A WRITER FOR ALL TIMES

It was long before January 12, 1976, that Soviet readers experienced the approach of the centennial anniversary of Jack London's birth. Movie theaters celebrated this event by showing such movies as the British film The Call of the Wild and the Italian version of White Fang. Soviet cinematographers produced such movies as "Smoke and the Little One" and "Burning Daylight." "Pravda" Publishers announced the preparation of a 13-volume edition of the Collected Works of Jack London. Many other collections came out at that time. I wrote a movie script for the documentary about the life and work of my favorite writer. Naturally, I included the astonishing short film that captured Jack London's last days. The genre of screen writing was entirely new to me, but interesting. The most difficult part was finding and selecting the most impressive film material of that time, photographs, film illustrations for the most significant stages of his biography, as well as chief works of his literary career. The central branch of our TV film production asked me to be adviser to the producer of the three-part television production of Martin Eden. For me, days of working on that production were like a holiday. It was an amazing, exciting feeling to see the characters come to life that had become so close to me through the book. Make-up specialists succeeded in attaining physical resemblance with the main protagonists of the novel who, as we know, were Jack London and Mabel Applegarth. Brought to life by Y. Bogatyrev and I. Pechernikova, the characters of Martin and Ruth were poetic and corresponded perfectly with the spirit and vision of the author. A great deal of such success is owed to the director S. Evlakhishvilli. Martin's friend Brissenden, brilliantly played by L. Filatov, was also very convincing. The actor was well able to portray the essence of the American character.

Russian television broadcast a joint Yugoslav-Italian production of An Adventure of the Far North. This work, shown in several parts, was based on the facts of London's biography. In the days of celebration of that memorable anniversary, newspapers and journals in the various parts of the Soviet Union published articles about the writer — particularly, such central newspapers as Pravda, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Literary Gazet, Literary Russia and such regional republic newspapers as Soviet Moldavia, Turkmen Spark, Bakin Worker. The following magazines paid tribute to the author: Novy Mir, Krestyanka, and Ogonyok. Radio readings and performances of London's works were often broadcast on the air. Various libraries organized exhibits of London's books. Both scientific and writing circles also celebrated the anniversary of the American writer by devoting a series of conferences to his works.

Many countries paid their tribute to the memory of Jack London. In France, he was pronounced one of the greatest American writers. There, a seventy-volume edition of his collected works was started (24 volumes were already published by the date of the anniversary). A twenty-volume edition was published in the Danish language; twenty-three volumes came out in Norwegian. New biographical work was published in England. Jack London exhibits were held in the Federal Republic of Germany. New editions of London's books and new critical essays about him came out in the former German Democratic Republic, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.

Incomplete facts were coming to me from abroad. At times, my mail would bring me publications with critical articles, with an analysis of the writer's literary work. Literary scholars demonstrated the poetic influence of the American writer of prose on the writers from their native countries. Researching the character of Jack London's female protagonists, American critics concluded that he had anticipated the appearance of the new woman, which decades later became so widespread in real life.

In spite of the prejudices of that time, Jack London's woman was able to act better than man when faced with the difficulties of life. In a way, she even became an example for him. She was a faithful friend, a courageous companion, an inspiration, and a meritorious companion-in-arms in serious undertakings. One of the greatest achievements of the writer is his image of a working-class woman, created with much admiration and authenticity. Examples of such women can be found in The Valley of the Moon (Saxon Brown) and Martin Eden (Lizzie Connolly).

From the far-away island of Tahiti, I received an issue of a magazine devoted to London's stay there. The Jack London Newsletter announced the future publication of London's novels and stories in Rome, Budapest, Mexico, Madrid, Barcelona, Helsinki, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, and Tokyo. His books were published in 68 different languages. In the opinion of the American professor Ownby, London is being read more, and more is being written about him than a half century ago. Twenty-eight out of his fifty-three books are currently being reprinted in his native country. Recently, in the United States, collections of Jack London's science fiction, together with his works of the vagrancy period (his Tramp Diaries included) have been published.

"Those authors being read in literary circles after the creator of the Northern Short Stories and Martin Eden", writes R. Ownby, "are indebted to London, each in his own way: Hemingway — by way of the simplicity of his style and courage; Dreiser — by his disappointment in the "American dream." Even the coarse style of such writers as Mailer and Jones has roots in London. "The popularity of London," Earle Labor concluded in his biography, "is comparable to the popularity of Mark Twain, but he, perhaps, more profoundly than Twain embodied the Americans' longing for a romantic adventure. Martin Eden anticipated the disenchanted success novels of Dreiser, Lewis, and Fitzgerald, and his efforts paved the way for the new generations of Hemingway, Lardner, and Mailer."

Time buried many of London's contemporaries in the course of its passing. However, it is powerless to erode the works of this writer. Yet again, the skeptics have received proof that his works are amazingly full of tenaciousness. As always, they are able to astonish, conquer, and inspire. New generations of readers have found his works no less attractive than their predecessors. An essay on Jack London, published in the Political Affairs magazine by the veteran of worker's movement, Art Childs, who was personally acquainted with the writer, clearly defined his significance: "We, American Communists, honor him as the first American writer to join the struggle of the working class, whose priority was the establishment of the worker's government."

In England, one of the editions of The Iron Heel came out with a picture of a Fascist boot stamping over a Salvador Allende portrait, killed by the Fascist junta. This was further evidence of the fact that London's books continued to participate in political struggle. The California newspaper San Francisco Chronicle referred to Jack London as the greatest writer among all born in the San Francisco Bay Area. American scientific and literary magazines responded to the celebration of his anniversary.

Both Pacific and California universities held conferences. A large banquet was held in the restaurant "Sea Wolf," at which Becky London herself was present. Unfortunately, governmental circles of California did not celebrate the author's 100th anniversary. The Postal Services of the United States refused the request of prominent American literary scholars and London's admirers to produce a stamp bearing his portrait, while stamps portraying other authors whose works are not even read in America appear every year. The literary artist who made American literature famous all over the world became an "unwanted citizen" for the ruling elite of the country.

At this point, my narrative about Jack London could have been finished. However, the journey in his footsteps was not yet over. I received three works from abroad that had researched London's writing. I was informed that Joan's memoirs about her father and a collection of poetry were ready to go to print. I learned about the intention to publish all of his books in the United States for the first time, titled something like the Complete Collected Works of Jack London. I also received news about the completion of Charmian's biography. The journal "What's New About London Jack?" published commentaries on London's three one-act plays staged by high school students in the Oakland Public Library (works of this kind are usually unfamiliar to the Soviet reader). The journal also reported about the first-time performance of the drama "Gold," performed by an amateur youth group of 19 people. Jack London wrote the play in collaboration with Herbert Heron. Both performances were received very well. The specialists noticed the modern significance of the writer's works as well as the inspiring performance of young actors. I found out about a documentary drama on London's life filmed in San Francisco, Oakland, and in the Valley of the Moon.

From a telegram, I read about the staging of a two-act literary composition, "Yours for the Revolution," done in 1982 in the theaters of New York and San Francisco. I learned an amazing thing — still, 60 years after Jack London's death, new readers and young writers write letters to him, expressing their gratitude. They receive him as their contemporary and thank him for the pleasure, inspiration, and moral lessons he brought them through his works. I received a letter from Becky London, in which she sent her latest photographs. Jack London's daughter expressed her concern about the growing cost for photographers in the United States, and apologized for the amateur pictures. The prices for the professional photographers were too high. Two letters arrived simultaneously from the Huntington Library. In those letters, the curator of rare books reported about the newly acquired London documents. Within a four-year period, his collection grew from 30,000 titles to almost 60,000 and became the largest collection of the library. New manuscripts, letters, and multitudes of pictures, books, booklets, albums and newspaper clippings enriched the collection. Collection items included Charmian's letters and letters from the friends of the writer, George Sterling and Cloudesley Jones. The collection of Jack London's books now kept in the Huntington Library currently numbers 7,000 copies.

"Jack London Newsletter," published by Hensley Woodbridge, devoted 25 pages of the issue to the comparison of phrases and entire passages of Stone's Sailor on the Horseback with those of Jack London's "The Apostate," John Barleycorn, and Martin Eden. There is a lot of textual similarity in more than 100 instances. Soon after Stone's book came out, he was frequently accused of plagiarism. However, he put an end to such remarks by inserting an epigraph in this new edition of the book that reads: "The story of Jack London told in his own words."

In 1981, another publication (this time illustrated) devoted to Jack London appeared in the United States: "Jack London Echoes." It contained a variety of very interesting materials. For example, a student of a school in Knoxville, Tennessee, talked about his trip to Appalachia. At the first stop, the teacher read Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and then, dividing students into groups, instructed them to build a fire themselves. It was not easy, but they performed that task. The next day, when the group had to climb the mountains, the teacher read "The Dutch Courage," a story about two boys saving an adult in the mountains. On the next trip, the group decided not to take any food from the base, but try to get everything themselves. The boys put up traps, went fishing, and gathered berries. They were not very successful, however. Instead of lunch, the teacher read them "Love of Life." The protagonist in the story went hungry for several days, while they had not eaten since morning only. Hunger made itself known, though. Many of the boys asked to return to the base. At that moment, the teacher announced that he had a surprise for everyone and retrieved 13 servings of dinner from his bag.

From then on, every time they read chapters from The Call of the Wild, they were fascinated with the book. On the way, they discussed various possible ends for the story. When that student came home, he found more of Jack London's books in the library. His father asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and the student answered without hesitation: "Jack London's works". "I realized," he concluded, "that I found a new friend." Tarnel wrote that her father had joined the fighters against militarism and left on a campaign for disarmament and social justice. This campaign involved a trip through the entire United States, from the Pacific Coast to the capital, and was undertaken by the true patriots of the country concerned with the activity of military affairs in the government of the United States.

Russ Kingman sent his book Pictorial Life of Jack London. It has more than 250 photographs from different years, most of which London took himself. There are pictures of Jack busy with manuscripts, Jack reading a book, Jack behind a steering wheel, riding a horse, giving a lecture. It presents various aspects of life and interests of the writer. The pictures give different images of Jack, each corresponding to a different angle of his personality. Also among the pictures is a portrait of astrologist William Chaney, of his mother and stepfather, of Jack with the members of his class, of an electricity plant where Jack first learned the price of hard, exhausting labor. In addition, there are episodes of his assignments as a reporter and of his sea voyages. What a multitude of different talents — a brilliant writer, reporter, courageous traveler, and an excellent photographer.

The book presents an abundance of pictures, but more than half of The Pictorial Life of Jack London is made up of a biography, written with obvious interest, knowledge of facts and use of rare materials. The location of places, the spirit of that time, the surroundings of the author of Martin Eden were all well known to the director of the Jack London Museum. He was so well informed about the smallest details of London's life journey that he was able to refine and correct mistakes of biographers and defend the writer's good name from the ill-intended rumors by making references to London's contemporaries.

Describing the last day of London's life in great detail and relying on medical conclusions as well as on authoritative statements of those close to London, Kingman rejected the version of London's suicide. In addition, he opposed the widespread rumor about London's addiction to alcohol in his later years. In the preface to the The Pictorial Life of Jack London, a famous American writer, Irving Stone, emphasized the worldwide significance of London's work. He confessed that in almost every country that he had ever traveled, he had met writers who expressed their literary indebtedness to Jack London. They particularly mentioned reading Martin Eden as a motivation to take on a literary career. Russ reported to me with enthusiasm that 233 admirers of London's works gathered in Oakland for the banquet held in honor of the writer's 106th birth anniversary. Expressing his sincere desire to improve the relationships between our countries, Russ said: "If Jack London were alive, we could have sent him to Russia with a diplomatic mission."

In more recent collections of London's works in the United States, I found some stories that have not been, as of yet, translated into Russian. I also ran across some articles that I had been unsuccessfully trying to find. Presently, representatives of the art circles of various countries continue the tradition of London-the-artist. His socialist ideas are being developed and carried out by his ideological followers both in America and abroad. The second generation of Jack London followers came out on the arena of social and political struggle. The journey in the steps of Jack London continues.