The romance of the images created by the talent of Jack London, the persistence of his heroes, striving to achieve his goal, in spite of all obstacles, the extraordinary environment that he places his characters, magically affect the reader who discovers for himself, especially if this happens for the first time, his best works.
Childhood
The child was born to a very unruly woman in 1876 with San Francisco out of wedlock. The father, an Irishman, an eccentric astrologer, abandoned the child. Eight months later, the mother marries the man who gave his adopted son the name John (Jack is the abbreviation for John) Griffith London, and real fatherly care. And Jack, in turn, became a loving and caring son to the one who raised him. The family lived in a suburb of a large city, in Auckland, and lived worse and worse. Getting up at three in the morning and delivering the morning newspapers, the ten-year-old boy then fled to school and then delivered the evening newspapers.
When he was a little older, he began to work at a cannery. He was in the shop for eighteen and twenty hours in a row. Such a difficult school of life, Jack London (biography shows) passed in adolescence. He will later describe this in Martin Eden.
Romance of the sea
The port of San Francisco, along with ships arriving from different countries, turned the head of a teenager. He was admitted to the "oyster pirates." After the stuffy dark workshops, this life seemed very attractive to young Jack. Freedom, fights, zucchini, whiskey - all this entourage fell in love with Jack London. The biography could end tragically: he could easily and quickly sleep. But Jack went to serve on the maritime patrol, which fought with the pirates, and changed his lifestyle. Later, the book “The Stories of the Fishing Patrol” will be released. But he dreams of a vast adventure throughout the world, and therefore at the age of 17 he is hired by a schooner, walking in the Bering Sea for fur seals. Jack London, this biography tells, fist fights gaining a place and respect on a schooner among seasoned Scandinavian sailors. He managed to prove to the crew that he was a real "sea wolf". This swimming did not harden and did not rude it, but gave a lot of new impressions. They will later form the basis of his marine works, which are read in one breath. They will bring him love and fame throughout the world. Jack London, a biography of this shows, passed the courage test.
When he returned, his family liked his stories, and so Jack wrote on the edge of the kitchen table the essay “Typhoon off the coast of Japan,” which was printed. Thus was born the American writer Jack London, whose biography will go in a very difficult way, from poverty to a man who has money, from the socialism and Marxism with which he was fond, to their complete opposite.
Essays "Hold on!" and "Road"
Unemployed Jack at the age of eighteen joined the crowd of thousands of the same unemployed and went to Washington. It was the so-called “Kelly’s army”, which gradually lost its participants along the way, so Kelly himself had little idea of the purpose of the campaign. Here Jack London gets acquainted with Marxism, with the ideas of socialism, with all the ardor of an adherent, joins the "Socialist Labor Party of America."
He finally realizes that only as a writer can he get on his feet and give an analysis of current events and everything that he has already seen in his short life. Jack London,
a short biography of which tells about it, feels within itself the ability and strength to write. But he lacks education.
Golden fever
There is no money to study. To earn them, he goes to Alaska. So began the Klondike saga of Jack London. She brought him not money, but impressions, which he later expressed in the collections of short stories “Son of the Wolf”, “Moon face”. In them and many others, he will describe the real life of gold miners without embellishment, all at the turning points of fate, but he will color with the spirit of romance and faith in a person.
Forty years have passed since the fate of a writer named Jack London, a short biography, a very short, bitterly short life path, which he still does not know, of course.
Writer
Seriously, Jack London began to write (the norm was 1,000 words per day, five sheets on a typewriter), starting in the early 20th century. He wrote collections of short stories, novels, which brought him popularity, fame, and money.
The years of relative prosperity have come. He was sent to England for the coronation of
Edward VII. And he became interested in the situation of workers in England and wrote “People of the Abyss”, as he was a man who was not indifferent and politicized. But his wife, a rather ordinary woman, refused to understand his “red” views, and Jack London divorces her, although in this marriage he has two daughters. In the midst of the Russo-Japanese War, he goes to the Far East as a correspondent and brings out the most difficult feelings from there. In Japanese imperialism, he saw a formidable danger to the peoples of Asia and the Pacific. The article "Yellow Danger" was written. He did not see the US desire for a redivision of the world due to the weakening of Russia. The rebel writer married a woman who became both his wife and friend for him. For two years they go on a trip on a yacht.
This is the most fruitful period of the work of Jack London. The Iron Heel and Martin Eden are finished here. Returning from a trip, London saw himself as a famous writer.
Sharp turn
He decided to settle in California, build a house that he wanted to call the "House of the Wolf" - his den, where he would be comfortable spending the remaining years. The house under construction turned into a palace, which was visited by the most expensive and rare materials. But before the housewarming, an embodied dream was set on fire. He was just shocked. But he remained to live nearby in a small modest house.
Recent years, apparently prosperous, brought him ever greater fame and money. But he was tormented by a disease brought from the tropics, bouts of alcoholism and was very worried about the liver. So much so that he was forced to take drugs. He died at the age of 40 from their overdose.
Expected or unexpected ending, but such a biography. Jack London briefly predicted her in Martin Eden, although, of course, he cannot be fully identified with this hero.
In all his photographs, he looks like a sunny person until the very last days.