Jack London(English) Jack London; born John Griffith Cheney, John Griffith Chaney; January 12, 1876 - November 22, 1916) - American writer, socialist, public figure, best known as the 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 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 true friend and Jack's guardian angel for life) settled in a 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, adjacent to San Francisco, where London eventually graduated primary 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 boy has mastered adult life and even got 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 won first prize in a San Francisco newspaper, was published on November 12, 1893, and marked the beginning 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 with socialist ideas (and, in particular, with the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" by 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 make their way 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"). The works of London are characterized by a special poetic language, quick introduction 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 latter's chauvinistic worldview, admiring only his stylistic merits). G. Spencer, C. Darwin, K. Marx and F. Engels and, to some extent, F. Nietzsche had a huge influence on the writer's life philosophy. 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 trip around the world on the Snark ship built according to his own drawings (according to London's plan, the journey 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, The Enemy of the World, The 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 depict the onset of the era of dictators and social upheavals ("Iron Heel" - the formation of an oligarchic dictatorship in the United States), 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. Fascinated by agriculture, London actively introduced the latest methods of farming on his 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.
AT last years London was experiencing 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. The 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
| original title | Russian translation |
|---|---|
| A Daughter of the Snows (1902) | Daughter of the Snows |
| The Cruise of the Dazzler (1902) | Journey on the "Dazzling" |
| The Call of the Wild (1903) | call of the ancestors |
| The Kempton-Wace Letters (1903) | Letters from Campton to Wes |
| The Sea-Wolf (1904) | sea wolf |
| The Game (1905) | A game |
| White Fang (1906) | White Fang |
| Before Adam (1907) | Before Adam |
| The Iron Heel (1908) | Iron heel |
| Martin Eden (1909) | Martin Eden |
| Burning Daylight (1910) | Time-does-not-wait |
| Adventure (1911) | Adventure |
| The Scarlet Plague (1912) | scarlet plague |
| The Abysmal Brute (1913) | fierce beast |
| The Valley of the Moon (1913) | moon valley |
| The Mutiny of the Elsinore (1914) | Mutiny on Elsinore |
| The Star Rover (1915) | Interstellar wanderer ( Straitjacket) |
| The Little Lady of the Big House (1916) | Little mistress of a big house |
| Jerry of the Islands (1917) | Jerry the Islander |
| Michael, Brother of Jerry (1917) | Michael, brother Jerry |
| Hearts of Three (1920) | Hearts of three |
stories
Jack London has written over 200 short stories in 16 collections:
| original title | Russian translation |
|---|---|
| Son of the Wolf (1900) | Son of the Wolf |
| The God of His Fathers (1901) | God of his fathers |
| Children of the Frost (1902) | Children of frost |
| The Faith of Men (1904) | male fidelity |
| Moon face (1906) | moonface |
| Love of Life (1907) | Love of life |
| Tales of the Fish Patrol (1906) | Fishing Patrol Tales |
| Lost Face (1910) | Lost face |
| South Sea Tales (1911) | South Sea Tales |
| When God Laughs (1911) | When the gods laugh |
| The House of Pride (1912) | temple of pride |
| Smoke Bellew (1912) | Smoke Bellew |
| A Son of the Sun (1912) | Son of the Sun |
| The Night Born (1913) | born in the night |
| The Strength of the Strong (1914) | The strength of the strong |
| The Turtles of Tasman (1916) | Tasmanian turtles |
| Published posthumously | |
| The Red One (1918) | red deity |
| On the Makaloa Mat (1919) | On a Macaloa mat |
| Dutch Courage (1922) | Dutch prowess (For courage) |
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 a 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
| Full list of screenings |
|---|
|
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).
Jack London
Which American writer is the most read and loved in the world? - Jack London, - every second will answer. A simple working guy, a boy from a cannery became famous and rich - an excellent example of the "Great american dream"! But why then in America do not celebrate the birthday of their classic? And do not like to talk about his death? What mysteries are connected with birth and death John Griffith Cheney(is that the real name of the writer)?
Jack London
The Beginning or Mystery of the Astrologer
From the point of view of astrology, the secret of the death of each person lies in the date and circumstances of his birth. The birth of Jack was preceded by dramatic events, turning into a bad farce and outright scandal. His mother, Flora Wellman, was an eccentric.
artist Allston Washington
In her youth, Flora Wellman was fond of spiritualism, had an unbalanced character and claimed that she had spiritual contact with the leader of an Indian tribe.
Buffalo Bulls artist
Considering that Flora was small, sickly, thin, completely bald after an illness suffered in childhood (she had to wear a black wig with curls all her life), then the sequence of events after her sixteenth birthday seems completely incredible!
In early youth, she left the family (an act unheard of for a girl of that time). Flora soon became friends with the astrologer, mathematician and chemist William Cheney. Having learned about the pregnancy of his common-law wife, he ordered her to get rid of the child! Flora made a scene, threatened suicide, shot her in the head with a pistol in front of her husband. The ugly scandal made headlines as William Cheney left San Francisco and his pregnant, hysterical girlfriend. Flora married a year later (already officially) John London, and the boy received the name of his adoptive father.
artist Duveneck, Frank
Many years later, Jack, having learned the truth of his birth, wrote a letter to his real father; finding Cheney was not difficult - he published a magazine, was a well-known practicing astrologer, lectured on astronomy, mathematics, chemistry. Cheney replied on June 4, 1897 (he is known to have written two letters). And ... he completely denied the fact of paternity, explaining that "due to physical ill health, he could not have intimacy." Who lied? Flora or William?
artist Church Frederic
There is another version that explains everything: the professor's strange answer, his hasty escape from his pregnant wife, and his non-recognition of paternity. Cheney's very close friends said that upon learning of Flora's pregnancy, he astrological chart. And he saw a fatal connection between two horoscopes: his own and the unborn child. It turned out that the father could be a threat to the life of his son, or cause his fatal failures. With the same probability, the unborn child could become a threat to the life of the father. It is not known what the astrologer actually saw. But what mystical connection between horoscopes exists - a real fact.
artist Inness George
The coincidence of dates of birth is not accidental: William Cheney - January 13, 1821, Jack London - January 12, 1876, John London (the writer's stepfather) - January 11, 1828. It is worth adding that Cheney really was the best astrologer of his time. He considered astrology to be as exact a science as mathematics. At the end of his life, William Cheney devoted all his time (16 hours a day) to the compilation of horoscopes. There is another strange relationship between the fate of father and son: they died almost on the same day. Forty-year-old Jack London outlived his aged father by only a few days.
The official version of the death of the writer ...
“There is no god but Chance, and Luck is his prophet,” Jack London once said, exhausted by failures, overwork, non-recognition and poverty. From the age of eleven, the boy was taken care of the family - his stepfather lost his job, his mother was an impractical woman, obsessed with ideas to bring the family out of distress; but after each new Flora project, London plunged even deeper into the abyss of debt and poverty.
Painting by an unknown artist
“I didn’t know a single horse in Oakland that would work more than me,” Jack joked sadly. And it was true! Jack London had a fantastic, phenomenal capacity for work, he could work 18-20 hours a day. The money earned was still not enough. Inquiring mind and thirst a better life laid steep turns in the fate of the young man.
artist Shinn Everett
At the age of fifteen, he left the cannery and became an "oyster pirate", a smuggler, the leader of a gang of real daredevils. Experienced sailors said that "this guy, drinking straight whiskey and indulging in a stabbing over one word, will not last more than a year." But fortune made an incredible zigzag: Jack was invited to work by a fishing patrol, and now he fought on the side of the law with the same ardor and passion.
artist Moran Edward
Another project of Flora (educated, with a good, easy style) gave an impetus and a new direction to Jack; Flora decided that her son should become a famous writer, get rich and, thus, bring the family out of poverty. No sooner said than done! Jack sat down at the kitchen table and wrote a short story for the competition for the San Francisco Call. London was 17 years old, he had just returned from a voyage (hunted fur seals off the coast of Japan). He returned, as always, without money. Unemployment and the crisis at home left no chance. Jack grasped at the straw of illusory hope his mother held out. His first story, "A Typhoon off the Japanese Shores," won first place and was an extraordinary success.
Jack London in his youth
An endless series of difficult, beyond human capabilities, years stretched out. Love has given a new impetus, has become a powerful incentive to achieve ghostly goals: success, material well-being, recognition.
artist Cornoyer Paul
What Jack did not do: he wandered and stole, he was in prison; entered the university (in four months he completed a program designed for two years); became interested in socialism and again ended up in prison; went for gold and returned from the Klondike penniless!
artist Brown John
London is dead tired. He lost hope of ever becoming "worthy" of his beloved. Depression began, he began to visit suicidal thoughts, when God-Chance and the Prophet-Fortune finally remembered the insanely talented (albeit unsuccessful) writer. By the age of twenty-five it began to be printed little by little; in the family appeared, albeit small, money.
Jack London in the office
Labor, labor, labor. Inhuman stress. Reach out, grab the bird of luck by the rainbow tail ... Macmillan Publishing House paid London $ 150 a month for the right to publish the works that he was just about to write. Jack London began to receive fantastic fees, from which not a penny was left immediately: the writer was impractical, he was naive, he loaned (without return!) to everyone who asked.
artist Peto John Frederick
Yes, London now had money and fame. But this, it turns out, did not cancel the imperfection of the world and problems in his personal life. And Jack starts a project that should save America from economic decline and morally revive humanity; the writer begins to build his own "City of the Sun" on the Glen Ellen ranch.
artist Harnett William Michael
The huge castle house was supposed to become a haven for people of a new formation. Built, finally ready for occupancy, the "House of the Wolf" burned down in one day. It seemed that along with the house, the thirst for life burned down. The heart went out, the pen became lifeless; talent left the great writer. He returned to depression and thoughts of suicide. He could no longer write. In addition, London suffered from unbearable pain in the kidneys.
artist Beard William Holbrook
On the morning of November 22, 1916, relatives found Jack London unconscious in the bedroom. On the table was a sheet of notebook with the calculation of the lethal dose. Empty vials of morphine and atropine (these drugs were prescribed as painkillers for uremia) lay on the floor. Despite the efforts of the doctors, by the evening the great writer was gone. He was buried on Moon Hill, as he requested.
…and unofficial version: Bohemian Grove
Despite disagreements in the family (there were no relations with the daughters from the first marriage), bad luck and severe kidney disease, London's suicide was a surprise for loved ones. Yes, Jack was saddened by the latest failure: the fire at the Wolf House. He behaved at that time as a person disappointed in some values: shortly before his death, he left the Socialist Party, was going on a trip to the East, but suddenly, at the last moment, he handed over his tickets. The one who is going to take his own life does not do this: tickets, for sure, will not be handed over! And leaving the party is, after all, a demonstration of disagreement, an expression of protest. In addition, the absence of a suicide note was embarrassing. And the calculation of the lethal dose is not yet proof of suicide! There was talk that London could have been killed. Who and why?
artist Breck John Leslie
London had another side of life that was not covered by Soviet critics and biographers: this side of life did not "fit" into the image of a talented guy "from workers", a tireless fighter for workers' rights. They do not like to remember this page of the writer's biography at home either.
This page is called "Bohemian Grove" (a secret society, the strangest structure in the "network of the world conspiracy"). "Grove" owns a sequoia valley in California with an area of almost 110 km2. Every year at the end of July, club members organize two-week rallies among the relic sequoias, a kind of scout vacation “for men only” in tents, with fires, Chardonnay sea.
artist Durand Asher Brown
Less is known about the Grove than about the Bilderberg Club and the Trilateral Commission (secret organizations ruling the world and arranged according to the principle of Masonic lodges). Bohemian Grove is the most closed club. Officially, it is registered as a "private men's arts club"; indeed, there are many musicians, artists, and writers in it.
artist Cooke George
But in fact, the most important issues of the world order are being solved here. It is known that the Manhattan Project (on the creation and use of the atomic bomb) was developed and adopted in 1942 in the "Grove". Club members are the richest people America, former and current heads of intelligence agencies, senators and presidents. As invited guests in the valley there are influential representatives of world politics. To become a member of the club, it is not enough to meet special criteria! - you still have to wait 15 years until you are thoroughly checked.
artist Moran Edward
Even Republican presidents are accepted only after the expiration of the first term. How did you get into the London club? It remains only to guess. "Bohemian Grove" is close to occult societies such as Skull and Bones. London, on the other hand, has always been fond of the occult and spiritualism, successfully practiced in “awakening the memory of past incarnations” (this is the time to remember the talents of his mother and father).
Jack London
On July 15, 2000, journalist Alex Jones, under the guise of "service personnel", entered the "Grove". His videos and photos, collected materials served as the basis for documentary film John Hanson "Dark Secrets of the Bohemian Grove".
A hidden video camera filmed the sacrifices. It is obvious that the club members are performing an ancient Luciferian and Babylonian ritual.
Videos of human sacrifices filmed in the Bohemian Grove have been posted on the Internet (it is clear that the author wished to remain anonymous).
In his articles, Alex Jones argues that the elite have long-term plans, according to which 80% of the world's population should be destroyed, while the elect will live almost forever - thanks to medical and scientific developments. All decisions in the US government are made with the approval of the “Guys from the Sequoia Valley”, in fact, there is no democracy.
It's amazing, but Jack London described a similar world order a hundred years ago, in his novel "The Scarlet Plague"!
artist Carlsen Emil
… The more London achieved, the wider horizons opened before it. The more I learned, the higher I climbed the social ladder, the more complex the structure of the world seemed. For every new open door it turned out two, three, ten closed.
The writer began to think about the fate of mankind, about the future of civilization. The result of new knowledge and reflection was the novel "The Scarlet Plague", written in 1912, three years before his death. A strange story, not "Jacklondon": there is no icy silence, no brave sailors in it. But there is a clear understanding: modern society is waiting for collapse.
artist Gorson Aaron
Some facts from the "Scarlet Plague" are mind-boggling. For example, London almost guessed the population in 2010, in his book he named the figure: 8 billion. London described with frightening accuracy political system America of today.
Some fragments amaze with an incredible coincidence of details and even names: “The first Driver was called Bill, he was a plebeian, but his wife was a lady, a noble lady” (C).
The plot of the book tells about an epidemic that kills everyone: both commoners and the ruling elite, which removed deadly viruses in closed laboratories to destroy the "cattle". Warning? Hidden message? Humanity in general or specific individuals? Thus, who really wanted and want to destroy 80% of the population?
artist Payne Edgar
Even more interesting is the plot of the book "The Murder Bureau", which the writer began before his death. London always wrote only about what he knew well, what he went through and experienced himself. A new book narrated about the office of killers who could kill anyone and anywhere only for "ideological reasons", based on their own concepts of the "usefulness or harmfulness" of the sentenced to death. The book has not been completed. Perhaps, because its author knew too much and did not want to be silent, the "office of killers" from the grove sentenced him? This question remains unknown...
Photos of Jack London and paintings were used in the design of the article American artists from the gallery site gallerix.ru/album/American-painters.
Discussion: 26 comments
It's nice to see a new visitor and fan in our Museum, like us, Jack London! Thanks for your feedback!
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Nicely! Fans of Jack London will increase.
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There is so much literature in the world biographical information about writers, that it is not surprising to not know something. “Museum of the House” aims to offer interesting information for those who love art. You can look here in the future - it will be exciting.
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Lived in California for 12 years. Of course, I visited the house-museum and the Wolf House, which is not far from Silicon Valley. I myself am a former sailor, and therefore I value the books of Jack London very highly. I also read his biographies. But this story is written much more interesting than what I had previously read about it and much more interesting than what the guides told. True, there is a slight impression that the mystical part of the life of Jack London, associated with secret societies and the reorganization of the world, has a literary connotation rather than historical research. Nevertheless, thanks to the author.
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Thanks for the very detailed interesting article. I really wanted to read The Scarlet Plague.
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To be honest, I didn't even know a tenth of it. Thank you!
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Wow, a whole piece. I read it in one breath, and even looked at the reproductions. It's just gorgeous.
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Jack London (London) (real name - John Griffith, Griffith) (January 12, 1876, - November 22, 1916, Glen Ellen, near San Francisco), American writer. London is the name of his stepfather, a bankrupt farmer. In his youth, he changed many casual professions.
In 1893, as a simple sailor, he went on his first sea voyage (to the shores of Japan). In 1894 he joined the march of the unemployed on Washington; spent a month in prison for vagrancy. In 1895 he joined the Socialist Labor Party of the USA; 1901-1916 member of the US Socialist Party. He independently prepared and successfully passed the exams at the University of California, but, having insufficient funds, left after the 3rd semester. The winter of 1897-1898 London, captured by the "gold rush", spent in Alaska. In 1899, he began publishing northern stories included in the collections The Son of the Wolf (1900), The God of His Fathers (1901), Children of Frost (1902) and others, to which the novel The Daughter of the Snows (1902) is thematically adjoined. and talented stories about animals "The Call of the Ancestors" (1903) and "White Fang" (1906). In the northern stories, London contrasts the world of untouched nature with bourgeois civilization. However, faith in a beneficent, purifying nature is combined in London with admiration for the technical and cultural achievements of civilization and the exaltation of the Anglo-Saxons, who bring this civilization to the "backward" peoples. Paying tribute to the passion of G. Spencer and F. Nietzsche, London to a certain extent poeticizes the "right of the strong"; in his early stories the superiority of white aliens over the "redskins" is often put forward. Only gradually does the writer discover the tragedy of the devastated Alaska and the indigenous population of America - the Indians. Unlike outright predators, positive hero northern stories of London - a strong-willed, courageous person, ready to help a comrade, capable of great and true love. The nobility of human nature, the bright world of exoticism and adventure are also distinguished by London's works on the "marine" theme, where, however, persistent contradictions in the writer's worldview have been preserved.
The novel "Sea Wolf" (1904, Russian translation 1911) is a complex, contradictory work containing a condemnation of individualism and Nietzsche's philosophy of the "superman". The critique of the expansionist policy of American imperialism in the collection Stories from the South Seas (1911) achieves great revealing power.
After London became acquainted with M. Gorky's novel Foma Gordeev (his review of the novel was published in 1901), the voice in defense of the oppressed sounded ever more insistently in London's work. "People of the Abyss" (1903, Russian translation under the title "At the Bottom", 1906) is a book about the terrible fate of the poor in the East End in London, which the writer had recently visited. London is also a master of reporting, documentary essay; several times he was a correspondent in the theaters of war. Having enthusiastically met the Russian revolution of 1905-1907, London traveled around the country with lectures, speaking to working and student audiences; London published a series of journalistic articles on the class struggle in the United States (later combined into the collections War of Classes, 1905, and Revolution, 1910). In the novel The Iron Heel (1908, Russian translation 1912), the writer sharply criticized financial and industrial kings. The pathos of this journalistic utopian novel is the struggle for the social reorganization of the world, in the name of which revolutionary professor Ernst Everhard and his associates give their lives.
In the midst of a decline in revolutionary sentiment and the onset of reaction in the United States, London's novel Martin Eden (1909, Russian translation, 1912) appears, in which the influence of M. Gorky is especially noticeable. London upholds the writer's right to display the "rough" truth of life, to actively interfere with reality. For the first time in American literature, London raised the theme of the "mortification" of talent. Martin Eden is alone, his tragedy lies in his inability to find his place in the struggle of the people for liberation. In 1919, V. V. Mayakovsky staged this novel ("Not born for money") and played in the film leading role. After 1910, London moved away from political activity. Shortly before his death, he left the US Socialist Party, having lost faith in its "fighting spirit," according to his statement. With some exceptions (the play "Theft", 1910, the short story "The Mexican", 1911), London's works of 1911-1916 are much weaker in artistic merit than the previous ones, sometimes frankly indulging narrow-minded tastes. The works of these years - "Time does not wait" (1910), "Moon Valley" (1913), "Little Mistress of a Big House" (1916, Russian translation 1924), "Hearts of Three" (1920) reflect the writer's attempt to present a "return to nature as the solution to all social problems. In the last years of his life, London suffered from a serious illness.
A wrestling writer, an innovator of theme and form, London did much to establish the realist tradition in modern American literature. One of the pioneers of proletarian literature in the West, London has won worldwide recognition, and his books have been translated into many languages.
Jack London has been married twice and has two daughters.
November 22, 1916 the writer died in Glen Ellen (California) from an overdose of sleeping pills.
London became famous after the release of his first books, his books were very popular in different countries world, including in the USSR, more than 10 films based on his works were staged.
Screen adaptations
There are more than a hundred film adaptations of Jack London's works. By the way, London himself once played the episodic role of a sailor in the first film adaptation of his novel The Sea Wolf (1913):
For Love of Gold (English For Love of Gold, 1908)In the USSR and Russia, films based on the works of London were also staged more than once:
White Fang (1946)
Mexican (1955)
Smoke and Kid (1975)
Time-does-not-wait (1975)
Theft (1982)
Martin Eden (1976)
Sea Wolf (1990)
Hearts of Three (1992)
Hearts of Three 2 (1993)
Alaska Kid (1993)
Time Doesn't Wait (1993)
Call of the Wild (1997), 88 min., Canada
Jacket (2005)
Time Doesn't Wait (2010), 102 min., Canada
White Fang 2[source not specified 208 days]
A piece of meat (2011), 11 min., RussiaLiterature about Jack London
Irving Stone, Sailor in the Saddle, 1938, ISBN 5-85880-382-2
Vil Bykov, "In the footsteps of Jack London", ISBN 5-211-03473-2
List of works
Novels and short stories
Dilogy
1 Jerry the Islander
2. Michael - Jerry's brotherOut of series
scarlet plague
White Fang
Time doesn't wait
John - Barleycorn
Before Adam
Daughter of the Snows
Iron heel
call of the ancestors
A game
Theft
moon valley
people of the abyss
fierce beast
Little Mistress of the Big House
Martin Eden
Interstellar wanderer
sea wolf
Mutiny on Elsinore
Adventure
Journey on Dazzling
Traveling on the Snark
Hearts of three
Smoke Bellewstories
God of his fathers
great riddle
A meeting that is hard to forget
Daughter of the Northern Lights
Women's contempt
The courage of women
Sivashka
Shrew Yang
Where the rainbow ends
Where the paths diverge
The man with the scarDutch prowess
Boarding repulsed
In the bay of Yeddo
Dutch prowess
Disappeared poacher
Their job is to live
Chris Farrington is a real sailor
On the banks of Sacramento
Bald
Adventure in the air ocean
Typhoon off the coast of JapanChildren of frost
Disease of the Lone Leader
In the wilds of the north
Great sorcerer
Law of life
Kish, son of Kish
League of Old Men
Nam Bok is a liar
Aliens from the Sun
Light-skinned Lee WangRoad
Homeless boys and stray cats
Tramps who come at night
Bulls
Two thousand vagabonds
Hold on!
penitentiary
Pictures
Confession
GrabbedWhen the gods laugh
Semper Idem
So what
immoral woman
Hold on West
When the gods laugh
Piece of meat
Curious passage
Nose for the Emperor
He created them
Apostate
Just meat
Francis Speightred deity
Shameless
Like the Argonauts of old...
red deity
A princessMoonface
golden canyon
local color
Tablet
Shadow and FlashLove of life
brown wolf
Love of life
unexpected
The legend of Kish
The path of false sunsmale fidelity
battery
hyperborean drink
gold mine
History of Jis Wook
male fidelity
Tertiary shard
a thousand dozenOn a Macaloa mat
Tibia
water child
Alice's confession
Bones of Kahekili
On a Macaloa mat
Surf Kanaka
Ah Kim's tearsLost face
Golden Dawn
Disappearance of Marcus O'Brien
Bonfire
Tagged
order
Lost face
Porportuk's jokeFishing Patrol Tales
White and yellow
Demetrios Kantros
yellow handkerchief
King of the Greeks
Raid the Oyster Pirates
Siege of the Lancashire Queen
Charlie's trickSouth Sea Tales
Atu them, atu!
Mapui house
sperm whale tooth
Mauki
Indomitable white man
Descendant of McCoy
Scary Solomon Islands
paganThe revolution
Goliath
golden poppy
The revolution
Foma Gordeevborn in the night
The Madness of John Harned
Air blackmail
War
When the world was young
Mexican
Under deck awning
Benefits of Doubt
born in the night
Only fists
kill a manThe strength of the strong
Unprecedented invasion
Enemy of the whole world
Debs' dream
sea farmer
On the other side of the ditch
The strength of the strong
SamuelSon of the Wolf
white silence
In a distant land
King's wife
For those who are on the way
Wisdom of the Snow Trail
Forty Mile
By right of the priest
northern odyssey
Son of the WolfSon of the Sun
The exuberant nature of Alozius Pankburn
Devils on Fuatino
Pearls of Parley
Small bill to Suzin Hall
Night on Goboto
Feathers of the Sun
Son of the Sun
Jokers from New Gibbontemple of pride
Aloha Oe
Kulau the leper
Farewell, Jack!
temple of pride
Chun Ah Chun
Sheriff of KonaTasmanian turtles
Finis
prodigal father
Tramp and fairy
A story told in the ward for the feeble-minded
I swear by the Tasmanian turtles
end of fairy tale
The immutability of forms
primeval poetOut of series
Jungle
For those who are on the way!
Marriage Lit-Lit
From unpublished works
Kitaez
mammoth thomas stevens
The dead don't come back
white man's custom
Simultaneous parking
Direct flight
Death of Ligun
A thousand deaths
Through the rapids to the Klondike
I must remember once and for all that every person is worthy of respect, unless he considers himself better than others.
Jack London
January 12, 1876 was born the famous American writer, author of exciting adventure novels and short stories, Jack London. His simple, edgy, casual and catchy style inspired such literary geniuses as John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell. London, unlike many other foreign writers, was well known in the USSR: in 1918-1986 he was the most published writer in the country after Hans Christian Andersen. In honor of the anniversary of the birth of London, the 360 TV channel collected five interesting facts about the writer.
Jack London's mother tried to shoot herself while pregnant
The mother of the future writer Flora Wellman was born in rich family in the state of Ohio. From a young age, she believed in her spiritual abilities and believed that she could communicate with the dead and predict the future. In 1858 her father lost all his money and Flora ran away from home.
In the early 1870s, Wellman met the famous astrologer Professor William Cheney. The couple lived in San Francisco, California. In 1875, after learning that Flora was pregnant, Cheney began to insist on an abortion. After a quarrel with her husband (it is still not known whether the couple lived in a legal marriage), Wellman tried to commit suicide twice in two days. First she drank an opium tincture, and then she wanted to shoot herself. Both attempts failed.
The story of Wellman's suicides was widely reported in the press. The articles turned the people of San Francisco against Cheney to such an extent that some wanted him to be hanged. Shortly after the incident, the professor moved to Chicago. He never acknowledged Jack as a son, claiming that Flora had other lovers.
At birth, the future writer was named John Griffith Cheney. After the boy was born, Flora did not want to see him and was too sick to care for him. Therefore, the first months of his life he was raised by her former slave Virginia Prentiss. Eight months after the birth of the boy, Flora married Civil War veteran John London, who adopted the child as his own son. So Cheney became John Griffith London. Even in childhood, for unknown reasons, the boy began to be called Jack.
From "Oyster Pirate" to Gold Miner and War Correspondent
The future writer began to work early: Flora constantly pushed her husband on suspicious adventures, trying to get rich quickly. As a schoolboy, the boy sold morning and evening newspapers, arranged skittles on weekends and cleaned beer pavilions in the park. After graduating from elementary school, 14-year-old Jack entered the cannery.
A year later, the boy was tired of exhausting and low-paid work: he worked 12-18 hours a day. The future writer borrowed $300 from Virginia Prentiss and bought a small schooner. London illegally fished for crabs and shrimp in the bay near San Francisco, soon the boy was nicknamed "oyster pirate". A few months later, the boat suffered irreparable damage, and the future writer got a job in a fishing patrol, and then as a sailor on a fishing schooner.
London's works are closely connected with his life: his marine novels and stories, such as "The Sea Wolf", were based on his work on the schooner "Sophie Sutherland", on which the writer caught seals in the Bering Sea and off the coast of Japan. Subsequently, Jack worked as a fireman and ironer ("Martin Eden").
The first essay "Typhoon off the coast of Japan" was published by London on November 12, 1893. This work was the beginning of his literary career. However, this did not weaken Jack's craving for travel: in the spring of 1897, he fell ill with a gold rush and went to Alaska in search of easy money. London and his group were lucky: they were able to stake out a site in the upper reaches of the Yukon River. However, luck soon turned against them. The prospectors did not find any gold, but during cold winter, accompanied by malnutrition, the writer fell ill with scurvy. In 1898, London returned to San Francisco, albeit without money, but still with a treasure: he had enough plots and characters for future works for several years.
The writer worked twice as a war correspondent: in 1904 in the Russo-Japanese War and in 1914 in civil war in Mexico.
The writer spent a month in prison for vagrancy
In 1894, London joined the so-called "Kelly's Army" and participated in the march on Washington, along with a crowd of vagrants protesting against unemployment. He soon separated from the group, deciding to go his own way, but near Niagara Falls, the writer was arrested for vagrancy. He spent a month in prison in Buffalo, New York.
“One day, by a whim of fate, I wandered for several weeks with a gang of two thousand hobos [tramps]. They were known as the Kelly Army. All over the Wild West, from California itself, General Kelly and his heroes seized trains, but they were defeated when they crossed the Missouri and moved on to the civilized East. The East had not the slightest desire to give freedom of movement to two thousand tramps," wrote London in the essay "Two Thousand Vagabonds."
During his wanderings, he came to the conclusion that only intellectual work is valued in life and finally decided to become a writer. In the campaign, London also got acquainted with the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In 1895 he became a member of the Socialist Labor Party of the USA, in 1900 he moved to the Socialist Party of the country. He left in 1914, having lost faith in the "fighting spirit" of the organization.
Trip around the world
Snark is a serious game! Believe me, friends
We have no fun at all;
We owe everything we can and everything we can't
To commit - but to succeed.
Lewis Carroll
In 1906, London began to build a 13-meter yacht, on which he was going to travel around the world. The writer planned to circumnavigate the Earth in seven years. The ship was built according to the drawings of London, he claimed that he spent 30 thousand dollars on it.
The ship was named after Lewis Carroll's absurd poem "The Hunt for the Snark". On April 23, 2007, together with the crew and his wife, the writer departed by boat from San Francisco. However, the writer's dream was not destined to come true: in 1909 he fell ill, so the route was limited only to the South Pacific.
In 1911, Jack London's novel "Voyage on the Snark" was published. In it, the writer told about his voyage in the Pacific Ocean, learning to navigate and visiting exotic places, including the Solomon Islands and Hawaii.
London became the first writer to earn a million
In 1898, returning to California from Alaska, Jack learned that his stepfather had died. He decided to devote himself completely literary creativity to provide for his mother. London was very disciplined: every day he wrote a thousand words, sometimes working for 15-17 hours. For my short writing career(Jack started writing seriously at 23 after returning from the gold fields) he has written about 40 books.
The writer's fee for one book sometimes reached 50 thousand dollars, but he still did not have enough money. According to legend, London became the first American to earn a million dollars from literature. The name of the writer was mainly made by stories and novels ("Sea Wolf", "White Fang", "Hearts of Three", "Martin Eden"). But in literature he is still remembered as consummate master stories (collections "Son of the Wolf", "God of His Fathers", "Children of Frost", "Tales of the Southern Seas"). In total, he wrote about 200 works of this genre, which are combined into 16 collections.
In 1905, London bought a ranch and ran into debt trying to organize the "ideal farm". The writer began to write cheap works for popular magazines to pay off creditors. After a while, literature began to disgust him, and in recent years he experienced a creative crisis and began to drink. London even bought the plot for a new novel, but did not have time to finish it.
In recent years, the writer suffered from uremia (kidney disease). He died on the night of November 22, 1916 at the age of 40 from morphine poisoning prescribed by a doctor. Researchers are still arguing about the causes of London's death. Some are sure that he simply did not calculate the dose of morphine, others are inclined to the version of suicide. The writer is buried in Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen (California, USA).