Evening star., 1938-10-12
NEW BOOKS AT
RANDOM
By MARGARET CERMOND.

ures in American literature defines Jack
London as fabulous, eccentric, and
lovable personality a completely mod
ern man, time-bomb that smashed
open the twentieth century"
II Jack London had chosen to remain
among the living until the finish of his
normal span of years the autobiography
he undoubtedly would have written
might not have contained this specific
definition Of himself, but his display OF
the factual material that would neces-
sarily have gone into such volume
would very likely have been much the
same as that which now appears in the
work of Mr.. Stone. For Jack London
was maker Of voluminous notes, and In
compiling the present biography Mr..
Stone has made generous use Of the mass
Of available. material.
In the fifty published books two hum
dred thousand rough notes, letters, man
uscripts, documents, diaries and other
private papers of the one-time popular
novelist Mr.. Stone finds that where
Jack told the truth about himself no
biographer could possibly tell it better
or truer." For this reason he acknowl-
edges that he has "let Jack London tell
his own inimitable flavor, character and
self -dramatization." This admission an
swers in part the criticism which arose
when parts of the biography were re-
ceiving serial publication.
Few human beings whose achieve
ments have merited biographical atten-
ton lived so vigorously or SO adventur-
ously as did Jack London. His life from
the unhappy circumstances in which he
was born until his tragic and untimely
death was a fantastic hodge-podge Of
experiences that happily not many per-
sons are required to endure. Many Of
the hardships he suffered were the re-
suit of his own violent nature. But
childhood in nightmarish atmosphere
to the accompaniment Of poverty may be
put down as one reason for the develop
ment Of character at odds with the
world about him. Hunger, abuse and
neglect, plus his Unmatched parentage
were not combination from which con-
tentment and normal living could thrive.
London assuredly was an eccentric.
Life made him so. That he possessed
lovable personality is attested by all
who knew him, and particularly by those
few who had the ability to understand
him. He not only was completely
modern man." he was at least one
generation too modern for his time
whether or not he actually smashed
the twentieth century as a novelist or
as revolutionary socialist, he smashed
many other things during the brief years
OF his activities, including his own life.
He was born out of wedlock, the son
Of Flora Wellman, cultivated daughter
Of the wealthy pioneer family of Ohio.
His father, there is reason to believe,
was Professor w. H. CLANCY, itinerant
Irish astrologer and lecturer, writer. edi-
tor, linguist and IAN able student of his
tory and the Bible The pair separated
before Jack was born. Later his mother
married John London and the lad grew
to young manhood without knowing that
the man was not his father. Flora Well
man was impossible as a mother and
also impossible in numerous other re-
spectS. She was selfish, extravagant,
visionary and futile as manager, with
no sense OF money value. She practiced
SpiritualiSm and during Seances COM
PEELED her young son to float through the
air in the pitch-black session chamber.
John London might have been able to
keep the family fed, clothed and housed
had she not time after time reduced him
to ruin by compelling him to foster some
wholly hopeless get-rich-quick scheme.
When he should have been in school
Jack was compelled to work to keep the
family from starvation. He sold news
papers, worked on an ice wagon, set up
pins in bowling alley and worked long
hours in canning factory for ten cents
an hour. When the family moved to
Oakland he found the public library
and there became acquainted with real
books. He became voraciouS reader of
travel and adventure stories and quickly
developed liking for great literature.
His step-sister Eliza and Nanny Jen-
ny were the only two people who gave
the lad the affection he so much needed,
and it was from Nanny Jenny that he
borrowed enough money to buy a skitf
in which he sought release from care
and physical WEAKNESS. From this ven-
ture he entered the ranks of the oyster
pirates, worked with them until he grew
tired Of the game, and then became a
member Of the police patrol assigned to
put the pirates out of business. He
joined the crew of sealing boat bound
for Japan and Siberia, returned to Cali
fornia, became hobo, joined the western
army of the unemployed and started off
with the group that was to join Coxey's
march on Washington. Misfortune and
disillusionment turned him back again
toward California. He went to the
Klondike in the first gold rush and re-
turned empty-handed but with head and
heart full of material from which he was
later to make a fortune. He was
drinker and a fighter and was sent to
jail for disturbing the peace. His ex-
periences as knight of the road turned
him socialist and he became a student
of Nietzsche and Marx, attempting to
conform to the two while at the same
time adopting Kipling and Spencer as
models.
It was before he went to Alaska that
he sold two short articles which his
mother induced him to write. Most of
his efforts during the years that fol-
lowed failed to find a market, though he
worked sixteen to twenty hours a day
and kept the mails hot with his manu-
scripts. Near-starvation was his lot al
most continuously from infancy until he
cracked several Eastern magazines and
was finally subsidized by McClure's at the
handsome rate Of $125 month. Even
then the sailing was rough and stormy.
His mother continued to out-spend him.
The women in Jack London's life
q vi ND