Fiction: 1900 to the 1930s

One of the overarching themes in contemporary scholarship about this period is how one formulates identity, especially American identity, in a society of many narratives. The scholarship of the past year is rich with discussions of modernist writers wrestling with the fragmentation of a society disrupted by war and technology, and also of neglected or little-known authors and the place of their tales of the New Woman, immigrants, and various ethnics minorities in the larger national conversation. This multiplicity of voices makes our understanding that much richer and creates a greater network of narratives that both problematize and help to explain the constructs of American identity. Other topics include the Harlem Renaissance, with several collections looking at issues of passing, art, politics, and segregation, and the translation of literature into other forms, especially film. In both the silent- and sound-film eras fiction has been invigorated by film language, and the film industry has come to rely on fiction for source material.

i Naturalism

As he did last year, Jack London received the most scholarly attention of the naturalist writers. Jeanne Campbell Reesman continues her important work on yet another facet of London with Jack London, Photographer (Georgia), written with Sara S. Hodson, curator of literary manuscripts for the Huntington Library, and photographer Philip Adam. London's skills as a photojournalist are demonstrated in the more than 200 photographs reproduced throughout the text. These are accompanied by biographical and contextual information, including London's own notes on the pictures that he took—of the aftereffects of the San Francisco earthquake, the homeless of London's East End (where London dressed as a sailor so that he would fit in), the South Pacific islanders that he encountered on his travels, plus military engagements in the Russo-Japanese War and the Mexican Revolution. The sensitivity he displayed toward people whom most readers of the day would have considered exotic is striking. This empathy was extended to many, including lepers in Hawaii, Marquesans encountered as London and his wife, Charmian, sailed on the Snark, and Koreans caught between the Japanese and the Russians during the war of 1904.

In "The Call of Jack London: Earle Labor on Jack London Studies" (StAN 5: 21-36) Reesman pays tribute to London scholar Earle Labor and interviews him on his work on London, including his forthcoming biography. Labor recalls visiting the Jack London Ranch and hearing about how biographer Irving Stone had underhandedly gotten access to the love letters between London and Charmian, which were supposed to have been private and not for publication. It was because of Stone's casual dismissal of London's wishes that Labor decided he could best serve London and his work by focusing his scholarly career on him. Labor was also responsible for helping the Huntington Library acquire much of its collection of London materials. As part of the interview he discusses some of his most exciting discoveries of London manuscripts.

London's life receives yet another biographical treatment in James L. Haley's Wolf: The Lives of Jack London (Basic). In his preface Haley defends the need for a new biography, noting that biographies of London fall into four categories: those directed at juvenile readers, short general biographies or "Jack London 'lite,'" those focusing on a narrow aspect of London's life, and those that primarily consider his writings but "don't adequately plumb his deep and complicated psyche." He establishes that London's psyche was complicated: he focuses each chapter on a role that London played in life—"The Work Beast," "The War Correspondent," "The Sailor," "The Jade"—and draws on the writings arising from those roles. There is some psychologically interesting exploration of London and his actions, especially as he traveled from place to place, always seeking something, whether it was excitement, exposure to new cultures, or inspiration for his writing. The book is well researched and uses history to especially good effect in highlighting London's deep concern for social justice.

Martin J. Jacobi, "Rhetoric and Fascism in Jack London's The Iron Heel, Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen...