Jack London’s California: The Golden Poppy and Other Writings ed. by Sal Noto, and: With a Heart Full of Love: Jack London’s Presentation Inscriptions to the Women in His Life ed. by Sal Noto

Abstract

62 Western American Literature Elsinore, and The Scorn of Women, as well as London’s short-story classic, “To Build a Fire.” While essentially a bibliography, the entire book makes for fascinating reading, and the author provides an enlightening introductory essay about London’s lifetime reading habits and other interesting facts about the writer’s “modus operandi.” With a lifelong background of familiarity with London, this reviewer has found little (other than minor typographical errors) to criticize about the book. This book is an excellent contribution to the London story; it tells us a great deal about the man, and all London scholars and collectors will want the book in their collections. GEORGE H. TWENEY Seattle, Washington Jack London’s California: The Golden Poppy and Other Writings. Edited by Sal Noto. (New York: Beaufort Books, 1986. 156 pages, $16.95.) With a Heart Full of Love: Jack London’s Presentation Inscriptions to the Women in His Life. Edited by Sal Noto. (Berkeley: Twowindows Press, 1986. 103 pages, $75.00.) “I realize that much of California’s romance is passing away,” Jack London told a Sacramento reporter in 1910, “and I intend to see to it that I, at least, shall preserve as much of that romance as is possible for me.” That romance, enhanced by other notable elements, is clearly evident in Noto’s gathering of London’s California writings, which include, besides the title essay, excerpts from three novels (Martin Eden, The Valley of the Moon, and Burning Daylight), the short story masterpiece “All Gold Canyon,” two pieces from Tales of the Fish Patrol, essayson “Small-Boat Sailing” and “Navi­ gating Four Horses North of the Bay,” a review of Frank Norris’sThe Octopus, and “The Story of an Eyewitness” (his report of the San Francisco Earth­ quake) . Beyond London’s celebration of romance, we are impressed by the extraordinary variety of subject and tone in these works: adventure, epic tragedy and heroism, lyrically beautiful descriptions of nature, and humor. Noteworthy for the last of these elements is “The Golden Poppy.” Melvillean in tone, this whimsical sketch is a deftly penetrating commentary upon the age-old theme of public rapacity vs. private property. Critics who know only Jack London the Klondike argonaut or Jack London the socialist firebrand will discover a very different Jack London in this and the other selections in Jack London’s California. They will also find a very different Jack London in With a Heart Full of Love. There is no trace of the stereotyped tough guy or rabid revolutionist in London’sinscriptions to the women of his life. Instead, we discover the charm­ ing sentiments of a brother, husband, son, and friend, conveyed lovingly to his Reviews 63 stepsister Eliza London Shepard, his second wife Charmian Kittredge London, his mother Flora Wellman London, and his onetime sweetheart and lifetime friend Mabel Applegarth. London’s most heartfelt inscriptions may be found in the presentation copies to Eliza and Charmian, the main stabilizing forces in his life. Eliza, nine years older than he, was not only a big sister to Jack; she also provided much of the maternal support he should have received from Flora. She paid for his school supplies and his dental work out of her own savings and, later, mort­ gaged her home to grubstake Jack and her husband, James Shepard, for a trip to the Klondike. In 1910, she assumed heavy responsibilities as London’sbusi­ ness manager and ranch superintendent. She was a truly remarkable woman: largely self-educated, she managed her husband’s law practice in Oakland at the age of twenty-one; she continued her capable management of the London Ranch after Jack’s death; and she became first national president of the Women’sAuxiliary of the American Legion. London’sappreciation is typified by his 1913 inscription in The Abysmal Brute: “Dearest Sister Eliza: / Time! Ring the Gong! And here we are, you and I, fighting side by side to subdue the land &make two blades of grass grow where one grew before.” Charmian was equally remarkable. She was a talented, self-sufficient indi­ vidual who had made a respectable career for herself during an age when women had few options...