Jay Williams - Author Under Sail: The Imagination of Jack London, 1902-1907

Author Under Sail is an audacious departure from the well-worn critical trails routinely trod by scholars who have tended to analyze Jack Londons life and work through the conventional academic rubrics of literary realism and naturalism. Williams has tracked down crucial new dimensions of Jack Londons life and artistry thatamazinglyhave gone virtually undetected by previous biographers and critics. Williams provides an engaging portrait of the writer confronting the ghosts, ogres, and monsters of his psyche and makes a convincing case that this struggle was the catalytic crux and pivotal adventure of Jack Londons creative life. Author Under Sail is nothing short of a biocritical El Dorado for London studies.

Kenneth K. Brandt, executive coordinator of the Jack London Society

Author Under Sail is the London biography I have been hoping for. It is transformative, a game changer. Williams puts the lie to Londons assertion that he wrote only to support his adventures. He demonstrates, in an engaging and deeply considered account, that London was entirely committed to his craft. For anyone seeking to know London first and foremost as a writer, this volume, together with the first installment, is the biography to read.

Sara S. Sue Hodson, retired curator of literary manuscripts at the Huntington Library and coauthor of Jack London, Photographer

This new volume, as with Jay Williamss previous engrossing installment, greatly enlarges our understanding of Jack Londonthe man, his work, and his times.

Paul Theroux, author of On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey

In this second volume of Author Under Sail, Jay Williams continues to train his telescope on Jack Londons authorial ship. With insight, humor, and a breadth of knowledge, Williams bores into Londons creativity and business acumen during a heyday of Americas literary landscape. This book, along with the first volume, is a must for students and scholars of London and anyone with an interest in exploring the intimate, inner workings of a best-selling author.

Aleta George, author of Ina Coolbrith: The Bittersweet Song of Californias First Poet Laureate

Praise for Author Under Sail: The Imagination of Jack London, 18931902

In his groundbreaking and comprehensive biography of Jack London, Author Under Sail: The Imagination of Jack London, Jay Williams approaches Londons writing life in a way that no other biographer or scholar has previously endeavored.

Iris Dunkle, Journal of Popular Culture

Author Under Sail offers a paradigm-shifting approach to Jack London studies.... Williams has the gift of explaining complex ideas in straightforward, clear language and is also a storyteller adept at tracing the human connections behind the texts and shaping them into an engrossing tale. Author Under Sail will become an indispensable source for all serious London scholars.

Chris Gair, author of Complicity and Resistance in Jack Londons Novels: From Naturalism to Nature

Thoroughly documented and cogently argued, Author Under Sail heralds a departure from all scholars who thought they knew about Jack London and promises a wealth of new directions in London scholarship.

S. M. Nuernberg, Choice

Indispensable for Jack London scholars.

Anita Duneer, Studies in American Naturalism

A stunning new story of the authorial development that undergirds Jack Londons prolific fiction and nonfiction. This book offers a far richer U.S. socioliterary vein than any mined to date by critics and researchers of Londons life and career. Jay Williams, whats more, presents a new model of close reading, not a formalist plea for artistic unity but a showcase of literary-critical focal power. For admirers of Jack London, for students of American literature, and for historians of the book, Author Under Sail is a must.

Cecelia Tichi, author of Exposs and Excess: Muckraking in America, 19002000

Jay Williams

University of Nebraska Press | Lincoln

2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska

Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press; cover image: Jack London Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California ( JLP 425 #47).

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Williams, Jay (James W.)

Author under sail: the imagination of Jack London / James (Jay) W. Williams.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9780803249912 (v. 1: hardback)

ISBN 9780803256835 (v. 1: epub)

ISBN 9780803256842 (v. 1: mobi)

ISBN 9780803249929 (v. 2: hardback)

ISBN 9781496223029 (v. 2: epub)

ISBN 9781496223036 (v. 2: mobi)

1. London, Jack, 18761916. 2. Authors, American19th centuryBiography. 3. Authors, American20th centuryBiography. 4. London, Jack, 18761916Criticism and interpretation. 5. Imagination in literature. 6. Realism in literature I. Title. II. Title: Imagination of Jack London, 18931902.

PS3523.O46Z9955 2014

813.52dc23

[B]

2014020276

Frontispiece: Painting on board by unknown artist outside tent at the Bohemian Grove in California, 1905. Photographer unknown. JLP 462 Alb. 24, Jack London Photographs and Negatives, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For Patsy, always

I wrote this book in two different places: the University of Chicago and the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. At the university, Pat Monahan, a now-retired dean in the Division of the Humanities, provided me with the necessary quiet spacemy own officeto write. Mike Zmija, the divisions facilities coordinator, was also extremely helpful. Richard Neer, Haun Saussy, Lauren Berlant, and Arnold I. Davidson provided a different, equally valuable means of support. They cared. For thirty years, Arnold directly and indirectly made me a better thinker. My gratitude toward these scholars is unbounded.

At the Huntington Library, I have been fortunate to work closely with Sue Hodson since 1983; she has been a constant and encouraging presence at the library and listened to my tales of discovery. Steve Hindle, the librarys Director of Research, was very supportive, and I thank the fellowship committee for providing me with a second fellowship. Happy were the days in the library when I worked with Anne Blecksmith, Catherine Wehrey-Miller, Juan Gomez, Allee Monheim, Michael Fish, Kevin Miller, James Kitahara, Natalie Russell, Emmy Zhang, Sara Couch, Samuel Wiley, Stephanie Arias, Morex Arai, Lisa Caprino, Leslie Jobsky, Jaeda Snow, Mark Fleming, and Karina Sanchez. Mary Catherine Kinniburgh at the New York Public Librarys Berg Collection and Tal Nadan and John Cordovez at the Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room were particularly accommodating, as were David Pedrero, Victor Ou, and Nikolas Swihart. I also want to thank everyone who helped me navigate the London material at the Clifton Waller Barrett Library in the University of Virginias Special Collections.

I want to thank a number of scholars for their special friendship: Alan Marcus, Melody Graulich, Aleta George, Jason de Stefano, Iris Dunkle, and Amy Tucker.