Jack London

Author and Adventurer

Novelist of Ideas

Throughout his career, Jack London explored ideas, both in his reading and in his own writings, seeking to find the answers to life's great questions. In this quest, he frequently reaffirmed not only his socialism, but also his belief in the superiority of humanity over the destructive power of individualism. In addition, especially in the last several years of his life, he increasingly saw the importance of the inner or spiritual side of life to humankind's self-understanding.

Jack London. The Sea Wolf, first edition, New York, Macmillan Company, 1904.  
RB 12696

This great novel of adventure tells the experiences of Humphrey Van Weyden, rescued at sea and compelled to join the crew of a sailing vessel ruled by a cruel, domineering captain.

In Wolf Larsen, London created perhaps his most fascinating and unforgettable character. Sensitive, intelligent, brutal, arrogant -- Larsen was alienated from his fellow humans and, therefore, was doomed to self-destruction. In contrast, Van Weyden prevails because he is not an individualist but has the capacity for love and cooperation with others.

Jack London. Letter to Mary Austin, November 15, 1915.
AU 3546

The author of such classics of Southwestern literature as Earth Horizon and Land of Little Rain, Mary Austin knew Jack and Charmian London from their visits to the artists' colony at Carmel. Both Austin and London had strong egos and high ambition, and their relationship was marked by frankness and a healthy respect for one another's work.

In this letter, London commiserates with Austin about the misinterpretation of her works and discusses the similar treatment of his own. He states that The Sea Wolf and Martin Eden are attacks on the super-man ideal, by which he also means an attack on individualism. The "Christ" story he refers to is The Star Rover. Mary Austin's "Jesus Christ" book is The Man Jesus (1915), which was revised and published in 1925 as A Small Town Man.

Jack London. The Iron Heel, autograph manuscript, 1906.  
JL 834(8)

One of London's most audacious novels, The Iron Heel is a work of fantasy that tells the story of a future United States in which a totalitarian ruling party rises to complete domination, stamping out all opposition. At the story's apocalyptic climax, revolutionary mobs rising up from the Chicago ghetto are slaughtered by mercenaries.

Despite its artistic flaws, the novel is one of the most prophetic novels of the century, foretelling the evils of Fascism. As the ultimate statement of London's compassionate socialism -- his desire for justice, his deploring of human degradation -- the novel is intensely personal, what he later called "a labor of love."

Jack London. The Star Rover, first edition, New York, Macmillan Company, 1915.
RB 12704

An indictment of the California penal system, this novel is based on the story of Ed Morrell, a real-life former convict. Morrell was subjected to terrible torture, including long periods in "the jacket," a heavy piece of canvas wrapped tightly around him in order to break his spirit. Morrell told of mastering a sort of self-hypnosis that allowed his spirit to leave his physical body to roam freely to other times and places. In this way, his spirit survived the brutality inflicted on his body.

London's protagonist, Darrell Standing, escapes the jacket in spirit by roving to such places as the American west of the nineteenth century and Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion of Christ.

Jack London. Letter to Roland Phillips, March 26, 1914.  
JL 13165

In this letter to the editor of Cosmopolitan, London discusses his just-completed novel, The Star Rover. He notes that in the novel he plays tricks with philosophy, but he also explores the spiritual and psychological realms.

As he grew older, and as his writing career progressed, London turned increasingly to the spiritual in life, and in The Star Rover his belief in the triumph of the spirit reaches full expression.

Carl Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious, New York, Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916, with annotations by Jack London.  
RB 336747

According to Jung's theory of the "collective unconscious," people don't experience personal, unique dreams but share the same unconscious memories, derived from primitive times. This idea electrified London, and it spoke both to his own interest in primitive or uncivilized societies, as portrayed in his South Seas and Klondike stories, and to his increasing interest in the spiritual and psychological.

Charmian London later quoted London's reaction to reading Jung: "I tell you I am standing on the edge of a world so new, so terrible, so wonderful, that I am almost afraid to look over into it." He immediately began to incorporate Jung's theory into his short stories, such as "The Water Baby," but he died before he could explore it in any novels.

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