Was Jack London racist?
The term "racist" wasn't in the popular English lexicon until the 60's (it was first used as early as 1932, long after London's time), and these days its connotation reaches broader than maybe it should, but I have to ask myself the question posed in this entry's title, because Jack London is my favorite American writer, and, though it shouldn't, thinking that he was perhaps a bigot gnaws at me.
Here is an interesting bit on London's racialist/racist views:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London#Alleged_racialist_views
Reading London, it's necessary to separate the characters' and the writer's beliefs, which is often difficult because, as with many writers, the views of both tend to cross-pollinate and confuse. As often as his white characters or the narrative espouse the indomitability of the white race, he also shows the savageness and raping that same race is guilty of, and he has championed the will and heart of other races and cultures --Mexican, Indian, and African American to name but a few -- in many of his short stories and novels.
Which is all to say that I have no idea, really. Maybe the guy was a racist, as defined by today's terms. But I don't really think so.
One thing's for sure: there's no way that London's works would be published in America, and achieve the success they did then, were they written in this day and age.
Nor perhaps Melville's, or Shakespeare's, or...
3 comments:
he was obviously racist, to the point of genocide.
In his short story, "The Unparalleled Invasion", he advocated the genocide of the entire chinese race, and showed no mercy, blindly ignoring women and children. And he was racist even by the standards of his day. Conrad and James weren't even close to being as racist.*(his contemporaries)
He was a hypocrite(he accused the japanese of racism), a liar(about his racism and socialism), and a champagne socialist(he was socialist only when he felt like it), and didn't really care about the working class.
still, i love white fang and call of the wild. great stuff.
Being Korean and having grown up enjoying various London offerings, initially I was rather perturbed to learn of his racist (or maybe nationalistic?) views but considering the times in which he lived and how non-whites were treated as a whole, I think his views were mainstream.
Many of the classics that are pushed on us during our formative years are full of ideals that would be considered faux pas today. I can certainly see a situation where London's offering gets banned at a school because of his non-PC views.
One interesting side note that I found is that white power movement quotes London on their sites as a sort of recruiting tool.
Doesn't give him an excuse though ... You should see the documentary about Jack Johnson the heavy weight boxer ! You wont have to ask yourself twice if Jack London was a racist. From his comments in the documentary - it's pretty clear !!
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