Jack London (12.01.1876 - 22.11.1916) - American writer.
John Griffith "Jack" London was born on 12 January 1876 in San Francisco. His mother, Flora Wellman, lived in Ohio but then moved to San Francisco where she worked as a music teacher. It also known that she was interested in spiritualism. Some biographers suppose that Jack London’s father was William Chaney who lived with Flora Wellman in San Francisco. It is not known if Flora and William were legally married. The house where Jack London spent his childhood was destroyed after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
In 1885 London read Ouida"s long Victorian novel Signa. Jack London maintained that this book was the beginning of his literary career. In 1886 he became acquainted with Ina Coolbrith who was a librarian in the Oakland Public Library. She encouraged London’s learning.
In 1889 he started working at Hickmott’s Cannery. His working day lasted 12 to 18 hours. Afterwards Jack London bought the sloop Razzle-Dazzle and became an oyster pirate. After a while he came to Oakland and entered Oakland High School where he started writing articles for the school’s magazine, The Aegis. The first work of London was “Typhoon off the Coast of Japan” in which he described his sailing experiences.
In 1896 Jack London entered the University of California, Berkeley but because of financial difficulties he left the university in a year. Jack London spent a lot of time at Heinold’s saloon where he met Alexander McLean. He was a cruel captain whom the character Wolf Larsen in London’s novel is based.
At the age of 21 Jack London joined the Klondike Gold Rush. This period of life was a basis for some of his popular stories but his health declined there. As a result London had the scurvy. All the events in the Klondike were an incitement for him to write a short story “To Build a Fire” which is considered one of his best.
From 1898 Jack London started working intentionally to publish his writings. The first published work was “To the Man on Trail”. When London began his literary career the new printing technologies appeared. Consequently popular magazines became available for many people and in 1900 he could earn $2,500. In 1903 The Saturday Evening Post bought London’s work The call of the Wild for $750. In addition to that he sold the book rights to Macmillan for $2,000 and as a result London achieved a swift success. When London lived in Oakland he became acquainted with poet George Sterling who became his best friend. Sterling was described in London’s autobiographical novel Martin Eden as Russ Brissenden.
Jack London’s first marriage was in 1900. He married Elizabeth “Bessie” Maddern with whom he had two children: Joan and Bessie (later called Becky). But they divorced and London married Charmian Kittredge in 1905. They didn’t have children because the first child died at birth and the second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
Jack London died November 22, 1916. There are a lot of different suppositions about London’s death. Some people consider that he could commit a suicide but his death certificate gives the cause as uremia. His ashes were interred in Jack London State Historic Park, in Glen Ellen, California.
17 Сен
Тема по английскому языку: Джек Лондон
Топик по английскому языку: Джек Лондон (Jack London). Данный текст может быть использован в качестве презентации, проекта, рассказа, эссе, сочинения или сообщения на тему.
Американский писатель
Джек Лондон родился в 1876 в Сан-Франциско. Его настоящее имя было Джон Гриффит. Он был самым успешным писателем Америки начала 20 века, чья жизнь символизировала силу воли.
Происхождение
Семья Лондона была очень бедна, поэтому он начал работать в возрасте 8 лет. Он продавал газеты, работал на кораблях и фабриках. Джек путешествовал через океан как моряк, шел пешком из Сан Франциско в Нью Йорк с армией безработных и назад через Канаду в Ванкувер. Лондон изучал великих мастеров литературы и читал работы великих ученых и философов.
Заключение
Поворотным событием в жизни Джека было тридцатидневное заключение, которое заставило учиться и позднее заняться писательской деятельностью.
Лучшие короткие рассказы
В 1987 году Джек Лондон присоединился к золотой лихорадке и направился в Клондайк. Он не принес с собой золота, но те годы оставили свой след в его лучших коротких рассказах; среди них «Зов предков», «Белый клык», «Сын волка» и «Белое безмолвие». Они представляют собой захватывающее повествование о борьбе человека с природой. Его роман «Морской волк» основан на опыте, полученном в море.
Проблемы индивидуумов и общества, а также некоторые трудности, с которыми Лондон сам столкнулся в первые годы как писатель описаны в «Железной пяте» и «Мартине Идене».
Последние годы жизни
В течение 16 лет своей литературной деятельности Джек Лондон издал около 50 книг: Короткие рассказы, романы и эссе. В 1910 году Лондон поселился около Глен Элен в Калифорнии, где намеревался построить дом своей мечты. После того как дом сгорел до его завершения в 1913, Лондон был разбитым и больным человеком. Джек Лондон умер от различных болезней и лечения с помощью наркотиков в возрасте 40 лет в 1916.
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Jack London
American writer
Jack London was born in 1876 in San Francisco. His real name was John Griffit. He was the most successful writer in America in the early 20 th century, whose life symbolized the power of will.
Background
London’s family was very poor, so he began to work at the age of eight. He sold newspapers, worked on ships and in factories. Jack travelled across the ocean as a sailor, tramped from San Francisco to New York with an army of unemployed and back through Canada to Vancouver. London studied the great masters of literature and read the works of great scientists and philosophers.
Imprisonment
The turning point of Jack’s life was a thirty-day imprisonment, which made him decide to turn to education and pursue a career in writing.
His best short stories
In 1897 Jack London joined the gold rush to the Klondike. He didn’t bring any gold back with him but those years left their mark in his best short stories; among them The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Son of the Wolf, and The white silence. They are gripping narratives of a man’s struggle with nature. His novel The Sea Wolf was based on his experiences at sea.
The problems of the individual and society as well as some of the difficulties London himself met during the first years of his literary work are described in The Iron Heel and Martin Eden.
The last year of life
During the sixteen years of his literary career Jack London published about fifty books: short stories, novels and essays. In 1910 London settled near Glen Ellen in California, where he intended to build his dream home. After the house burned down before completion in 1913, London was a broken and sick man. Jack London died from various diseases and drug treatments at the age of forty in 1916.
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I have to admit that I"m fond of reading. I like to read books about the history of our country, about famous people and adventures. Literature means much in my life. It helps to form the character and the world outlook, to understand life better. Books teach us to be honest, modest, and courageous. They help us to feel compassion for weak people.
Jack London became my favourite writer from his first books I"d read. First of all I got interested in Jack London as a personality. His life story struck me not less than his works. What a man! He was strong and talented. He lived a life of adventures and hardships, so he knew what he was writing about. In his novel Martin Iden he describes his biography. What a hard life he lived!
Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876. From his childhood he suffered greatly. He changed a lot of jobs: selling out newspapers, working at the factory. He hated that kind of job, which exhausted people and made them suffer physically and morally.
Young Jack had no opportunity to go to school, so he studied privately reading much at night.
When gold was found in Alaska, Jack London joined the gold rush. He returned home without gold but with rich impressions about people with whom he met and made friends. They became the prototypes of his heroes.
The American novelist and short-story writer knew life in Alaska very well because he experienced it himself. That is why it is so interesting to read his novels "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang" His heroes are bright personalities. They are physically strong and enduring people. They try to find a way out from the most difficult situations. They fight and survive.
The very first story The Love of Life caught my fancy. I was struck by the will of a sick man who found himself alone, side by side with a wolf. Both the man and the wolf were sick and weak. And each of them was waiting for the other to grow still weaker and faint in order to feed on him. The man won. While reading the story I admired the courage and human spirit of the hero.
The story "Brown Wolf" is not less interesting. Its about a dog and his devotion to people.
Later I read more novels and stories by Jack London. My fondness of Jack London, the greatest American writer, will stay with me all my life.
Перевод текста: Jack London - Джек Лондон
Я должен признаться, что люблю читать. Мне нравится читать книги об истории нашей страны, об известных людях и приключениях. Литература много значит в моей жизни. Она помогает формировать характер и кругозор, лучше понять жизнь. Книги учат нас быть честными, скромными и храбрыми. Они помогают нам чувствовать сострадание к слабым людям.
Джек Лондон стал моим любимым автором с его первых книг, прочитанных мною. Прежде всего я заинтересовался Джеком Лондоном как личностью. История его жизни поразила меня не меньше, чем его работы. Какой человек! Он был силен и талантлив. Он прожил жизнь с приключениями и трудностями, поэтому, он знал то, о чем писал. В романе «Мартин Идеи» он описывает свою биографию. Какую тяжелую жизнь он прожил!
Джек Лондон родился в Сан-Франциско в 1876 г. Он много пережил с самого детства. Он сменил много работ: продавал газеты, работал на фабрике. Он ненавидел такую работу, которая изнуряла людей и заставляла их страдать физически и нравственно.
Молодой Джек не имел возможности пойти в школу, поэтому, он занимался, самостоятельно читая, в основном ночью.
Когда на Аляске было найдено золото, Джек Лондон присоединился к золотой лихорадке. Он возвратился домой без золота, но с богатыми впечатлениями о людях, с которыми он встретился и подружился. Они стали прототипами его героев.
Американский романист и автор рассказов знал жизнь на Аляске очень хорошо, потому что испытал все на себе. Именно поэтому настолько интересно читать его романы «Зов природы» и «Белый клык». Его герои — умные люди. Они — физически сильны и выносливы. Они пытаются найти выход из самых трудных ситуаций. Они борются и выживают.
Самый первый рассказ, «Любовь к жизни», поразил мое воображение. Я был поражен силой воли больного человека, который оказался один, с глазу на глаз с волком. И человек, и волк были больны и слабы. И каждый из них ждал, когда другой станет более слабым, чтобы съесть его. Человек победил. Читая рассказ, я восхищался храбростью и силой духа героя.
Рассказ «Коричневый волк» не менее интересен. Он о собаке и ее преданности людям.
Позже я прочитал другие романы и рассказы Джека Лондона. Мое восхищение Джеком Лондоном, величайшим американским писателем, останется со мной на всю жизнь.
Использованная литература:
1. 100 тем английского устного (Каверина В., Бойко В., Жидких Н.) 2002
2. Английский язык для школьников и поступающих в ВУЗы. Устный экзамен. Топики. Тексты для чтения. Экзаменационные вопросы. (Цветкова И. В., Клепальченко И.А., Мыльцева Н.А.)
3. English, 120 Topics. Английский язык, 120 разговорных тем. (Сергеев С.П.)
(1906)-depict elemental struggles for survival. During the 20th century he was one of the most extensively translated of American authors.
Jack London. George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ggbain-00676)Deserted by his father, a roving astrologer, he was raised in , California, by his spiritualist mother and his stepfather, whose surname, London, he took. At age 14 he quit school to escape poverty and gain adventure. He explored in his , alternately stealing or working for the government fish patrol. He went to Japan as a sailor and saw much of the United States as a hobo riding freight trains and as a member of Charles T. Kelly’s industrial army (one of the many protest armies of the unemployed, like , that was born of the financial panic of 1893). London saw depression conditions, was jailed for vagrancy, and in 1894 became a militant socialist.
London educated himself at public libraries with the writings of , and , usually in popularized forms. At 19 he crammed a four-year course into one year and entered the , Berkeley, but after a year he quit school to seek a fortune in the . Returning the next year, still poor and unable to find work, he decided to earn a living as a writer.
London studied magazines and then set himself a daily schedule of producing , jokes, anecdotes , adventure stories, or , steadily increasing his output. The optimism and energy with which he attacked his task are best conveyed in his autobiographical (1909). Within two years, stories of his Alaskan adventures began to win acceptance for their fresh subject matter and virile force. His first book, The Son of the Wolf: Tales of the Far North (1900), a collection of short stories that he had previously published in magazines, gained a wide audience.
During the remainder of his life, London wrote and published steadily, completing some 50 books of fiction and nonfiction in 17 years. Although he became the highest-paid writer in the United States at that time, his earnings never matched his expenditures, and he was never freed of the urgency of writing for money. He sailed a ketch to the South Pacific, telling of his adventures in The Cruise of the Snark (1911). In 1910 he settled on a ranch near Glen Ellen, California, where he built his grandiose Wolf House. He maintained his socialist beliefs almost to the end of his life.
Jack London’s output, typically hastily written, is of uneven literary quality, though his highly romanticized stories of adventure can be compulsively readable. His Alaskan novels (1903), (1906), and Burning Daylight (1910), in which he dramatized in turn atavism, adaptability, and the appeal of the wilderness, are outstanding. His (1908), set in the Klondike, is a masterly depiction of humankind’s inability to overcome nature; it was reprinted in 1910 in the short-story collection Lost Face , one of many such volumes that London published. In addition to Martin Eden , he wrote two other autobiographical novels of considerable interest: The Road (1907) and John Barleycorn (1913). Other important novels are (1904), which features a Nietzschean hero, Humphrey Van Weyden, who battles the vicious ; and (1908), a fantasy of the future that is a terrifying anticipation of
Jack London
I have to admit that I"m fond of reading. I like to read books about the history of our country, about famous people and adventures. Literature means much in my life. It helps to form the character and the world outlook, to understand life better. Books teach us to be honest, modest, and courageous. They help us to feel compassion for weak people.
Jack London became my favourite writer from his first books I"d read. First of all I got interested in Jack London as a personality. His life story struck me not less than his works. What a man! He was strong and talented. He lived a life of adventures and hardships, so he knew what he was writing about. In his novel Martin Iden he describes his biography. What a hard life he lived!
Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876. From his childhood he suffered greatly. He changed a lot of jobs: selling out newspapers, working at the factory. He hated that kind of job, which exhausted people and made them suffer physically and morally.
Young Jack had no opportunity to go to school, so he studied privately reading much at night.
When gold was found in Alaska, Jack London joined the gold rush. He returned home without gold but with rich impressions about people with whom he met and made friends. They became the prototypes of his heroes.
The American novelist and short-story writer knew life in Alaska very well because he experienced it himself. That is why it is so interesting to read his novels "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang" His heroes are bright personalities. They are physically strong and enduring people. They try to find a way out from the most difficult situations. They fight and survive.
The very first story The Love of Life caught my fancy. I was struck by the will of a sick man who found himself alone, side by side with a wolf. Both the man and the wolf were sick and weak. And each of them was waiting for the other to grow still weaker and faint in order to feed on him. The man won. While reading the story I admired the courage and human spirit of the hero.
The story "Brown Wolf" is not less interesting. Its about a dog and his devotion to people.
Later I read more novels and stories by Jack London. My fondness of Jack London, the greatest American writer, will stay with me all my life.
Джек Лондон
Я должен признаться, что люблю читать. Мне нравится читать книги об истории нашей страны, об известных людях и приключениях. Литература много значит в моей жизни. Она помогает формировать характер и кругозор, лучше понять жизнь. Книги учат нас быть честными, скромными и храбрыми. Они помогают нам чувствовать сострадание к слабым людям.
Джек Лондон стал моим любимым автором с его первых книг, прочитанных мною. Прежде всего я заинтересовался Джеком Лондоном как личностью. История его жизни поразила меня не меньше, чем его работы. Какой человек! Он был силен и талантлив. Он прожил жизнь с приключениями и трудностями, поэтому, он знал то, о чем писал. В романе «Мартин Идеи» он описывает свою биографию. Какую тяжелую жизнь он прожил!
Джек Лондон родился в Сан-Франциско в 1876 г. Он много пережил с самого детства. Он сменил много работ: продавал газеты, работал на фабрике. Он ненавидел такую работу, которая изнуряла людей и заставляла их страдать физически и нравственно.
Молодой Джек не имел возможности пойти в школу, поэтому, он занимался, самостоятельно читая, в основном ночью.
Когда на Аляске было найдено золото, Джек Лондон присоединился к золотой лихорадке. Он возвратился домой без золота, но с богатыми впечатлениями о людях, с которыми он встретился и подружился. Они стали прототипами его героев.
Американский романист и автор рассказов знал жизнь на Аляске очень хорошо, потому что испытал все на себе. Именно поэтому настолько интересно читать его романы «Зов природы» и «Белый клык». Его герои — умные люди. Они — физически сильны и выносливы. Они пытаются найти выход из самых трудных ситуаций. Они борются и выживают.
Самый первый рассказ, «Любовь к жизни», поразил мое воображение. Я был поражен силой воли больного человека, который оказался один, с глазу на глаз с волком. И человек, и волк были больны и слабы. И каждый из них ждал, когда другой станет более слабым, чтобы съесть его. Человек победил. Читая рассказ, я восхищался храбростью и силой духа героя.
Рассказ «Коричневый волк» не менее интересен. Он о собаке и ее преданности людям.
Позже я прочитал другие романы и рассказы Джека Лондона. Мое восхищение Джеком Лондоном, величайшим американским писателем, останется со мной на всю жизнь.
