Honestly London
Part I
I checked out of my local library an audiobook of The Sea Wolf by Jack London, and two discs in I am struck by the wordiness of his prose.
Where modern writers and speakers would cut and abbreviate words and explanations, London expands and adds vocabulary native to advanced education. The main character and narrator of The Sea Wolf is a gentleman with a superior education, but to my ears the character-centered explanation did not quite cover all the reasons why Jack London can write in a nearly pedantic manner and get away with it, while modern writers using the same elevated language seem too snobbish for the average reader to want to connect with.
Essentially, I was asking: How can Jack London write like that, but modern authors can't?
Children's literature did not quite exist as fully as now.Everyone receiving a formal education -- rich or poor, old or young -- read similar classics and was expected to be able to quote, give opinions and essays on, and speak about the great masters of past centuries. Learning was steeped in tradition, and tradition was the mark of learning.
Author and playwright T.S. Eliot wrote an essay called "Tradition and the Individual Talent" in which he argued about how, in his historical-sense definition, tradition overshadows individual talent. Tradition is the great good that must be carried on for a writer's work to mean anything.
In the light of tradition, Jack London's frequent use of languorous sentences, ostentatious words, and audacious phrasing upholds the literary merit and tradition of showing one's best education in one's discourse.
Jack London was an excellent writer. He wrote at length, but he also wrote deeply.
Prose in The Sea Wolf appears to reveal a peculiar need of London, of doubling and tripling his explanations of what he means; but the effect is one of a man honestly trying to follow a thought and decide upon the very best metaphor or picture to express to the reader. His narrator speaks of the cook's physiognomy in one long breath, as though honestly -- almost urgently -- conveying the depth of wretchedness the cook inhabits.
London's many stories, including The Sea Wolf and The Call of the Wild are also compelling adventure stories filled with rugged action and wilderness survival.
A compelling plot, paired with an honest writer, creates the strongest net for capturing reader interest and -- the more elusive -- empathy. The reader may not be interested in the writer's words, but may believe him, which in its own way is powerful mastery over an audience.
Jack London owns a distinct style. He does not try to sound a certain way, but has has been said previously, in front of the reader's eyes he honestly searches for the best way he can convey some expression, feat, or thought.
London has thoroughly explored his gift of writing and knows how he can begin to tell a story because of his experience, both writing practice and his interesting and adventurous life (in his younger years). He is his authentic self; if another writer tries to imitate his style in every point, they are not writing to be authentic, which appears to be the journey, perhaps even the destination, which London's writing goes through. If another tries to be Jack London, they cannot, because Jack London holds and uses certain words differently.
Because of hi strength and technique of expression, London is a shining example of the Latin word "authoritas", from which the word "author" is derived. The term essentially means someone having a knowledgeable air circling so thickly around them that the force of their authority is almost like a second gravity.
Stay Tuned Next Week for Part Two
No comments:
Post a Comment