WORK OF JACK LONDON.

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 150, 29 June 1929, Page 20

WORK OF JACK LONDON.

Mr. C- Hartley Grattan, in the American •'Bookman,'?; makes, a '-'critical appraisal of the', work of Jack London, 'pointing out the njerits and demerits of his writing and the' characteristics of the man himself, which made it inevitable that he should write as he did. The opening paragraph indicates Mr. Grattan's manner 61; approaching the subject:l "The work of Jack London is balanced precariously on the. fence that separates literature from popular stuff. . Tho least critical bias will push it one Way or the other.. Yet there is great writing in London, and. he will remain to puzzle the historians of American literature for years to come. Like' that of Fenimore Cooper, his vogue in Europe is tremendous, and his most ardent admirers are the. French and the Russians. Before the revolution and after, the latter read him ardently and persistently. At the moment, his books stand with those of Lenin in popularity. Both of these peoples admire the same qualities in. him.. ■. In an admirable essay on London's positive characteristics, the French student of American literature; Begis Michaud, characterises London as un romancier de l'energie Americaiiie. And the Russian Andreyev found in him l'appel imperieux d.'une vie de travail et d'action. The active life and the primitive life were the two dominant concerns of London. In them he found his only satisfactions. And, like most Americans, he felt no high admiration for the intellectual life. His intensity was physical, muscular.