|
|
Post by wireman on Aug 3, 2022 13:40:28 GMT
Today's discussion will be To Build A Fire by Jack London
|
|
|
|
Post by spideyman on Aug 3, 2022 14:10:06 GMT
"To Build a Fire" is a short story by American author Jack London. There are two versions of this story. The first one was published in 1902, and the other was published in 1908. The story written in 1908 has become an often anthologized classic, while the 1902 story is less well known.
The 1908 has the dog and is more extreme than the 1902 version.
A Jack London man versus nature story. Descriptive in wording, the reader feels the surroundings and harshness of wilderness. The dog had more common sense/ instinct than the man. Was surprised by the way London handled the death of the man.
I'd like to find the 1902 version and compare them. Excellent story.
|
|
|
|
Post by wireman on Aug 3, 2022 15:11:48 GMT
That is a magnificent story. It has the man vs nature theme but it's really the man's stubbornness thinking he is superior to nature that gets him. It is a very harsh story and doesn't give a lot of sympathy to the man for being foolish. He was out in conditions he should not have been out in plus he was alone which is a bad idea and he's treated very harshly in the story for his arrogance. Thankfully, he wasn't able to kill the dog.
Jack London does some teaching in his stories. In this one. he goes into detail about the building of a fire in these conditions as well as the descriptions of the terrain and the behavior of the dog and about effects of cold weather on the body. I've always learned a few things when I read one of his stories.
When the man had his fire put out by the falling show from the tree, it reminded me of the scene in the movie Jeremiah Johnson where that happened to the Robert Redford character.
|
|
|
|
Post by wireman on Aug 3, 2022 15:18:43 GMT
I focused on the man's foolishness and stubbornness but this story is also about an intense fight for survival. The man never gives up and tries everything possible to survive long after he could have given up.
|
|
|
|
Post by spideyman on Aug 3, 2022 15:55:40 GMT
Found this article and London's take on the 1902 version:
To Build a Fire
Jack London (1876–1916)
From Jack London: Novels and Stories
In 1902 Jack London published a story in Youth’s Companion, a magazine for young boys. Six years later he recalled the story, wrote a new version, and sent it to Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century Magazine. It was accepted and published, but questions were raised about the provenance of the story. A few months later, after the magazine was printed, London responded to Gilder:
[The original story] was purely juvenile in treatment; its motif was not only very strong, but was very true. . . . As the years went by, I was worried by the inadequate treatment I had given the motif, and by the fact that I had treated it for boys merely. . . . I had no access to the boys’ version of it, and I wrote it just as though I had never used the motif before. I do not remember anything about the way I handled it for juveniles, but I do know, I am absolutely confident, that beyond the motif itself, there is no similarity of treatment whatsoever.
I can only say that it never entered my head that there was anything ethically wrong in handing the same motif over again in the way I did. . . .
The stories are so dissimilar that it’s surprising the matter came up at all. Except for the basic premise and the title, everything about the second version is different: London’s more mature and confident style, the story's length (the “adult” version is nearly three times longer), and—most significant of all—the outcome. The version for boys is instructional and moralistic; the later version is a classic in naturalism (indeed, Nature is as much a character as the unnamed traveler of the story). And, while the original version of “To Build a Fire” would surely have been lost and forgotten in the dustbins of yellowing magazines, the 1908 version is still considered by many readers as the best short story London ever wrote.
|
|
|
|
Post by wireman on Aug 5, 2022 13:53:51 GMT
Let's stick with Jack London next week
The Discussion for Wednesday will be To The Man On The Trail by Jack London
|
|
