CLARICE STASZ
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Jack London, His Circle of Women, and His Times

PictureCharmian Kittredge London at a Solomon Islands market. A good visual example of Western coloniallism.
Before moving to California, I had never read Jack London.  Still in snobby young adulthood, I considered him a "dog story writer."  Little did I know he and his times would consume my life.  A neighbor stopped by and said, "I've just returned from Jack London State Historic Park.  You should go there.  His wife was really interesting.  I think you should write a book about her."   I had recently read Nancy Milford's book on Zelda Fitzgerald, and conceived a similar story arc, that Charmian would suffer in the shadow of a famous man. 

 The literary executor then, Irving Shepard, granted me permission to write the book and see all the archives.  He introduced me to Earle Labor, a leading literary scholar who helped me when we worked together at the Huntington Library.  There I spent several summers reading hundreds of Charmian's letters, thirty years of her diaries, and a chunk of Jack's enormous correspondence.  

My initial theory proved incorrect.  Charmian was no victimized Zelda, but very much her own independent woman.  I continue to learn about her, and Jack of course.  After publishing several scholarly articles, I wrote American Dreamers.  Twenty years later, spurred on by Helen Abbott, the wife of Jack's grandson Park Abbott, I composed a book that took in the large circle of women who were related to or influenced his life in significant ways.  This became Jack London's Women. 

Roy Tennant and I realized that readers, teachers, and students needed a reliable and accurate sour of information on Jack London. That led to our creating https://london.sonoma.edu 



(c) 2023 Clarice Stasz
  • Home
  • SLANDERLEY
    • Love and Death
    • Nuns and Mayhem
  • Jack London
    • American Dreamers
    • Jack London's Women
    • Articles
    • Video
  • Rich Women
  • BoHunk
  • Scholarly
  • Musician
  • Contact