''The Little Lady of the Big House'' (
1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
*January 1 ...
) is a
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
writer
Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
. It was his last novel to be published during his lifetime.
Plot
The story concerns a
love triangle
A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...
. The protagonist, Dick Forrest, is a rancher with a poetic streak (his "acorn song" recalls London's play, "The Acorn Planters"). His wife, Paula, is a vivacious, athletic, and sexually self-aware woman, who falls in love with Evan Graham, an old friend of her husband. Unable to choose between the two men, she wounds herself mortally with a rifle in what her husband is certain is a suicide. .
Inspiration
Biographer Clarice Stasz writes that the book is "not autobiography", but speaks of London's "frank borrowing from his life with
Charmian", his second wife, and says it is "psychologically valid as a mirror of events during
hewinter
f 1912–13. Paula, like Charmian, is subject to insomnia and is unable to bear children. Based on a reading of Charmian's diary, Stasz identifies Evan Graham with two real-life men named Laurie Smith and
Allan Dunn.
Even minor characters can be identified; Forrest's servant Oh My resembles London's valet Nakata. The long-bearded hobo philosopher Aaron Hancock resembles
Frank Strawn-Hamilton
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Cur ...
, who was a long-term guest at the London ranch. Sculptor
Haakan Frolich makes an appearance as "the sculptor Froelig", and painter
Xavier Martinez
Xavier or Xabier may refer to:
Place
* Xavier, Spain
People
* Xavier (surname)
* Xavier (given name)
* Francis Xavier (1506–1552), Catholic saint
** St. Francis Xavier (disambiguation)
* St. Xavier (disambiguation)
* Xavier (footballer, born ...
appears under his own name.
Criticism
London said of this novel: "It is all sex from start to finish—in which no sexual adventure is actually achieved or comes within a million miles of being achieved, and in which, nevertheless, is all the guts of sex, coupled with strength." One reviewer disparaged the novel's "erotomania."
Clarice Stasz further comments:
: ''Little Lady'' upset readers in London's day for its gushing sexual imagery...
ndits close portrayal of the tempting pull of adultery. Modern critics, on the other hand, deride its Victorian coyness and sentimentality, its unrealistic characters. Both were correct—it was too sexy for readers in 1915, when it appeared, and not sexy enough for readers beyond the sexually free twenties.
[Clarice Stasz, 1988, ''American Dreamers: Charmian and Jack London.'' 1999 reprint: Excel Press, ]
Kevin Starr, in a negative assessment, describes the novel as "wish-fulfilment". He says it
: provides a sort of last will and testament to California possibilities. His ranch life had begun in earnest in 1909 as a moratorium against chaos. Its last literary expression stank of madness and decay. Art and ranching converged in London's last effort, neither sustaining the other.
[Kevin Starr, 1973, "The Sonoma Finale of Jack London, Rancher" in ''Americans and the California Dream 1850–1915''. Oxford University Press. 1986 reprint: ]
Footnotes
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Lady of the Big House, The
1915 American novels
Novels by Jack London
Macmillan Publishers books