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Question and Tasks

1. Where was William Porter born?

2. What do you know about his parents?

3. When did he leave school?

4. What professions and jobs did he have before he became a writer?

5. What happened when he worked at a bank in Texas?

6. Was he guilty?

7. When was he arrested?

8. When did O. Henry begin writing stories?

9. Why did he take this pen-name?

10. What was the first of his volumes of short stories?

11. What kinds of short story did O. Henry work out?

12. Characterize O. Henry's stories.

13. Name the most popular of them and retell their contents.

Jack London (1876-1916)

Jack London, the famous American nove­list and short-story writer, was born in San Francisco, California, on January 12,1876. He was the son of astrologer William Henry Chancy and Flora Willman. When Jack was eight months old, his mother left Chancy, and married John London, whom the boy grew to love more than his own father. Jack took his foster-father's name and this is the one by which history remembers him.

London called his childhood years the hungriest period of his life. So hungry was he that once he stole a piece of meat from a girl's lunch basket. Years later he wrote about his childhood: "I had been poor. Poor I had lived. I had gone hungry on occasion. I had never had toys of playthings like other children. My first memories of life were pinched by poverty. The pinch of poverty had become chronic... And only a child, with a child's imagination, can come to know the meaning of things it has long been denied."

But soon Jack discovered the world of books. In 1885, he was borrowing books from the public library and read everything he could. He read books of adventure, travel and sea voyages. But as John London was often out of work, Jack had had to work since his early childhood to help his father support the family. He got up at 3 a. m. to deliver newspapers, after which he went to school. After school he delivered evening papers. On week­ends he worked as a porter or on an ice wagon. Because of fi­nancial difficulties, Jack got only a grammar school education. At the age of 13 he continued working as a newspaper boy and performed some other odd jobs. When he had some spare time from his work, he spent on the waterfront. The sea attracted him,

But family affairs went from bad to worse: John London was seriously injured, and now Jack had to provide his family. He found work in a cannery. His pay was very low, and he had to work overtime, standing at his machine for 18 and 20 hours a day. For several months he continued working there but then he joined the oyster pirates and was a sailor on board a schooner bound for Japan. In 1893 he returned to San Francisco. The only job he could find was in a jute mill where he earned one dollar for ten hours a day. After a<lay's work at the factory Jack was very tired and sleepy, but it was at this time that he managed to pub­lish his first story: the newspaper San Francisco Call offered a prize for a descriptive article. Jack's mother made him try for it. The attempt was successful. The first prize was given to Jack'Lon­don's 5fory of a Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan (1893). His suc­cess in the competition turned his thoughts to writing, but he had to earn his living. He got a job at a power plant, but soon he left the plant and joined an army of the unemployed. He tramped from San Francisco to Washington. Like many others he was arrested and spent a month in jail.

These hardships influenced his outlook. He began thinking of the necessity of improving his education. In 1896, after 3 months of preparatory study, he entered the University in California, but left before the year was up to support his mother and foster-father by working in a laundry. At the same time he decided once again

to try his skill in literature. Working day and night, Jack London wrote poetry, essays and stories, sending them to magazines, but receiving only rejection letters.

Then gold was discovered in the Klondike and Jack set sail for the Alaskan gold fields. He hoped to get money to be able to devote himself to literature. London mined no gold during his year's stay in the Klondike, but his contacts with many different people and his observations gave him a lot of material for many stories.

In 1889 he arrived home to find his father dead.

Jack returned to day labour, and at the same time he was trying to continue his literary work. He felt that in order to be­come a writer there were two things he had to acquire: knowledge and skill in writing. His reading continued: Kipling and Steven­son were his literary gods. At the cost of tremendous hardships his efforts were rewarded with success. His story To the Man on Trail (1898) was published in the Overland Monthly. In the course of the next four years London published his collection of northern stories (The Son of the Wolf (1900), The God of His Fathers (1901), Children of the Frost (1902), A Daughter of the Snows (1903) and The Call of the Wild (1903)), which brought the writer wide popularity.

London knew the North very well. He had met his characters in real life and knew their aspirations and troubles very well that's why all his personages are so realistically depicted.

In 1902 Jack London visited the capital of England. Out of that experience came the terrible picture of poverty, one of Lon­don's most popular books — The People of the Abyss (1903). The writer drew a realistic picture of the misery and suffering of the poor people who lived in the slums of London. The Russian Revolution in 1905 influenced London greatly and led London to a better understanding of class struggle. His new outlook was expressed in his books The War of the Classes (1905), The Iron Heel (1907) and Revolution and Other Essays (1910).

The years 1905- 1910 were the highest point in his political activity.

"

deliberately [di'libantli] adv умышленно deny [di'nai] v отрицать descriptive [dis 'kriptiv] а описатель­ный effort ['efat] n усилие foster-father ['fo:sta,fa:5a] n приемный отец

In 1905 Jack London went on a lecture tour of the country, and made a voyage to the Hawaii. On the deck of his yacht the Snark he began writing Martin Eden, the finest novel he ever wrote.

The years of 1906—1909 were the prime of London's creative work. He wrote some of his best works: The White Fang (1906), The South Sea Tales (1907), Martin Eden (1909) and many other works that brought the author great fame.

Many novels of his later period show that he made a compromise with those whom he had exposed in his previous books. These were his new works The Valley of the Moon (1914), and The Little Lady of the Big House (1916).

During the sixteen years of his literary activities Jack Lon­don wrote 19 novels, 18 books of short stories and articles, 3 plays and 8 autobiographical and sociological works. His work is very unequal. He expresses widely differing views of life. However, Jack London must be judged by the books in which he showed all his great talent, the books which brought fame to London's name all over the world.

On November 22, 1916, Jack London was found dead near Santa Rosa, California. Doctors explained his death as an over­dose of morphine. It is believed that it may have been taken de­liberately as during the year 1916 London felt very ill. He suf­fered from an incurable disease.

Jack London is one of the most popular writers in the world. He is still widely read. It is his realism and humanism that keep his writings living and fresh today as they were at the beginning of the century.

Vocabulary

acquire [a'kwaia] v приобретать aspiration Laespa'reijan] п стремление autobiographical [,o:tau,baiau'greeiikal]

а автобиографический cannery ['кгепэп] л консервный завод compromise ['ктлпргэтатг] v пойти на

компромисс

pinch [pintf] л сжатие; v мучить pinch of poverty тиски нужды pirate t'paiant] л пират porter ['po:taJ л носильщик power plant f'pauaplcunt] л электро­станция prime [praim] n расцвет schooner ['sku:na] л шхуна slum [sLun] л обыкн. pi трущобы sociologicol Csausja'lrxfcikal] а социо­логический tramp [trasmp] v совершать путеше­ствие пешком unequal [An'i:kwal] а неравноценный waterfront f/vratafrAnt] л порт yacht fjot] л яхта

hardship fha:djip] л обыкн pi трудности

incurable [m'kjuarabl] а неизлечимый

injure ['mdja] v ранить

jail [dseil] n тюрьма

judge [d$Ad3] v составлять мнение, оце­нивать

jute [dju:t] n джут

mine [mam] v добывать

morphine ['mo:fi:n] n морфий

occasion [a'kerjan] л случай

odd [t>d] а случайный

outlook ['autluk] n точка зрения; круго­зор

overdose fauvadaus] л слишком боль­шая доза

oyster ['oista] л устрица

Дата добавления: 2015-06-27