The Call of the Wild: A Naturalistic Romance by Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin (review)

316 WesternAmerican Literature discusses: TheLast oftheMohicans, The Virginian, TheSea-Wolf, and Shane. Robinson argues that Cooper displays deep and unconscious ambivalence about race and that the Virginian is in conflict about the code of friendship vs. the rule of law and the opposite pulls of oblivion vs. responsibility. No serious reader should question the second judgment (Robinson and I would both exclude Jane Tompkins from this category);the firstseems, on Robinson’sshowing, self-evidentafterveryfew ofthe twentyseven pages he devotes to it, some ofwhich are written in prose clotted byprepositional phrases. The writing isclearerand the argument more compelling in Robinson’sdiscussions of London and Schaefer. If London’s narrator is self-deceived about his own and the heroine’s capabilities, as Robinson demonstrates, generations of critics have missed the ironies ofwhat only seems to be a conventional romantic ending. And Bob, the narrator of Shane, so firmly enforces his incomprehension that, Robinson argues, a careful reader should realize that Shane is not quite the savior he seems but rather “the answer in fantasy to the disillusioning spectacle of domestic disenchantment submerged in his superficially untroubled portraits of home and mother and dad.” The final chapter, “Theoretical Postscript,”isperhaps the most clearlywritten in the book, but strategically it seems like an afterthought. Robinson explores the concepts of “bad faith,”which in his mind is not always bad, and distinguishes between his position and those of various other theorists. Most interesting is his variation from Frederic Jameson, whose audience is easily deceived and mollified by the ideal concealed below the surface. Robinson’s audience “is self-manipulated and self-deceived,” participating “in a compromise with their values,”while below the surface lie the disturbing realities. But even—especially—in this chapter the repetition vitiates the effect of Robinson’s argument. Thus, although this is a very short book, it could arguably have been shorter. Had Robinson begun with theory and discussed his examples with more economy, Having It Both Ways would be more useful. As it stands, it is more like a collection of separate essays—some of them quite perceptive—linked by a belated effort to delineate a critical position. ROBERT MURRAYDAVIS University ofOklahoma The Callofthe Wild:A NaturalisticRomance. ByJacqueline Tavernier-Courbin. (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1994. 131 pages, $22.95/$12.95.) Readers are often astonished to discover that in addition to being one of the most popular and highest paid authors in America during his lifetime (1876-1916), Jack London has been the best-selling American writer in the world. Ironically his largest audience resides in the world beyond the United States where his reputation as a great imaginative writer, thinker, and social critic is well established. Literary critics in the United States tend to dismiss London as a mercenary writer who openly acknowledged that he wrote for money, or they ignore him asahack writer, citing the uneven quality of his fiftynovels and collections ofshort stories. Given London’sshabbycritical reputation athome, itisnot surprising that the firstfull-length critical studyofhis mostfamouswork, The Callofthe Wild, should be produced not by an American, but by a Canadian who was Reviews 317 educated in France. Tavernier-Courbin, professor ofEnglish at the University of Ottawa, edited CriticalEssays onJackLondon (1983) and TheHumorofJackLondon (1992). Published asNo. 142 ofTwayne’sMasterworkSeries, thisvolume contains asuccinct assessment of London’s literary and historical context followed by interpretive readings of the novel as naturalistic, mythical, archetypal, and romantic. Tavernier-Courbin ar­ gues that the novel provides intellectual and rational satisfaction because ofits successful Naturalism while also offering the reader psychological and emotional gratification through complete identification with Buck at the level ofmyth andjungian archetypes. The volume includes a partiallyannotated bibliography, a chronology, and illustra­ tions of London and of the Bond Dawson cabin with dog Jack (the model for Buck). While Tavernier-Courbin writeswith zestand treats London asaseriouswriter, she relies on dated sources in her discussion of London’s international reputation and, perhaps inadvertently, neglects to include several keyworksin the listofbibliographical materials. Nevertheless, this volume signals a reawakening of interest in The Call of Wild and no better reading of this classic exists in English. SUSAN M. NUERNBERG University ofWisconsin-Oshkosh Jack London. RevisedEdition. ByEarle Labor andJeanne Campbell Reesman. (New York: Tawyne...