La funcion propia del hombre es vivir, no existir. No malgastare mis dias tratando de prolongarlos. Aprovechare mi tiempo," puntualizo Jack London. A diferencia de otros escritores norteamericanos, Jack London no quiso escribir la Gran Novela, sino vivir La Gran Aventura. Su vida fue la de un aventurero que escribe. Fue un hombre inquieto. Este mismo afan de vida se refleja en los cuentos aqui seleccionados. Hay una aventura, paisajes exoticos y lejanos, tormentas de mar y de nieve, pero tambien una interesante incursion en eso que llaman condicion humana.
John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.
London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam.
His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen".
Holy smokes, Jack London. Why so tragic? This was my first time reading something from London and I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard about his life but not much about his work. Well, it ain't something for the faint of heart; not because it's some quick-paced aventure type of read, but more like the 'dogs die, friends die, those who do not die live to have a horrible life' heart-quencher type.
These stories reminded me a bit of some writings of William Hope Hodgson that are of a similar naval nature, only with with less supernatural elements and a ton more racism and hopelessness. Although short, a couple stories were almost too depressing or crude for me to keep reading yet still well written enough to have me stay. I would recommend doing a small research about London's life prior to reading these stories because they seem to draw a lot from his life experiences; I wouldn't call this mandatory but it helps with understanding where the plots are coming from.
One thing I would complain about it the abundance of nautical terms and geographic references. They seemed unnecessary to me but I guess it must have been all exotic sounding to twentieth century readers and also gave credence to London's writings.
Bottom line, I’m intrigued by London but I’m not sure I could stomach a novel by him if they’re anything like his short stories.
“Esta é a minha perspectiva. Vejo à frente um tempo em que o homem deverá caminhar para alguma coisa mais valiosa e mais elevada que seu estômago, quando haverá maiores estímulos para levar os homens à ação do que o incentivo de hoje, que é o incentivo do estômago. Conservo minha crença na nobreza e na excelência da Humanidade. Acredito que a doçura e o despojamento espiritual vão superar a gula grosseira dos dias de hoje. E, no fim de tudo, minha fé está na classe trabalhadora. Como diz um francês: ‘A escada do tempo está sempre ecoando com um tamanco subindo e uma bota engraxada descendo.’”