THE ROAD LEADS FURTHER

Figuratively speaking, my journey in the footsteps of Jack London led me from one country to another, from continent to continent. For example, I learned that the greatest number of translations and publications of London abroad are made in Italy. I also read about the first publications of London's stories in the Burmese language and about a movie based on the plot of Assassination Bureau being made in England. The movie version of Martin Eden was made in Czechoslovakia, while Russian television showed an old silent film "Under the Law," a version made by one of the founders of Russian cinematography, L. Kuleshov. This movie was based on the plot of London's "The Unexpected." In America, as I learned, more than 40 movies based on the plots of London's works were made in the last 50 years. In Russia, besides the movie "Under the Law," the film versions of Martin Eden, "The Mexican," and White Fang were made.

The Japanese press reported the death of London's servant, Sakine, who was a witness to the tragic death of the writer. One American newspapers published a short article, which stated that London's house on the Hawaiian Islands had been destroyed and that a military base was now located there. Magadanskaya Pravda proudly wrote about the lake named after Jack London, located near the Kolyma River, at the foot of the Anagag Mountain. The discoverer of gold in Kolyma, Y.A. Bilibin, loved the works of Jack London. Geologist P. Skornyakov expressed the common feeling of great admiration to the writer when, in 1930, he named the newly found lake after him. The lake is beautifully framed by snowy mountain ranges.

In the late 1960s, a multi-volume collection of London's works began to appear in Ukrainian, Armenian, and Georgian languages. I had learned of the first Estonian translations of London's works during his lifetime. They were published in 1933 by the workers' newspaper UUS Ilm (New World). These translations were initiated by the Estonian revolutionary Hans Pegelman, who was personally acquainted with Jack London. Pegelman made a contract with London, which allowed him to translate all of London's works. Pravda and a literary newspaper informed readers about wonderful findings in Georgia. A schoolteacher, E. Dzubenko, found in her house some photographs and a letter from Jack London to one of his Russian fans, O.N. Mylova.

In one of the American books, I read about the ship Jack London that was sailing near Oakland during World War II. I have also learned that Anna Strunsky's daughter-in-law was a prisoner in the German concentration camp, Osventzin, and almost died there. In 1966, Anna's younger brother and his wife came on a tourist trip to the Soviet Union. He found me and told me about his experiences of being a sailor on trade ships during the war. One time, his ship came to Arkhangelsk, where he donated blood for wounded Russian soldiers. Morris Strunsky showed me a carefully kept donor's card given to him by the Soviet Red Cross. Chicago's literary journal, American Book Collector, devoted the whole November issue of 1966 to Jack London. That was the way the magazine editors commemorated the 50^th anniversary of London's death. The issue published Joan London's article on the latest findings regarding the biography of Jack's father, William Chaney.

According to Joan, from correspondence with Chaney and conversations with his mother, Jack had concluded that Chaney was his father. Joan was convinced of it, too. Literary scholars considered London's stepfather John London to be his biological father. Later, some student textbooks suddenly declared that William Chaney was Jack's stepfather, to whom Jack himself had been "a caring and loving son," and that the two of them had "shared all the difficulties of life." In reality, Jack London never saw Chaney and had no warm feelings towards him because he consistently refused to recognize Jack as his son.

Joan offered a detailed description of Chaney. She pointed out that he was not only a traveling astrologist, as has been written in every biography of London, but also a talented mathematician, an editor of newspapers and magazines, and even an author of some novels and poems. Chaney was well educated in the fields of philosophy and exact sciences, particularly in astronomy. He actively participated in the radical political movements of his time. As Joan found out, he belonged to one of the oldest New England families that settled in Massachusetts around 1630. Both of his grandfathers fought in the American Revolution (1775-1783). They were supporters of a great American Democrat and reformer, Thomas Jefferson, and helped Daniel Shays. California newspapers wrote about the opening of London's Research Center at the Oakland Public Library that holds key documents connected with the life and work of Jack London. In Glen Ellen, London's fans opened a museum in his name, and the whole region around the museum was called the Village of Jack London. Once, near the Pacific Coast of Mexico, were found remains of the ship Jenny Heling, described in The Sea-Wolf as Ghost. The ship's captain was a prototype for the character of Wolf Larsen.

More than half a century has passed since Jack London wrote his last work. Hundreds of new writers sprang up in America, but the work of London is still alive. His work and his life help reveal the active character of American people, their striving for a happy future and their courageous determination to fight for it. The life and work of Jack London--everything powerful and brave, everything truly talented that is presented in his work—played its role in development of courage and firmness of human character. It is not accidental that London's characters appealed to the first cosmonaut, Y.A. Gagarin, or that another astronaut, Pavel Popovich, mentioned London's books among those that he would take with him for "strength of spirit," on the space flight. Many Soviet students paid tribute to the heroes of Jack London. After reading London, this writer became their lifelong friend.

One of the issues of Cuba magazine, devoted to the distinguished Mexican revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, mentioned Jack London. Remembering the heroic landing of Fidel Castro's group in Cuba, Che Guevara writes: "I fell . . . and in the moment when everything seemed lost, I suddenly started thinking of the best way to die. I remembered an old story by Jack London, where the protagonist, realizing his close death in the cold lands of Alaska, prepares to part with life with dignity. This was all I could remember."

Meanwhile, in the United States, a revival of interest in Jack London was in progress. Every year, thousands of pilgrims came to the Valley of the Moon to kneel at his grave. The collectors were hunting for rare first editions of London's works that were becoming more and more expensive. For example, for the first edition of the novel Cruise of the Dazzler, some fan of London's paid 300-400 times its nominal cost.

Even for the most published work, the novella The Call of the Wild, booksellers asked as much as $300. After a long break, the stories of Jack London returned to literary anthologies. This time, they were published not only in school textbooks, but also in the textbooks for colleges, serving as examples for literary analysis. Hensley Woodbridge at Southern Illinois University who had compiled the worldwide bibliography of Jack London started a magazine devoted exclusively to Jack London, the Jack London Newsletter. There were skeptics who did not think such magazine would survive, being just about one person. However, the magazine existed for several years. London scholars from the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Japan, Denmark, and Finland took note of it. Besides the articles, critical essays, and an annotated bibliography of works about the author, written in America and abroad, the magazine published various new and interesting findings. In the state of Michigan, the magazine had a competitor--an amateur publication London Collector, which began printing rare and previously unpublished works of Jack London. Later, a magazine What's New About London, Jack? appeared which, with the rest of the United States, prepared for the 100th anniversary of London's birth, celebrated in January 1976.

An interesting story is associated with the London Collector. Researching in the Huntington Library, among London's manuscripts, I found an unknown poem, "The Way of War." The poem definitely showed the great talent of Jack London as a poet, and presented an interesting idea: the poem was about London's thoughts on the development of weapons ever since prehistoric times. One part of the poem I found particularly important -- about six lines that carried out a philosophical conclusion. Those lines expressed the poet's faith in the unlimited capacity of the human mind and in scientific progress. However, they also revealed his acute anxiety for the fate of civilization.

Upon my return from the United States, I made my own, rather loose translation of these six lines and included them at the end of my notes on my trip to America. You will find these lines at the end of the present chapter. Seven years later, after the publication of my translation, Professor Franklin Walker decided to conclude his biography of London with the very same lines. However, not being able to find the original poem, or, possibly not having time to find it, Walker presented in his book the English variant of the Russian translation. He explained that the poem was never published in English. He had found it only in Komsomlskaya Pravda and had asked one of his colleagues to translate it from Russian back to English.

It appeared that the adventures of the retranslated poem did not stop there. In July of 1970, a reorganized magazine London Collector published several poetical works of Jack London that had not been previously published. Imagine my surprise when, next to the original variant of "Way of War," I found its twice-translated version. Evidently, the editors of this issue, having found those six lines in Walker's book, did not pay attention to the author's note. Changed by two translations, it was not rhymed and the six lines figured as an independent poem. I informed the editor and the publisher of the mistake. The truth was reestablished.

The first collection of London's reports and articles was published overseas. It included sports reports, correspondence from the fronts of the Russian-Japanese and Mexican Wars, as well as some essays on other topics. Among them were essays about a horse trip to San Francisco, and the Hawaiian theme. Some of these essays were published for the first time; others were found in old newspapers and magazines. The reports of 1904, from Korea and Manchuria, deserve special attention. A true sensation was the news from the United States about preparation of all of Jack London's poetic work for publication. The book was to contain 31 poems and one drama. Most of the contents of the book were to be presented to the readers for the first time. Moreover, the editors were going to include six poems of questionable origin, for they seemed to have been written by London.

Preparing to become a poet, London thoroughly and deeply studied the laws of poetry. He constantly checked his knowledge and abilities by attempting to write structurally complex poems. London explained his passion for poetry stating that he would subdue the thought to the form, and would not do otherwise until he had mastered the latter. Having become a famous prose writer, he did not forget his poetic experience. According to London, it helped him to write real prose; it sharpened his pen. However, for the most part, the poems remained a sort of entertainment for him, a check of his skill. One way or another, not less than ten poetic works of London's were published during his lifetime. Two or three more were published posthumously. Most of his poems remain in the archives.

The most significant poetical creation of Jack London was a drama, The Acorn Planter (1916), which is largely unknown to Russian readers. This work was written in tetrameter. Different people regard the poetics of Jack London differently. Some American critics think that Jack London could have also occupied a significant position in American poetry. The following is from one of London's early poems:

If I Were God

If I were God one hour

And, gazing down from heaven's dizzy stair,

Should see you idling in the garden there;

If I were God one hour;

And saw you flirting with that grinning cad —

Yes, flirting, don't deny! — why, I'd get mad;

I'd loose the bolts of my almighty wrath

And turn the wretch to cinders in your path —

If I were God one hour.

If I were God one hour

And, saw you in the garden, fair and tall,

I'm sure I'd fail to watch the sparrows fall;

If I were God one hour,

And haply you should raise your eyes to mine,

Right then and there I know that I'd resign

And fling away my scepter, dearest Nan,

Descend to earth and make myself a man —

If I were God one hour.