UNKNOWN WORKS

London's works were translated and published so frequently in Russia, especially after the October Revolution, it seemed that everything, except for his correspondence, was available for reading. Some things were translated more than once and published under different titles. This, of course, made the search for the unknown works even more difficult. Repeatedly, I referred to American and British publications of London as well as to the bibliographies of his published works. By comparing Russian translations with English texts, I discovered articles, stories, and dramatic works unknown to Russian and sometimes even American readers. Among the first of my discoveries was a series of autobiographical sketches of London's first sea journey and his trip to Alaska. These presented colorful, youthful impressions of the young writer, recreating real events: "A Run Across," "That Dead Man Rise up Never," "Through the Rapids on the Way to Klondike," and "From Dawson to the Sea." Then, I noticed that in the detailed bibliography of London's works, assembled by Charmain London, the story "To Build A Fire" was listed twice, under different years.

From the fourteenth edition of The Collected Works of Jack London, published in Russia, Ogonyok magazine in 1961, included the story "The Fire" (this is the title the story acquired in the Russian translation), dated May 1902. As I discovered, that was a mistake. The story was taken from the collection Lost Face and was included in the issue on "The Best Works of Jack London." However, it is known that the Lost Face stories were written and published later, in 1908. This was relatively easy to establish from the bibliography assembled by Charmian.

Nonetheless, there was a story by Jack London, published in 1902, titled "To Build a Fire." It was possible that the story was published in the magazines twice—once in 1902 and then in 1908—and then was included in the collection. That was the conclusion arrived at by the publishers of the "Best Works of Jack London." Strictly speaking, the existing publishing rules of the time did not allow second publications of a work in the same magazine, but there could be exceptions. A letter that Jack London wrote from Australia on December 22, 2023 clarified the problem. In that letter, he wrote of his new short story "To Build a Fire." He explained that, many years ago, he wrote a story with the same title. The story was based on real-life events. "Man after man in the Klondike has died alone after getting his feet wet, through failure to build a fire." Being away from home, sailing the South Seas, the writer decided to take the same plot, but approach it differently. He did not have with him a copy of the original story. The main thing was that he remembered the ending of the first version of the story, which was exactly the part he wanted to change. The first story had a happy ending, but this new story would be tragic: the lonely traveler would freeze to death. Where was the first story written by young London in California? About 70 years ago, it was published in the famous Boston magazine, Youth's Companion. Many famous writers, like Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, and William Dean Howells submitted their works to that magazine.

Recently, American literary scholars have revealed the forgotten story for publication. I translated it, trying to choose the most accurate wording, and thinking that the title defines the central conflict of the work. "To Build a Fire" is one of Jack London's first creations, in which he started developing the theme of fortitude and the ability to survive in seemingly impossible conditions. All a person needed to do was to stop panicking and, instead, put all of his efforts into the struggle for survival. This important theme for London would be taken to a deeper level in "Love of Life."

I was able to find another "twice told tale." This one was about a young woman, who broke her promise to her fianc�e and suffered the consequences. The moral impact of this story was taken up by London again, eight years after the first publication. He wanted to develop this topic further, more fundamentally. The first variant was titled "Even Unto Death." The second part, more familiar to readers, was called "Flush of Gold."

The mature and experienced artist was able to skillfully present the same plot in a new light. London added more detail, which not only brought more color to the story, but also revealed the motives for the characters' actions. However, in spite of all these improvements, I liked the original story just as much. It had something about it that was lost in the later version.

I searched endlessly for another work by Jack London: "A Thousand Deaths." It was not included in any of London's publications and was completely unknown in our country. I simply had to find it. This short story was the first one to bring London a significant amount of money, unlike the other tales published at the same time, at the start of his career. This story literally saved London, who at that time was on the verge of a financial crisis. This was the work that kept him on the literary path.

The Jack London Collector re-published the story "A Thousand Deaths." It was London's first work of science fiction. It depicted a scientist who discovered a way to bring dead people back to life. In an attempt to perfect his scientific discovery, the scientist made his own son the object of experiments. Tired of the horrible experiments, the son created a special device that turned the cruel parent into smoke and a pile of ashes. London did put some autobiographical facts in this naive work. On the whole, it reflected Jack's childhood, which was lacking in parental attention. One of the episodes clear in his memory was of him falling out of a boat and almost drowning in the fast waters of a stream. Another event, his father's less-than-noble deed—leaving Jack's mother even before Jack was born—left a significant mark on Jack's life. At the same time, the story obviously carried the influence of H.G. Wells' science fiction, as well as the traditions of such American prose writers as Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce. But I really wanted to find London's works with the following intriguing titles: "The Handsome Cabin Boy," "Up the Slide," "The Devil's Dice Box," and others. They deserved the special attention of a Russian reader.