'No Mentor but Myself': Jack London on Writing and Writers, Second Edition

by Dale L. Walker (Editor), Jeanne Campbell Reesman (Editor)

Overview

Jack London, one of the most read and recognized figures in American literature, produced an immense body of work, including 22 novels, 200 short stories, memoirs, newspaper articles, book reviews, essays, and poems. A significant and revealing feature of London's literary life lies in his introspective observations on the craft of writing, brought together in this collection of essays, reviews, letters, and autobiographical writings. London's public role as a daring, carefree man of action has obscured the shrewd, disciplined, and methodical writer whose practical reflections and meditations on his profession provide a vivid portrait of the literary industry in turn-of-the-century America. For this edition, a significant amount of new material has been added.

Reviews of the First Edition

"Dale Walker has rendered a valuable service in his painstaking collection of London's writings about writers. He has included 43 selections, 20 of which are previously uncollected: 13 essays, and excerpts from London's two autobiographical works. The result is a remarkably comprehensive view of London 'the writer's writer.'"

—American Literary Realism

"An absorbing account of how hard the writer worked to learn his craft. . . . We find a master prose stylist concerned with problems of selectivity and concrete issues of tone, form, atmosphere, and point of view."

—Modern Philology

"A remarkable collection. . . . This is a firsthand look at a writer's honest and forthright opinions on his craft."

—Los Angeles Times

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804736350
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	01/01/2000
Edition description:	Rev and Expanded
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Dale L. Walker is a writer and independent scholar specializing in Western American history and Jack London studies. Jeanne Campbell Reesman is Professor of English at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
	About the Editors	3
	Original Selections	7
	On the Writer's Philosophy of Life (1899)	7
	Letter to Houghton Mifflin (1900)	11
	Letter to Cloudesley Johns (1900)	15
	The Question of a Name (1900)	18
	First Aid to Rising Authors (1900)	23
	Editorial Crimes (1901)	30
	Review of The Octopus (1901)	33
	Review of Foma Gordyeeff (1901)	37
	Review of Lincoln and Other Poems (1901)	42
	Again the Literary Aspirant (1902)	48
	Getting Into Print (1903)	54
	The Terrible and Tragic in Fiction (1903)	58
	These Bones Shall Rise Again (1903)	65
	Stranger Than Fiction (1903)	73
	Jack London to the "Unknowns" (1905)	77
	Review of The Long Day (1905)	79
	What Life Means to Me (1906)	87
	Letter to S. S. McClure (1906)	97
	Review of The Jungle (1906)	98
	Letter to The Independent (1907)	106
	The Other Animals (1908)	108
	Letter to Vanity Fair (July 1, 1909)	121
	Letter to Vanity Fair (August 16, 1909)	123
	Letter to Frank Harris (1909)	125
	Letter to Sinclair Lewis (1910)	127
	Introduction to The Red Hot Dollar (1911)	129
	Letter to The American Hebrew (1911)	131
	Letter to Maurice Magnus (1911)	132
	A Classic of the Sea (1911)	134
	Selections from John Barleycorn (1913)	138
	Two Letters to Winston Churchill (1913)	145
	Letter to Max Eastman (1913)	147
	Four Letters to Aspiring Writers (1913-15)	148
	Introduction to The Cry for Justice (1915)	154
	A Letter Exchange with Joseph Conrad (1915)	157
	Letter to Mary Austin (1915)	159
	Letter to Armine Von Tempsky (1916)	161
	Eight Factors of Literary Success (1917)	163
	Selections from Martin Eden (1909)	165
	New Selections	193
	Letter to Bailey Millard (1906)	195
	Letter to Albert Lee (1906)	199
	Letter to the Editor, Cosmopolitan (1906)	202
	Letter to George Brett (1907)	205
	Telegram to the Century Company (1913)	208
	Letter to "Mr. Revision Editor" (Woman's Home Companion) (1902)	210
	A Selection of Letters to Charmian Kittredge (1904)	213
	Two Letters to Charles Warren Stoddard (1900-1901)	218
	Five Letters to Aspiring Writers (1913-15)	222
	Letter to Anna Strunsky (1900)	228
	Letter to Joan London (1915)	231
	A Selection of Letters to George Sterling (1906-14)	235
	Chronology	239
	Bibliography and Suggested Readings	242

Editorial Reviews

Review s of the First Edition: "Walker has rendered a valuable service in his painstaking collection. . . . The result is a remarkably comprehensive view of London, 'the writer's writer.'"—American Literary Realism

"A remarkable collection. . . . This is a firsthand look at a writer's honest and forthright opinions on his craft."—Los Angeles Times

"This book is a pleasure for anyone interested in London or in the rapidly changing world of writing and publishing in the early twentieth century."—American Literature

"An absorbing account of how hard the writer worked to learn his craft. . . . We find a master prose stylist concerned with problems of slectivity and concrete issues of tone, form, atmosphere, and point of view."—Modern Philology

From the Publisher

"A remarkable collection. . . . This is a firsthand look at a writer's honest and forthright opinions on his craft."

|Los Angeles Times

"This book is a pleasure for anyone interested in London or in the rapidly changing world of writing and publishing in the early twentieth century."

American Literature

"An absorbing account of how hard the writer worked to learn his craft. . . . We find a master prose stylist concerned with problems of slectivity and concrete issues of tone, form, atmosphere, and point of view."

Modern Philology

Review s of the First Edition:"Walker has rendered a valuable service in his painstaking collection. . . . The result is a remarkably comprehensive view of London, 'the writer's writer.'"

American Literary Realism

"A remarkable collection. . . . This is a firsthand look at a writer's honest and forthright opinions on his craft."

Los Angeles Times