salty words did not fly out of him in the midst of an argument, and therefore he often lost in these discussions ...

The most incredible thing was that Mabel Applegarth also fell in love with Jack London. However, it seemed impossible only to himself. In fact, his rough, almost animal masculine strength, which she did not meet, and could not meet in the intelligent boys of her circle, attracted Mabel as irresistibly as he did - her fragility, femininity and manners of a real lady. On Sundays, when the weather and time allowed, they sailed together in a boat. She read to him the sad verses of the poet Swinburne. He told her: "I'll be a writer!" And Mabel was the first who was not surprised and did not laugh when she heard these words from Jack.

However, no. Another woman believed that he could write. Oddly enough, it was Flora. After burying her husband and waiting once again for the return of her prodigal son - this time he went to Alaska for gold - she showed Jack a newspaper in which a competition for the best story was announced. And it was Flora who allowed him to take a few cents from the family budget for paper, a stamp and an envelope. (However, Jack supplemented this meager budget by working in the laundry in his spare time, where he sorted, washed, starched and ironed someone's shirts, trousers and collars to the point of madness.) He submitted his story - and won! He made his first few dollars writing! He will be a real writer, a rich man, and Mabel Applegart will certainly become his wife! Let her just wait - she waited while Jack left the university for 16 months, wandering around the North in search of golden mountains. But when he left, he did not even dare to ask for her hand: what could he offer her, except for his crazy love? The fate of Flora, wearing the same dress for twenty years? ..

He didn't say anything to her in parting. But in those one and a half years, while he was gone, reasonable Mabel realized: no one will ever give her more than this handsome man without money, family and tribe. With no one will she be as calm and reliable as with him, a quick-tempered and hot guy from the very bottom. No one will look at her like she's a treasure from a museum. And - most importantly - no one's hands would pull her to him more than his big, rough, hard and so ... such ... Mabel could not think further: her breath caught.

Jack had scurvy and returned from the North without a single cent. I learned that my stepfather had died. He realized that he loved Mabel even more than before. He almost got a job as a postman - that is, he passed a selection interview (the consequences of the crisis were still making themselves felt, the competition for even the lowest paid positions was very high). You just had to wait until the place for which he was accepted was free - and then run around with a bag on your belt around the outskirts of Auckland for more or less tolerable money. Jack sat down to write: it was time to shake out the contents of the notebooks he had kept since the days of the Road. Everything that he saw, learned, felt, experienced in his own skin, all the people with whom he swam, wandered, washed gold, who became his family and whom he lost forever - everything asked, rushed out. He sifted through his life like a prospector washes rock to find a few grains of pure gold. It was necessary to carefully transfer these grains to paper, not to lose, to find Right words... He wrote a hundred pages a day. Flora was obediently silent, bringing him liquid coffee. Almost all the money was spent on stamps and envelopes. The magazines responded with polite refusals. Jack allowed himself to eat once a week, at Mabel's dinner, and then not enough (the girl he loved should not suspect that he was starving), and seriously considered suicide. Suddenly, the well-known magazine "Transcontinental Monthly" announced that his story about Alaska - "For those who are on the road" - would be published! And then another magazine sent an answer: another story accepted! ..

The next day, on a hill overlooking San Francisco, he allowed himself to kiss Mabel Applegarth for the first time. And he proposed to her. She, flushing with happiness, answered: "Yes ..." And added cautiously: "But what will mother say?" Her mother's anger is nothing compared to the storm on the Sophie Sutherland, Jack reassured. Within a year they would be engaged, and this year would be enough for him to become a famous writer. When this happens, her mother will be just happy that her daughter got married so well. He will buy a small house. Her paintings, books, piano - all this will move there. He will write, she will review his manuscripts for grammatical errors... And of course, she will bear him a son. "Yes," she agreed again...

But everything turned out a little differently than Jack had seen on that clear day from a high hill. His stories began to be printed, but they were not yet paid for them so that they could eat at least every day. For five published things, he received only about $ 20, but nevertheless managed to refuse the position of a postman who finally arrived in time. Fabulous royalties, publisher fights over his manuscripts, buying thousands of acres of land just because he wanted to, building his own ship, the glory of the new genius of the new America - all this was ahead, but so far away that Mabel could not see future happiness on the horizon.

Maybe you still go to work at the post office? she asked six months after the engagement.

No, dear, no! Then I won't be able to become a writer! I just don't have enough time, you know?.. Please wait a little more, please!

And then Mabel Applegarth began to cry. She cried and said things that she shouldn't have said: that she didn't like his stories at all, they were rudely made, that his language was clumsy, uncouth, and that he wrote only about suffering and death, while there is also love in life... She loves him, loves him... But he, Jack, is not a writer at all, but just a fan .. a fanta... She could not pronounce this word to the end, it drowned in her tears and sobs.

Their engagement slowly fizzled out. She just froze, as water freezes in the cold ... No, he still continued to love her. I cycled 40 kilometers a day just to see her. He wrote her letters, passionate, as it should be. But he didn’t go to work for the post office and didn’t give up his “fantasies” about writing, and suddenly noticed that there were a lot of women in San Francisco, and many of them were beautiful, smart, refined, well-mannered and not at all shy of him, a boy from Oakland. embankment...

He made his last attempt to marry Mabel Applegart at the very beginning of the new, 20th century.

Well, fine, said Mabel's mother coldly. “But my husband, Father Mabel, as you must know, is dead. So I set a condition: either you live here, in this house, or I live with you in yours ... how is it? Auckland. My daughter is true, Mabel? - will not leave me alone in my old age.

True, mother ... - Mabel whispered, realizing that her only, most real love in life was signing a death warrant.

But Mrs. Applegart, I don't yet earn enough to support a house like yours... And as for Auckland, my mother, Flora... I doubt you'll get along with her... - And while Jack was saying these words, he realized that his only, truest love was collapsing, flying to hell and no one was able to help her. Withstand the constant presence of this woman who will lead him - he who cannot be led! No, this life will not be happiness. It will be a nightmare that does not stop for a moment ... Also, what good, he will again be pointed out to the unfoundedness of his fantasies and sent to work at the post office or in the laundry ... yes, at least in the government! The main thing is that he will not be allowed to become a writer ... Now, if Mabel said now that she would leave with him, no matter what ... Mabel, come on, Mabel! ..

Of course, mom ... I will always be with you ...

Jack London soon married Mabel Applegart's girlfriend, Bessie. Not because he loved her, but because she loved his stories. Bessie gave birth to two children for him - unfortunately, girls, but he so dreamed of a son! And he did not find his father, although he had been waiting all his life for someone to suddenly appear from non-existence and say: "Hello, I am your father!" As for the professor of astrology Chani, in his youth Jack wrote him a polite letter - and received a polite answer: no, no and again no, the professor is very sorry, but has nothing to do ... A few years later, Jack divorced Bessie and married Charmian - not because he could not live without her, but because he was bored with Bessie. Besides, Charmian was more desperate than insipid Bessie, and somehow reminded him of Flora. But Charmian did not bear him a son either. He was about to part ways with Charmian too, but suddenly this whole undertaking called "life" seemed to him an empty and uninteresting affair. And, having become a great, real writer, famous, rich and adored by everyone, at the age of 41, Jack London committed suicide by taking a lethal dose of morphine.

Mabel Applegart never married. And I never loved anyone else. Charmian once met her at a public reading of "Martin Eden": a thin woman sat in the fifth row, listening to her love story and crying.

about Jack London
Inna Vasilievna 12.01.2006 01:41:06

Jack London. Perhaps this is one of my favorite authors from my youth. I read his works (all, without exception!) in one breath back in school years. At that time (35 years ago) I did not meet such a thirst for life and adventure in anyone. This morning, over a cup of coffee, I opened the Minsk Courier newspaper and read a note. I went on the Internet and, almost immediately, came across this wonderful story about his life. I read with an inner expression, as if for friends, as if for colleagues ... I saw where the material for the newspaper was taken from. I make a copy, in the evening I will let my daughter read it. Or maybe I will make a presentation + this material, and there will be an excellent lesson for gymnasium students. THANKS!!!

Jack London is my idol.
leonid 04.07.2007 10:28:13

they talk a lot about him. a lot of things. but anyway - read 14 volumes. read mine once. envy him. I'm 37. why live longer if you can't live like his heroes?

Jack London (Jack London), nee John Griffith Cheney (John Griffith Chaney), was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco (USA). He was the son of the unmarried Flora Wellman and the astrologer William Cheney.

In 1876, Flora married John London, a veteran of the American Civil War, and the family moved to Oakland, next to San Francisco, where John graduated from high school.

John started working early: as a schoolboy he sold morning and evening newspapers; at the age of 14 he entered the canning factory as a worker; for a time fished oysters in San Francisco Bay, which was against the law. In 1893, he was hired as a sailor on a fishing schooner that went to catch seals off the coast of Japan and in the Bering Sea. Returning home seven months later, he got a job as a worker in a jute factory.

At the same time, John London entered the San Francisco Call newspaper competition for the best story and received the first prize of $25 for the story "Typhoon off the Japanese coast."

In 1894 he joined the march of the unemployed on Washington; spent a month in prison for vagrancy.

He independently prepared and successfully passed the exams at the University of California, but, having insufficient funds, he was forced to quit his studies after the third semester.

In the spring of 1897, the future writer succumbed to the "gold rush" and left for Alaska. When he returned, he decided to devote himself to literature. The name Jack is a pseudonym. Jack London's first northern stories were published in 1899, and in 1900 a collection of short stories, Son of the Wolf, was published.

In the center of London's stories is a clash of strong, courageous characters, each of which embodies his own understanding of the norms and values ​​​​of life. Events unfold against the background of an important choice for people - the ability and inability to live in harmony with the natural world, to feel and accept its strict laws, against the backdrop of an uncompromising struggle for justice and human dignity.

In 1901, a collection of short stories, The God of His Fathers, was published; in 1902, the first novel, Daughter of the Snows, was published. Then the stories about animals "Call of the Ancestors" (1903) and "White Fang" (1906) were published. In 1907, he published the utopian warning novel The Iron Heel.

In 1907-1909, Jack London made a sea voyage on the Snark yacht built by him according to his own drawings.

In 1909, the autobiographical novel "Martin Eden" was published, in 1913 - the novel "Moon Valley", in 1916 - "The Little Mistress of the Big House".

In total, Jack London wrote over 50 books, hundreds of short stories and numerous articles. Some of his works have been translated into 70 languages.

Jack London was a war correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). In 1914 he worked as a war correspondent in Mexico.

In 1905, London purchased a ranch in Glen Ellen, California, which he constantly expanded through the purchase of new land. The writer dreamed of building a huge house called "The House of the Wolf", all the numerous fees were invested in the construction. On his ranch, he conducted agricultural experiments of unprecedented scale, he employed more than 80 people. In 1913, the house, already ready for delivery, burned down.

On November 22, 1916, Jack London died at his estate in Glen Ellen. His ashes were buried on a hill near the ranch.

In 1920, the writer's novel "The Hearts of Three" was published posthumously, in which London refers to a new genre of American literature - the film story.

Jack London has been married twice. His first wife was Bessie Maddern, from this marriage the writer had two daughters - Joan and Bassie. Jack London's second wife was Charmian Kittredge.

In 1960, the Jack London State Historical Park was opened on the writer's estate in Glen Ellen.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

(ratings: 6 , average: 3,67 out of 5)

Jack London, whose real name is John Griffith Cheney, was born in the middle of winter - January 12, 1876 in the States. The parents of the future writer cannot be called ordinary: John's mother has always been stubborn, self-willed, besides, she was engaged in spiritualism; his father was an astrologer and loved adventure, which was inherited by Jack London.

Little John received the surname "London" when he was not even a year old. During this time, his mother married a Civil War veteran, John London. Soon the name of the stepfather became the creative pseudonym of the writer. By the way, Jack is just a shortened version of the name John.

Jack has been used to hard work since childhood: as a schoolboy, he sold newspapers. To earn money, he got up before dawn. Both before and after classes, the boy returned to work. Oddly enough, this did not prevent him from reading: as a child, Jack liked adventure literature most of all.

Jack London loved the sea no less than books, so at the age of thirteen he bought a small boat with his own money. On it he made boat trips, fished and read.

When Jack was fifteen, he had to get a job in a cannery, as the family had almost no money to live on. The conditions at the factory were terrible, the wages were paltry, and people were injured every day. Energetic Jack could not stand the monotonous mechanical work, so he began to look for alternative ways to earn money. So he began to engage in illegal oyster fishing and, having become a wild life, he spent everything he earned on drinking parties. Having come to his senses in time, Jack hired a ship for legal work - the extraction of fur seals.

In general, in his youth, the future writer managed to try almost all the “charms” of life: after working for six months on a ship, he joined the march of the unemployed, and as a result, he lived with vagrants for the same amount of time. During this period, Jack decides to still get an education and start a writing career. Now he took up intellectual work: he graduated from high school and even passed the entrance exams to the University of California, Berkeley. But since the young London did not have enough money, he had to leave his studies.

Jack began writing his first stories and novels at the age of 22. All his works were constantly returned from the editorial offices of newspapers and magazines, which soon served as the basis for writing a novel. After six months of persistent unsuccessful attempts, his story was nevertheless published.

The dizzying success was a real gift of fate for Jack London: now he was earning incomparably more than ever, and could afford everything he wanted. Yes, the writer, who grew up in poverty, highly valued his wealth.

Jack London lived only forty years, but managed to write more than two hundred stories, novellas and novels. His works became known to the whole world, and "White Fang" and "Hearts of Three" are included in the school curriculum. But the main thing is not even this, but the fact that this man, thanks to his perseverance, courage and diligence, managed to make his dream come true.

Jack London, bibliography

All Jack London books

Novels

• 1902 - "Daughter of the Snows"
• 1903 - ""
• 1903 - Letters from Campton to Wes
• 1904 - ""
• 1906 - ""
• 1908 - ""
• 1909 - ""
• 1910 - "Time-does not-wait"
• 1911 - "Adventure"
• 1912 - "The Scarlet Plague"
• 1913 - ""
• 1914 - "Mutiny on Elsinore"
• 1915 - "

London Jack (1876 - 1916)

American writer. Born in San Francisco. At birth he was named John Cheney, but eight months later, when his mother married, he became John Griffith London. The youth of London fell on economic depression and unemployment, the financial situation of the family became increasingly precarious.

In his youth, he changed many professions: he worked at a cannery, power plant, jute factory, was close to the "oyster pirates" of the San Francisco Bay, in 1893 London sailed for eight months to fish for fur seals. Returning, he takes part in a literary competition - he writes an essay "Typhoon of the Shores of Japan" and wins the first prize.

In 1894, London participated in the campaign of the army of the unemployed against Washington; wandered around the USA and Canada, was imprisoned for vagrancy, was arrested for socialist activities.

In 1896 he entered the University of California, but left due to the inability to pay tuition and went to Alaska, captured by the "gold rush", was a prospector.

The color and romance of the North, strong characters, the struggle with hardships and difficulties are the main motives in the work of London after his stay in Alaska. In 1902, the novel The Daughter of the Snows and the book The People of the Abyss were published about the life of the poorest quarter of London's East End.

Fame comes to London, his financial situation stabilizes, he marries Elizabeth Maddern, he has two daughters. Under the strong influence of everything seen and experienced in Alaska, he creates a cycle of novels and stories published in his collections "The Son of the Wolf", "The God of His Fathers", "Children of the Frost". Talented stories about animals "The Call of the Ancestors" and "White Fang" also adjoined this cycle. In 1904, one of London's most famous novels, The Sea Wolf, about Captain Wolfe Larsen, was published. In the same year, London goes on a business trip to Korea for the Russo-Japanese War. Upon returning, he divorces his wife and marries her former girlfriend Charmaine Kittredge.

In 1907-1909. London makes a sea voyage on the Snark yacht built by him according to his own drawings.

In the next seventeen years, he released two and even three. books a year: the autobiographical novel "Martin Eden" about a sailor who makes his way to the heights of knowledge and literary glory through a difficult path; the autobiographical treatise on alcoholism John Barleycorn, the tragic argument for Prohibition, and the novel Moon Valley.

November 22, 1916 London died in Glen Ellen (California) from a lethal dose of morphine, which he took either to relieve the pain caused by uremia, or deliberately, wanting to commit suicide.

In 1920, the novel Hearts of Three was published posthumously.