Jack London's short story of 1916, "The Red One," looks uncannily like Ancient Astronaut TV programs today. Are space aliens coming to jump start human evolution so that we can evolve from wolves into saints? Jack London's "The Red One" gives hope to transcend the wolf within us.
By Jonah Raskin |
Jack London’s ashes, which are buried under a rock on Sonoma Mountain in Northern California, must be calling wildly to the living. In a new movie just out, that’s titled
Jack London’s Martin Eden, Russ Brissenden, one of the main characters, who also figures in the novel, Martin Eden, is an African-American. The film also features two women of color who are labor activists and socialists. In London’s 1908 book there are no Black characters or people of color. Brissenden is as white as can be.
In fact, there are no significant Black characters in any of London’s 50 books, though there are some Mexicans and some Asians. The author wanted the real world to be for whites only. He mostly populated his fictional universe with white men and white women.