123 The Magazine of the THE CALL Jack London Fall/Winter 2014, Vol. 25, No. 2 – Spring/Summer 2015, Vol. 26, No. 1 Society which chronicles more accurately Lessons Learned the depths of the artist’s alienation from the dominant value system. As th The 12 Biennial Jack London Society Symposium a result, Martin’s suicide at the end of the text fits more squarely in this Gina M. Rossetti, Ph.D. sub-genre because it comments crit- ically about the artist’s role as social Associate Professor critic; his suicide at the novel’s con- Saint Xavier University clusion dramatizes the title charac- & ter’s refusal to accommodate him- President of the Jack London Society self to a morally bankrupt system. Such boundary-pushing also mani- fests itself in the final presenter’s AT the end of October, the Jack to the study of this important Amer- paper: For Jay Williams, London London Society convened its 12th ican author. not only transforms boundaries, but Biennial Symposium at the One of the major lines of inquiry he also calls into question the divid- Berkeley City Club in Berkeley, pertained to London’s use of and ing lines themselves—blurring the California. Known as the Little re-definition of genre boundaries barriers that separate magazines, Castle and designed by Julia and literary conventions, which was newspapers, and fictional texts. This Morgan, participants enjoyed a articulated by the panelists who porousness calls attention to Lon- step back in time, relishing in the comprised the Symposium’s open- don’s deconstruction of these cate- historical and quaint qualities of ing panel. Calling into question gories, along with the tension that this vintage private hotel, which London’s classification as a natu- manifests itself in literary analysis, was built as a place for women to ralist author, Jonah Raskin invited which seeks to impose order and gather and discuss intellectual and participants to re-consider this defi- form on that which breaks out of cultural ideas, questions, and con- nition, noting that London’s use of such boundaries. troversies. Keeping this spirit different traditions and tropes, This focus on London’s con- alive, the Jack London Society along with his focus on social struction of ideas in his time period selected a perfect venue, then, for fragmentation, aligns the author gained further ground at the Sym- bringing together colleagues who with an emergent modernism. posium insofar as his role as a pub- examine the complexities in Lon- While naturalism focuses on indi- lic intellectual was spotlighted. For don’s oeuvre. Intrinsic to these viduals trapped in circumstances Cecelia Tichie, London’s work investigations is the recognition that call attention to a lack of agen- foregrounds his importance as one that London’s fiction and non- cy, Raskin encouraged audience who educated the public about the fiction comment critically about members to re-consider the impact impact of wage slavery. Tichie’s his engagement with the socio- of London’s fiction by calling at- paper delineated the nature of the political and aesthetic issues of tention to the ways in which these era’s reading public: it was an audi- his era. Whether the participants characters transcend and transform ence that wanted to be both enter- offered papers focused on gender, these social laboratories. Question- tained and informed. London’s class, or ethnicity, London’s ing and resisting conventional cate- work came at the same time as the tramp diary, or Jack London and gories and definitions gained fur- rise of the Social Gospel. As a re- authorship, the dialogue that en- ther ground in the paper Susan Nu- sult, writers such as London and sued spotlighted the depth and ernberg and Iris Dunkle offered, Sinclair used the printed page as the breadth of current London schol- suggesting that Martin Eden em- medium through which they articu- arship, while also revealing the bodies the Künstlerroman tradition lated corporate abuses, allowing fic- diverse methods and approaches rather than the Bildungsroman, tion to catalog the lived experiences 4 THE CALL 22 THE JACK LONDON SOCIETY of ordinary persons. Despite his attention to these socio-cultural abus- PRESIDENT es, London rarely comes to be included as among the era’s leading Gina M. Rossetti public intellectuals, revealing an overlooked aspect of his work. Saint Xavier University In many ways, this exclusion also represents new areas for scholarly inquiry. In particular, the Symposium participants drew critical atten- EXECUTIVE COORDINATOR tion to the lived experiences of London’s fiction and non-fiction—for Kenneth K. Brandt Savannah College of Art and Design both the readers and the texts’ characters. To this end, the participants were invited to attend London’s great-granddaughter Tarnel Abbott’s ADVISORY BOARD production, A Reader’s Theater Play, which was based on London’s Lawrence I. Berkove The Iron Heel. The performance was also open to the public, as well, University of Michigan-Dearborn and the main ballroom was brimming with an enthusiastic and politi- Donna Campbell cally astute audience. This production used the novel’s examination of Washington State University oligarchy as a lens for understanding the current economic divide. Such Anita Duneer Rhode Island College an approach blended a Brechtian alienation effect with London’s un- Daniel Dyer masking of oppressive social mechanisms, calling attention to the ways Western Reserve University in which the public comes to be estranged from itself, underscoring the Sara S. "Sue" Hodson need for revolutionary action. Huntington Library This call to arms and demand for agency also revealed itself, not on- Joseph Johnson ly in London’s fiction, but also in the work of other authors in the same Independent Scholar Earle Labor time period. For example, Eric Link’s paper presentation raised the Centenary College of Louisiana question of the naturalist hero’s inability to articulate a sense of self. Louis Leal For Link, the representation of human agency is defined by introspec- Jack London State Historical Park tion and the outward expression of it. For so many naturalist protago- Eric Carl Link nists, however, such expression is beyond their grasp, suggesting that University of Memphis their struggles are emblematic of the rank-and-file citizen’s inability to Noël Mauberret throw off the shackles that imprison him/her. Drawing attention to the Lycée Paul Cezanne, Institute for protagonists in “To Build a Fire,” “The Apostate,” and “The White Si- American Universities in lence,” Link encouraged participants to examine this sliding scale of Aix-en-Provence, France Keith Newlin self-expression, noting that this limited self-expression heightens the University of North Carolina Wilmington forces that ensnare the characters, and as a result, dramatizes the natu- Susan Nuernberg ralist effects and dilemmas. University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh The 2014 Symposium not only drew attention to important and new Christian Pagnard areas of scholarly inquiry, but it also reminded participants of the Soci- Lycée Alain Colas, Nevers, France ety’s history and those who have been instrumental in its important Jeanne C. Reesman work. Our executive director for twenty-nine years, Jeanne Campbell University of Texas at San Antonio Reesman, passed the torch to a new executive director, Kenneth Dan Wichlan Brandt, and in doing so, we recognize that were it not for Jeanne this Jack London Foundation Earl Wilcox organization would not have attained its distinction and its collegiality. Winthrop University Anita Duneer (Rhode Island College), Eric Carl Link (University of James Williams Memphis), and Keith Newlin (University of North Carolina Wilming- Critical Inquiry ton) were also appointed to the Jack London Society Board of Direc- Honorary Board Members tors. At the Symposium, we also paid tribute to our late colleague Greg Vil Bykov Hayes, which occurred at the Jack London State Historic Park, remind- Moscow University ing all of us of his love for London’s work and legacy, as well as our Rudy Ciuca indebtedness to Greg for his knowledge and kindness. As the new Pres- Jack London Foundation ident of the Jack London Society, I am honored to be a part of this en- Joseph Lawrence gaging and invigorating scholarly organization, and I hope to carry on Jack London Foundation the important work of those who have held this post previously. As Editor Kenneth K. Brandt members prepare for the 13th Biennial Symposium in Santa Rosa, we Savannah College of Art and Design will carry forward the strong work that marked our most recent gather- [email protected] ing in Berkeley, as we come to celebrate London’s life and work on Assistant Editor what will be the 100th year since his death. We hope you attend. Dominic Viti 2 12 THE CALL 3 Trying to Watch Jack London Build a Story: The Problematic Composition of “To Build a Fire” George Adams University of Wisconsin-Whitewater James Williams comments in his chronology of given its quality, would not be surprising. But Jack London’s works that many of them “have a then I decided they are only word-count mark- complex compositional history.” That is almost ers, roughly every 2,500 words. That count an understatement when applied to his best story, however is one of the problems in trying to “To Build a Fire.” Jack London’s regimen for trace the compositional history of the story. composing short stories is well-known: he made Given London’s regimen we would assume that notes for a projected story, frequently from a he kept a running word-count, so that on the source; he regularly wrote 1,000 words a day; he seventh or eighth day he would already have never revised; he kept a record of when he fin- known the total, and indeed he said that his cus- ished and submitted a story; and although he did tomary “count…is done word by word as each not keep manuscripts, Charmian did.