Wilkie Collins Victorian Writer

Most people when they think of Victorian literacy, can name but one author, that being Charles Dickens. By all rights though, William Wilkie Collins should be mentioned in the same breath as Dickens. Indeed, in his own lifetime, his popularity, and sales of novels and plays, far outstripped that of his aforementioned friend and rival.

William Wilkie Collins was born on the 8th January 1824, in the Marylebone district of London, and was the eldest son of the renowned portrait and landscape artist William Collins.

Wilkie Collins - Elliott and Fry - PD-life-70

To distinguish himself from his father, Wilkie soon became known by his middle name, a name that had been given to him in honour of his godfather, Sir David Wilkie.

His schooling, whilst extensive, did not impress upon him any sense of satisfaction. His schooling commenced at the Maida Hill Academy in 1835, but his time there was brief as the following year saw him depart on a two year period of travel around Europe with his parents and younger brother, Charles.

Taking in France and Italy, Collins is quoted as saying he learnt more in those two years, “which has been of use to me, among the scenery, the pictures, and the people, than I ever learned at school.”
Returning to England in August 1838, Collins’ tuition continued at Cole’s boarding school in London. His education though was disrupted due to bullying because of his abnormal appearance; Collins had disproportionately large shoulders and head, and his storytelling began in order to appease the main bully.

Wilkie Collins’ early career was as unhappy as his school days. At the age of 17 Collins left school and joined a firm of tea merchants, Antrobus & Co in the Strand, as a clerk. A period of five years passed, noted only for the start of Collins professional writing career, which saw the publication of “The Last Stage Coachman” in Douglas Jerrold’s Illuminated Magazine in August 1843.

A further five years passed in further education as he studied law at Lincoln’s Inn, although he never took law up as a profession. During this period of study, Collins supported himself through journalism and the publication of his first works.

His 1848 work in memorial of his father, “The Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq. RA”, was his first published work, and upon receipt of excellent reviews, Collins embarked on his first historical and contemporary novels.

Collins’ career took off after he met Charles Dickens in 1851, and the two writers soon became firm friends and collaborators; a friendship that lasted until Dickens’ death in 1870.

Wilkie Collins Cabinet Card - Harvard University - PD-life-70

Collins wrote and edited for Dickens’ “Household Words”, and a number of Collins’ novels were serialised in the Dickens’ weekly publication “All the Year Round”. It was Dickens in fact who provided Collins with his first stable income from writing, as he was taken on as a permanent member of staff. Dickens was a huge influence on Collins, but equally Collins made an imprint on the more experienced writer, as Dickens was impressed with the hard work and dedication that Collins put into his writing.

As Collins reputation and popularity as a writer increased, his health went in the opposite direction. Suffering from Rheumatic Gout, a form of arthritis, Collins was forced to seek out remedies, starting out on quinine and health spas; he was eventually prescribed laudanum for the pain.

This medication was to have profound affect on his writing, laudanum is a derivative of opium, and as he became addicted to the drug he became both paranoid and forgetful. This addiction was not detrimental to his work, in fact far from it, his best known work “The Moonstone” was written in this period and displays the effects of both opium and opium addiction.

His works from this period have been classed as sensational’ novels and as such are the precursor of the suspense and detective thrillers. It has also often been argued that all writers of detective fiction have been influenced in some degree by Collins. T.S. Eliot in fact described “The Moonstone”, as the “first and greatest of English detective novels”. This period would prove to be the peak of Collins’ popularity and the pinnacle grade of his work.

Aside from opium and Dickens the other main influence on Collins was his personal life, which was by all means a very Bohemian existence. Aside from, good food and good wine, which he enjoyed to excess, Collins was noted for his flamboyant wardrobe.

He has been most noted for his liaison with two women. Whilst never married, Collins lived for most of his adult life with a widow, Mrs Caroline Graves, and her daughter. At the same time Collins met the other woman in his life, Martha Rudd, a woman at nineteen, who was his junior by twenty-one years. Both women were put up in houses within walking distance of each other, and whilst this did cause a two year split with Caroline Graves, both women were soon back in relationships with Collins. Collins in fact kept both relationships going until his death some twenty years later. Collins did though insist on at least a facade of respectability, and whilst he and Martha Rudd were never married, they assumed the identities of Mr and Mrs Dawson, a surname passed onto their three offspring.

The 1870s and 1880s saw a decline in work. This has been attributed to both the death of Charles Dickens in 1870 and the increasing dependency upon opium that Collins found himself faced with.
Collins’ health continued to decline, breathing difficulties became more pronounced, and in addition to the opium, Collins was forced to resort to capsules of amyl nitrate and hypo-phosphate. No matter what the reason, his later works had less of a thrilling element to them, without the force and freshness, and as such are perceived as being inferior to the work of the 1860s.

In January 1889, at the age of 65, Collins was involved in an accident that he never recovered from. Following a fall from a hansom cab, complications set in with first bronchitis and then a stroke. Collins died on the 23rd September 1889, having been a prolific writer for fifty years.

His list of works included 27 novels, over 50 short stories, 15 plays and over 100 non-fiction works. He had influence and his writing gripped many of the prominent people of the Victorian age, including politicians such as Gladstone. His circle of friends was just as noted, as aside from Dickens, many of his friends were at the forefront of the artistic world including some of the foremost artists, playwrights, theatrical personalities, musicians, publishers, physicians and society figures of the time.
Upon his death, much of work and his reputation drifted into relative obscurity, as the works of his friend and mentor Dickens flourished.

Recently though, Collins’ work has been pushed back into the literary limelight, with television and cinematic adaptation of his work, meaning nearly all of his work has been republished. Given time his works should once again match the popularity of all the great Victorian writers, and he will be known for far more than just “The Moonstone” and “The Woman in White”.

Copyright - First Published 11th February 2008

CS Lewis' Space Trilogy

Science fiction has long been a popular form of literature, capturing the imagingation of numerous generations. Within the science fiction genre though there are a number of sub-genres, including Christian Science Fiction. I have to say I have never been a big fan of Christian Science Fiction, just as I have never been a big fan of literature that emphasises a particular political belief. At the same time though there have been some notable authors that take up Christian Science Fiction themes. The Christian Science Fiction sub-genre is characterised by the presence of strong Christian themes, this expression of Christianity though can come about in explicit commentary or more subtly with an analogy.

- CS Lewis

There is only one Christian author that I think I can recommend, and that is CS Lewis. He is not the most subtle of Christian writers, if you think of Aslan in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, but he is by far the most entertaining than most in my opinion. Lewis is now most famous for his Narnia works, but prior to this series, Lewis had written a science fiction trilogy.

Field of Arbol - Vultur - Retouched NASA original

- The Space Trilogy

The Space Trilogy, also known as the Cosmic or Ransom Trilogy, started in 1938 with the writing of Out of the Silent Planet. The novel introduces the reader to Dr. Elwin Ransom, a professor of language usage. Doped and taken from his hiking holiday, Ransom becomes a passenger on a space flight to the planet of Malacandra (Mars). On landing on the planet, Ransom manages to escape from his captors, Devine (an old school friend of Ransom) and Professor Weston. Ransom has the good fortune to meet the good inhabitants of Malacandra, and eventually gets to talk with their leader, Oyarsa. Oyarsa is the head Eldil’ or angel, who has been appointed by Maleldil the Young (God, the Son), Maleldil resides with the Old One (God, the Father).

Ransom finds that there is a chief angel of Earth (also known as Thulcandra), and despite communication occurring between angels on all planets, there is no communication with earth, as the chief angel there had rebelled against goodness. The Oyarsa though force Ransom to leave Malacandra for Earth after the other humans impact upon the planet harming the inhabitants.

The second of the Trilogy, written in 1943, is probably the best individual book and is called Perelandra’ or Voyage to Venus’. Perelandra, though is not as stable as Malacandra, and is faced with temptation. Set several years after the initial adventure, Ransom is given the mission of preventing this temptation and is transported to Perelandra, Professor Weston follows Ransom in his spaceship, and it soon becomes apparent that Weston has been possessed by the evil angel from Earth. The storyline is like that of the Garden of Eden, as Weston tries to convince the Woman’ to give into temptation. Ransom of course tries to prevent Weston accomplishing his mission, and when words make no impression a fight occurs. Ransom is finally victorious, though he has suffered a bite to his heel which will never heal.

The final installation is set on Earth, The Hideous Strength’, focuses less on Dr. Ransom and more on a young couple, Mike and Jane Studdock. Focusing more on mythology, the character Merlin appearing alongside Ransom as Arthur, there is still the same underlying battle against evil. Mike Studdock, becomes involved with the evil group, N.I.C.E (National Institute of Co-Ordinated Experiments), where the fallen angels Eldil’, attempt to alter human nature. Jane Studdock, though falls in with good group, led by Ransom. Husband and wife though are both saved, and with the help of the angels from other planets, good triumphs over evil.

The third installation is my least favourite, as in addition to the Christian elements of the book, the novel also turns into a piece of political work. Lewis ideas of anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism clearly come through.

Of course travel into outer space, is science fiction, but the storyline easily becomes blurred with fantasy fiction. Lewis doesn’t take any great care looking at scientific accuracy or any technological aspects of space travel. This is of no great surprise though, as Lewis was a scholar rather than a scientist, much more interested in history and mythology than the workings of a possible spaceship. There are some interesting descriptions of aliens, with the Eldil’ being inter-dimensional beings but again the work quickly develops into fantasy more along the lines of Tolkein’s Ring Trilogy’ than modern day science fiction.

There are many obvious similarities between Lewis’ work and that of his friend and rival, JRR Tolkein. The Space Trilogy in fact was written at the same time as the Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, in response to a bet between the two authors, to write a trilogy outside of their normal writing style and genres. It has often been speculated that Ransom is a characterisation of Tolkein.

It isn’t a book I would recommend for everyone, and is perhaps too complex for many children. Whilst not essential, knowledge of mythology from the Roman or Greek classics, certainly make for an easier read. People may be able to ignore the overtly Christian elements, and whether you do or don’t, the trilogy is still a good read.

Copyright - First Published 23rd February 2008

Ian Fleming's Casino Royale

James Bond is probably the world’s most famous spy, simply because he is the main character in over twenty feature films. The character though was first launched on the public in April 1953 when Ian Fleming published the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.

Ian Fleming would make use of his own war time experiences to create a gritty novel based in Europe at the start of the Cold War. Casino Royale introduces Commander James Bond, a hard drinking, chain smoking 00 agent working for Station S. M, head of Station S, send Bond on a mission to the casino at Royale-Les-Eaux. The mission is to stop Le Chiffre from recouping his losses. Le Chiffre is banker for SMERSH, the Russian spy agency.

Casino Royale Book Cover

With the aid of Vesper Lynd of Station S, Felix Leiter of the CIA and Rene Mathis of the French military intelligence, Bond sits down to play Baccarat Chemin de Fer for high stakes. Bond’s fortunes at the card table ebb and flow and whilst gambling he also has to deal with an assassination attempt.
Those who have only ever seen the film adaptations of Ian Fleming novels will be surprised at Casino Royale. There is a dark edge to the novel, an edge which Daniel Craig has started to recapture. Casino Royale contains scenes of torture and death; although the deaths are not at the hands of the agent with a license to kill.

There is a great deal of detail within the book, not least of which is the description of how to play Chemin de Fer. Some of these details do though occasionally feel like they are simply padding to ensure that 213 pages can be written. That being said there is a great sense throughout the book that everything is leading to a twist which ensures that the reader keeps on reading.

Casino Royale Book Cover

In 1953, Casino Royale met with great success, with the first runs selling out quickly. Fleming also met with some critical acclaim for his character creation and storytelling. This success allowed Fleming to continue writing Bond novels, as well as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, until his death ten years later. It is difficult to compare Fleming with other writers, although some similarities can be seen in the work of Robert Ludlum.

The success of the films has ensured that the Ian Fleming novels have remained in print for most of the past sixty years, and today can also be purchased in electronic format.

Copyright - First Published 29th March 2009

Agatha Christie Dame of Crime

Many writers find that their fictional characters become far better known than the writer themselves, Agatha Christie though is perhaps one author who is as identifiable as her characters.

Whilst it is true that her characters, including Poirot and Miss Marple, are world famous, they are normally identified as Christie’s Poirot and Christie’s Marple. As a result Dame Agatha Christie was for many decades known as the Queen of Crime, and has been credited by the Guinness Book of Records as the best selling fiction writer of all time.

Agatha Christie’s writing career was both long lived, writing for over fifty years, and prolific, writing over eighty novels and short stories, as well as a number of West End plays. All this writing has pushed estimates of books sold to over two billion, half of which have been published in languages other than English.

A Young Agatha Christie - PD-Pre1978 Publicity Photo

Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller on the 15th September 1890 in Torquay, Devon, to an American father and English mother, Agatha also had an older sister, Margaret, and a younger brother, Louis. Agatha’s father though died when she was just eleven, and as a result she was brought up solely by her mother.

Her mother also took the role of teacher, giving Agatha a home education, an education that did encourage Agatha to be creative and write from a young age. As a result Agatha’s only formal education came in the form a finishing school in Paris when she was 16. In the age when Agatha was young though girls were not expected to be highly educated, and the ideal role was stylised as that of dutiful wife.

It was a role that in 1914 Agatha found herself in, with a marriage to Colonel Archibald Christie. Whilst her husband was flying with the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, Agatha worked in a hospital and pharmacy, her knowledge gained of poisons would be of great benefit in her future literary career. Despite the birth of a daughter, Rosalind, the marriage was far from happy, and with evidence of infidelity Agatha disappeared in December 1926. Since condemned as a publicity stunt, extensive press coverage lead to a hunt across Berkshire and Surrey. Her husband’s infidelity though was reported and in 1928 the couple were divorced.

Whilst obviously an unhappy period in Agatha’s life, 1920 did see the start of her writing career, with the publication of her first novel, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”. This novel saw the introduction of one her most famous characters, Hercule Poirot, a character that featured in thirty-three novels and a further fifty-four short stories.

Two years after her divorce, Agatha, at forty, remarried. At fourteen years her junior, Sir Max Mallowan, an archaeologist of some renown, made her happy. Agatha though seemed to have some attraction to men who were not faithful, as throughout a marriage lasting forty-seven years, Mallowan was said to have had numerous affairs. Agatha travelled with her husband as the archaeological work dictated. Her life experiences again allowed her to set her novels in a detailed background, and just as her early life in Devon had contributed, so did her travels to the Middle East. 1930 was also the year that Miss Marple was introduced to her readers, with the publication of “The Murder at the Vicarage”. Much of her life was spent travelling, as well as staying at Abney Hall in Cheshire, this venue allowed her to give detail to many of the country houses that appeared in her stories.

As her popularity increased throughout the 1940′s and 50′s, Agatha found her work in demand not just from her reading public but also film studios and theatres. Her play “The Mousetrap” has the record for the longest running play ever, commencing as it did in the winter of 1952. Film dramatisations also followed, with “Death on the Nile” and “Murder on the Orient Express” being the most famous.

Agatha Christie - Flanker - CC-BY-SA-2.0

Agatha remained a prodigious writer writing right through to her seventies and early eighties, though numbers of published work did reduce in latter years. Agatha attempted to get around her decline, and published her last two books “Curtain” and “Sleeping Murder” even though they had been placed in a bank vault for thirty years to be published only after her death. Agatha Christie passed away, on the 12th January 1976 at the age of 85, and was survived by her second husband.

For the amount of books written and sold, Agatha has been sparsely recognised, though it must be said that the awards she did receive were of the highest merit. Firstly receiving Grand Master Award in 1955 from the Mystery Writers of America, and then in the 1970′s she was made a Dame under the Order of Dame Commander of the British Empire, one of the highest civilian awards in the UK. Even since her death her works continue to be sold, and she remains one of the most popular sellers of English crime fiction in the present day. Television adaptations are still made and in recent years a new series of Miss Marple was produced. Also it must be noted that Agatha was more than just a crime fiction writer, as alongside her plays she wrote a number of non-fiction books relating to Max Mallowan’s work, and also a further six romantic novels.

Despite the lack of literary rewards the general public will never forget her or her characters. Poirot will always be the Belgian detective who made use of his ‘little grey cells’, Miss Marple is visualised as everyone’s favourite aunt with a story to relate to any situation.
 
Whilst not rated as a great writer in comparison with the likes of Shakespeare or Dickens, Agatha Christie should be rated as one of the best writers England has produced due to her enduring popularity if for nothing else.

Copyright - First Published 12th February 2008

Keywords - Dame Agatha Christie, Christie Miss Marple, Christie Poirot, Creator of Poirot

A Biography of Robert A. Heinlein

In the world of twentieth century science fiction writers Robert A Heinlein was one of the big three, alongside Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke. Although perhaps not as well known outside of the science fiction genre, Heinlein managed to bring alive fiction in such a way that other writers would be proud of. Space travel was made believable, just as believable in fact as a car journey to work. Whilst the planets were like an island in the Pacific, somewhere that we never have visited but knew existed.

Robert Anson Heinlein was born in Butler, Missouri on the 7th July, 1907. Robert was the third son of Rex Ivar and Bam Lyle Heinlein. Shortly after his birth the family moved from the house of Bam Lyle's father, Alva Lyle, M.D. to Kansas City.

Heinlein was immensely influenced by his childhood growing up in Kansas City. There was a religious revival in Missouri, attempting to compensate for the social difficulties sweeping the country. At school Heinlein also became interested in space and science fiction. The passing of Halley's Comet in 1910, got the young Heinlein interested in astronomy, and as a result he read every book he could lay his hands on about astronomy and science fiction. This early reading included the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, the fathers of science fiction.

Robert Anson Heinlein - PD-USNavy

In 1924, Heinlein, at the age of 17, graduated from Kansas City's Central High School. Following a year's study at the University of Missouri, Heinlein attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. After four years of study, Heinlein graduated 20th in his class of 243 cadets.

Heinlein entered the US Navy with the rank of Ensign. Five years in the Pacific saw Heinlein serve on a number of ships, including the USS Lexington, gaining promotion to Lieutenant. The career that he loved though was cut short in 1934 when he was discharged medically unfit for service' following his contraction of pulmonary tuberculosis. Prior to his discharge, Heinlein endured a lengthy period of hospitalisation. This time was spent in writing; some of this work would prevent the US Patent on water beds, as in his own work he described so completely the new water bed that it became recognised as his idea.

During his time at Annapolis he married Eleanor Curry, the marriage though lasted for barely a year, and divorce followed in 1930. Heinlein married his second wife, Leslyn MacDonald in 1932. Throughout his life, Heinlein ensured that his personal life was just that.

Following his discharge from the navy, Heinlein looked for a new career. He briefly studied mathematics and physics at UCLA before leaving to become a politician. To support himself he tried to earn money in a variety of ways, including work in a silver mine and a real estate dealership. His political ambitions were formed as a member of the End Poverty in California' party. A socialist party under Upton Sinclair, Heinlein found himself working on Sinclair's 1934 campaign to become Democratic Governor of California. The campaign though proved to be unsuccessful. Equally unsuccessful was Heinlein's attempt at running for California State Assembly in 1938.

Politics had rejected him, and relatively broke, other than his navy pension; Heinlein looked for a new career. Writing was not his first choice, but he recognised the need for income to pay of his mortgage. In October 1938, Thrilling Wonder Stories' was on the look out for new writers, so Heinlein sat down and in four days wrote Lifeline'. Once he finished it, Heinlein realised that his story would be much better placed in a science fiction publication, so he sold it to 'Astounding Science-Fiction' for $70.

Other stories soon followed, and John W Campbell, Jr., the editor of 'Astounding' snapped them up. Within four months Heinlein had earned enough to pay off his mortgage on his Laurel Canyon house, Heinlein though decided that he wanted a new car and a holiday. By mid-1941 Heinlein though decided to retire, taking a rejection of one of his submissions as the sign to do so. Retirement though was not good for Heinlein, and although it gave him time for other hobbies, it also affected his health. Heinlein decided to review his rejected work, he made some alterations and resubmitted Goldfish Bowl which was accepted, and his writing career resumed.

Robert Heinlein, L. Sprague de Camp, and Isaac Asimov, Philadelphia Navy Yard, 1944 - PD-USNavy

The United States were to be imminently involved in the Second World War. Upon the declaration of war, Heinlein sought to re-enlist to active service with the US Navy. His tuberculosis scars, and myopia, though prevented him even getting a desk job. He was though offered a civilian role at the US Naval Experimental Centre at Mustin Field. This period of his life is most noted for his recruitment of Isaac Asimov to work in the same department.

Despite continuing to write, the war affected both him, his personal life and his writing style. In addition to writing some non-fiction political work, Heinlein also looked to a more lucrative market than the pulp fiction publishers. The 'Saturday Evening Post' published four of his stories, as he became better known to the wider public, starting with The Green Hills of Earth (1947).

Heinlein also sought a new market for his work, and started aiming his work at a younger audience. Although initially turned down by the first publisher it was offered to, 1947 also saw the release of Rocket Ship Galileo, a tale of rocket ships and moon landings. So began a series of novels called 'Juveniles', initiating a generation into science but also into social awareness.

As Heinlein became more and more successful, his personal life suffered and his marriage to Leslyn ended in divorce.

Schribners had produced his 'Juveniles' but they found his 1959 book Starship Troopers far too controversial to publish. With a strong anti-communist message, when published by Putnam's Sons, it brought a new angle to the whole science fiction genre. The public loved his new work, and he was soon rewarded with the Hugo Award at the 1960 World Science Fiction Convention.

Heinlein also found himself in a position to write what he wanted, when he wanted to. He wrote The Man From Mars, at 800 pages long it brought a satire of sex and religion, which was again a new angle for the science fiction genre. Though Heinlein was forced to edit certain sections of the novel, it was published in 1961 as Stranger In a Strange Land. This release became a national bestseller, crossing over from the science fiction market to the reading public as a whole. The book became a symbol for counterculture and the new sexual revolution.

The change in style has been attributed to his new wife, as in 1948 Heinlein married Virginia Ginny Gerstenfeld. The new couple were described as very outgoing, always willing to entertain at their house in Colorado. The Colorado house was designed by Heinlein to incorporate all of the most modern technology and design. Ginny is often used by Heinlein as a model for his lead female characters, as the characters would take on many of the attributes of his wife.

Together they designed a new house in Bonny Doon, California. There were two reasons for this more, one was Ginny's ill health, and also the fact that NORAD moved into the Colorado area they were living in.

Ginny's ill health was followed by an illness of Heinlein's. A bout of severe peritonitis, an abdomen inflammation, almost cost his life in 1970. Hospitalised, writing ceased for almost two years.
This illness seemed once again to change the emphasis of Heinlein's writing. New work of the 1970's and 1980's moved into a more philosophic mode, with themes of love and death prevalent. This change though did not affect his popularity and most of his novels; including I Will Fear No Evil (1970) and Friday (1982) topped the bestselling charts.

His health declined again from 1978, when he suffered a transient ischemic attack whilst on holiday on Tahiti. Whilst he had a brief recovery after a carotid bypass operation, by 1987 he was forced to move to Carmel to be near medical facilities. Years of smoking eventually caught up with him when he died during his morning nap, from emphysema and heart failure on 8th May, 1988. His cremated ashes were strewn across the Pacific ocean from a warship of the US Navy.

His personal life was never in the limelight, although Ginny and Heinlein would often go on cruises, these jaunts were never publicised. Heinlein himself said that he would write for half the year and be lazy for the rest of it.

Robert and Ginny Heinlein in Tahiti 1980 - Hayford Pierce - CC-BY-SA-3.0

In all Heinlein published 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections, so other writers, such as Asimov, were more prolific. For his work, though he did receive some of the highest writing awards available. Four Hugos were topped by the first awarding of the SWFA Grand Master Nebula award in 1975 for his lifetime achievement.

In all Heinlein, has the accolade of being one of the most important science fiction writers of all time. As well as the obvious technology elements of his work, were the more subtle social themes, themes of; liberty, self-reliance, the counterculture and the sexual revolution.

The American Author Jack London

Almost a hundred years have passed since the death of the American writer, Jack London. Despite this passage of time, London remains one of the world’s most famous writers, with some of his best known works taught in schools as examples of the best that English literature has to offer. A prolific 19th Century writer, London was one of the first American writers who were able to make a career out of his writing, largely made possible because of the increasing magazine market.

Jack London was born John Griffith, on the 12th January 1876 in California. There is a certain amount of guesswork about who his father was, as most records were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. What evidence there is though was that London’s father was William Henry Chaney, an astrologer, who abandoned mother and baby shortly after London’s birth. London’s mother was Flora Wellman, a music teacher, though London was actually raised by Virginia Prentiss, an ex-slave, as Flora was often ill. London would often describe his early life as one in which he lived in the Oakland slums, this is an exaggeration. His family upbringing was a working class one, and Flora had remarried, to a John London in 1876.

Jack London - PD-old

Whilst living in Oakland, London managed to complete grade school, though he was mostly self-taught, through the reading of books from the local library. At the age of 13, though London was forced to seek employment and began to work at Hickmott’s Cannery for in excess of twelve hours each day. Saving some money and borrowing more, meant that London could eventually afford to leave the Cannery. Buying his own sloop, London became an oyster pirate, where he would raid the private harvesting areas each night. It was a career that was short-lived, damage to his boat meant that he was forced to quit his new found trade.

His working life after this was not a well paying one, though it did provide him with many experiences that he would later incorporate in his works. Firstly in 1893, he sailed a schooner hunting seals off the coast of Japan, on his return to California, though he was forced into manual labour, in a jute mill and street-railway power plant, before becoming a hobo for a while.

As a hobo, London had realised that he only way he could earn a decent living and avoid manual labour, was to use his brains, and making writing a business. London returned to Oakland, attending Oakland High School, before attending the University of California. Though his stay at the university was only for a short period, a lack of finances meaning he did not graduate, the time in education showed him that he become a successful writer, having written articles for the High School’s magazine.

In 1897, London, sought a quick route to fortune, and along with several thousand others joined the Klondike Gold Rush. Unfortunately he failed to gain his fortune, though aside from a bout of scurvy, London gained a backdrop to many of his first successful stories. On his return to Oakland, London decided to begin his writing career, whilst a slow start brought doubts, $5 for “To the Man On Trail”, this was quickly followed by $40 for “A Thousand Deaths”. London was fortunate to be a writer at a time when a booming magazine market was seeking more and more stories to satisfy their readers. By 1900, London was well on his way to a successful writing career, and in the same year he earned $2,500, in today’s money this would equate to $200,000, certainly enough not to worry about a return to manual labour.

London was married twice, the first time in 1900 as his career started to develop. London’s first marriage was to one of his friends, Bess Maddern, whom he married on the 7th April 1900. The marriage had nothing to do with love on either side, and was born more out of friendship and a desire to have children. London, in fact had two children, Joan born 15th January 1901, and Bessie born 20th October 1902. After the children were born, however, there was nothing to keep the couple together. London left his wife in 1903, although a final divorce was not granted until the end of the following year.

Jack London - PD-old

London’s second marriage was much more successful, and in Charmian Kittredge, London found a lover and companion. Married in 1905, they went everywhere together, including cruising to Australia and Hawaii. The only downside of their marriage was that they failed to have any children together, as one child died at birth and Charmian suffered miscarriage in a second attempt.

In a twenty year writing career, London proved to be a prolific writer, writing twenty-five novels, three auto-biographies, three collection of short stories, one play and fifty short stories. Whilst novels such as “The Call of the Wild” and “White Fang”, critics agree that London’s forte was in his short stories. London, though, used his experiences to ensure that there was realism in his plots. Seafaring knowledge shows up extremely well in novels such as the “Sea-Wolf”, whilst even his time as a struggling writer is displayed in “Martin Eden”. It is though his experiences in the Klondike that provided London with his best works, including “To Build a Fire”. Surprisingly enough for the time, many of his short stories would be classed as science fiction, as germ warfare, energy weapons, and invisibility were central plots.

With the amount of material that London managed to write, came numerous accusations of Plagiarism. He could base only so much of his works on his life experiences, and as a result would trawl through other sources for his inspiration. London was known to have actually brought novels and ideas from other authors, and would also read through newspapers from the English speaking world to gather together possible writing materials. His personal library also included some fifteen thousand volumes. He would turn factual accounts into fictional work, though this could cause problems, one instance came about when both London and an author by the name of Frank Norris published stories in the same month based on the same newspaper account. In his research London, may not as been as thorough as he should have been, and within “The Iron Heel”, he basis a chapter on a piece of fictional work believing it to be a factual speech.

Even his most famous works are not devoid of the accusations, “The Call of the Wild”, was certainly influenced by Egerton Young’s “My Dogs in the Northland”, although London did acknowledge it as one of the sources he had used.

The other main influence on his writings were his own political views, for many years London was a committed Socialist. In 1896 London became a member of the Socialist Labour Party, and was a prominent member making many speeches whilst in Oakland. Leaving the Party in 1901, London joined the Socialist Party of America, for whom he twice ran for Oakland mayor. Though he lectured on the subject, and wrote collections of essays on socialism, his burning desire for the subject seemed to diminish over time. Eventually he became an employer rather than an employee, when he employed a number of staff at his ranch.

London has not been criticised by history for his political views, but history has been less kind on what is perceived as an underlying racist nature. This is still seen as an issue today, and in 1996 a decision to honour London, by changing two street names to his, had to be reversed after protests. Looking at his work throughout his career, there seems to be little evidence to show he was an outright racist. London did share a common Californian concern about the amount of Asian immigration, but at the same time he admired the Japanese. Also as a boxing correspondent, London greatly praised, Jack Johnson, a black boxer, when he defeated the “Great White Hope”, Jim Jeffries in 1910.

As his writing career became more and more successful, so London sought some way of spending his money. Thus in 1910, London purchased a ranch for $26,000. Set in one thousand acres, in Glen Ellen, California, London attempted to make the ranch into a successful business. It is often said that in putting so much thought and effort into the ranch, resulted in his work suffering, as his novels and short stories were seen as money making pieces rather than works of art. The ranch though was far from being a successful business, and as both his writing and ranch suffered, so London turned to alcohol, though whether he was a full blown alcoholic is debatable.

There have long been suspicions that London committed suicide, though there are often such rumours when someone in the limelight passes away at a young age. On his death on the 22nd November 1916, London was only forty years of age. Suicide had played a central role to many of his fictional works but London’s death certificate states that the cause of death was uremia, or uremic poisoning. Affecting the kidneys, it was known that London was suffering high levels of pain, for which he was taking morphine, leading to conclusions of an accidental or deliberate overdose.

London’s simple grave can be visited in Glen Ellen, California, within the Jack London State Historic Park. His buried ashes were joined by those of Charmian, who died almost forty years after her husband.

Prolific doesn’t necessarily equate to being a great author, but in a relatively short writing career spanning less than twenty years, London wrote some notable works. If it is true that life experiences ensure that a writer’s work improves it is difficult to envisage the amount and quality of work that London may have created.

Copyright - First Published 21st February 2008

Keywords - Jack London, Jack London Author, Jack London Writer, Jack London Call of the Wild

Simon Templar : The Saint

Leslie Charteris’s “The Saint” is one of the most popular characters of British crime fiction.

Charteris created Simon Templar in the 1920s, and “The Saint” appeared in fifty books up until 1983. Other appearances occurred on radio, including NBC and CBS series in the 1940′s which saw Vincent Price take the lead role. On the small screen there was a long running British series, starring Roger Moore and his successor Ian Ogilvy. Even the big screen has seen a fair number of attempts to portray “The Saint”, other than Val Kilmer, George Sanders and Hugh Sinclair have both taken the lead role.

Charteris never explained where the name Simon Templar came from. The 1997 film attempted to tell a tale of an organ picking the name from, Simon Magus, a magician, and the Templar crusaders. This though cannot be tied back to anything that appeared in the original Charteris novels.

The books do not give any details of Templar’s background, nothing is known about him until he first appears in “Meet The Tiger” (1928) and “Enter the Saint” (1930). There are hints about a criminal background but nothing more.

Simon Templar - Helgi Halldórsson - CC-BY-SA-2.0

There are two reasons as to why Templar became known as “The Saint”. Firstly his initials are ST, the common abbreviation for saint. This though would mean nothing if it wasn’t for his actions. Throughout Templar’s adventures he is the knight coming to the rescue of people in need, fighting crime and injustice. Templar would act as a Patron saint for those who required his protection.

Templar would always act within his own strong moral code, where he would not hurt, kill or steal from anyone who didn’t deserve it. This though doesn’t mean he acted within the law, in fact he would break the law to get his way if it was needed. There are other characteristics at odds with the moniker “The Saint”. Whenever he stole, he would take a fee, often a ten percent collection fee for his own personal profit, though the rest he would give to a worthy cause.

“The Saint” would leave a calling card at the scene of his crimes, or he would send it beforehand to instil panic in the criminal target. This calling card was a drawing of a matchstick man with a halo, thus playing up to his nickname.

Templar would also use different names when it was required to disguise his identity. To do this he would use his own initials, ST, to come up with names like “Sebastian Tombs” and “Sugarman Treacle”. The 1997 film once again took liberties and the use of Saint names is another invention for the film’s storyline.

Charteris never confirmed anything about the origins of Templar or his moniker, so much of this is conjecture. Evidence though points to the name, Simon Templar, just being made up, whilst “The Saint” came from the character’s initials.

Copyright - First Published 12th March 2008

Keywords - Simon Templar, Leslie Charteris, The Saint, The Saint Logo

Alistair Maclean - British Author Extraordinaire

Alistair MacLean was one of the most successful British novelists of the twentieth century. Renowned for his action and adventure thrillers, his writing style ensured that many of his works have been turned into successful films. Even after his death his novels remain in print and popular in the English market.

Alistair Stuart MacLean was born on the 28th April, 1922 in Glasgow. The son of a Scottish Minister, he grew up speaking Scottish Gaelic as his native language. MacLean would spend much of his childhood in the village of Daviot, just to the south of Inverness. MacLean attended the local school in the Scottish Highlands.

A relative uninteresting childhood was abruptly interrupted when MacLean’s father died, when MacLean was just 14. This caused MacLean and his mother to return to Glasgow. In Glasgow, MacLean attended the Hillhead High School. Academically MacLean was an average pupil and he left at the age of 17.

An innocuous childhood was ended by the start of the Second World War. In 1941, at the age of 19, MacLean joined the Royal Navy. As an Ordinary Seaman, MacLean spent the first couple of years as part of the Home Fleet, cruising along the English coast, onboard the PS Bournemouth Queen.

Promoted to Able Seaman and then Leading Torpedo Operator, MacLean’s first action of the war came in 1943. MacLean was transferred to a light-cruiser, HMS Royalist, which took MacLean into the Atlantic theatre of war, as he escorted two Arctic Convoys. In 1944 the Royalist moved to the Mediterranean theatre, where it was involved in the invasion of southern France and operations in the Aegean Sea. In the final year of the war, MacLean sailed with the Royalist’ to the Far East theatre, and after the Japanese surrender, helped evacuate liberated POWs from Changi Prison in Singapore.

HMS Royalist - PD-copyright expired

In the latter part of MacLean’s life he would claim that he had been caught and tortured by the Japanese. These claims have never been verified and look to have been purely drunken concoctions.
Following the end of the Second World War, MacLean was released from the Royal Navy. At the age of 24 he enrolled to study English at the University of Glasgow, graduating with honours in 1953. No mean achievement for someone with English as a second language.

With his degree achieved, MacLean soon found employment as a teacher of English and History at Gallowflat Secondary School in his native Glasgow.

As a student, MacLean had written short stories for extra income. MacLean continued this exercise during his spare time. In 1954 he entered a Glasgow Herald writing competition, with his maritime story Dileas’. MacLean won the competition and the GBP100 which went with it.

The publishers, William Collins, were so impressed with the storytelling ability of MacLean that they commissioned a maritime novel from him. Thus MacLean wrote his first novel, "HMS Ulysses", using his wartime naval experience as the basis. "HMS Ulysses" tells the tale of a ship escorting merchant vessels on their way to Russia. Published in 1955, it was an instant hit, and quickly acclaimed as one of the greatest stories of naval life and death.

MacLean was soon able to quit his job as a school teacher, and concentrate solely on his writing career. There followed a steady stream of novels devoted to adventures, war and spy stories. By the end of his writing career MacLean had published twenty-eight novels; one collection of short stories (The Lonely Sea’, 1985); and three non-fiction works ("All about Lawrence of Arabia", 1962; "Alistair MacLean Introduces Scotland", 1972; and "Captain Cook", 1972).

It was though for his novels that MacLean gained his fame. He followed up "HMS Ulysses" with one of the all time war classics, "Guns of Navarone" (1957), and another seafaring war novel in "South by Java Head" (1957). In 1959, MacLean finally moved away from his warfare comfort zone, and released his first spy story with "The Last Frontier".

Over time the nature of MacLean’s work changed, and many biographers have noted four distinct periods of writing.

Between 1955 and 1959, MacLean wrote four novels; "HMS Ulysses" (1955), "Guns of Navarone" (1957), "South by Java Head" (1957) and "The Last Frontier" (1959). These were all third person epic tales.

In 1959, MacLean changed his narrative style in writing; "Night Without End" (1959), "Fear is the Key" (1961), "The Dark Cursader" (1961), "The Golden Rendezvous" (1962), "The Satan Bug" (1962) and "Ice Station Zebra" (1963). All of these were written in the first person narrative. All were set in the current time period, and instilled a sense of humour in to his work, as well as highly detailed plots. This is often seen as the pinnacle of his career.

Following a three year break from writing, MacLean returned again with; "When Eight Bells Toll" (1966), "Where Eagles Dare" (1967), "Force Ten from Navarone" (1968), "Puppet on a Chain" (1969), "Caravan to Vaccares" (1970) and "Bear Island" (1971). MacLean returned with a new cinematic style, the success of earlier film adaptations, had seen MacLean turn to the more lucrative world of cinema and screenplays.

The fourth period has often been described as the decline of MacLean although this is unfair as there are some good novels during the period 1973-1986. The novels from this period comprise; "The Way to Dusty Death" (1973), "Breakheart Pass" (1974), "Circus" (1975), "The Golden Gate" (1976), Seawitch’ (1977), "Goodbye California" (1978), "Athabasca" (1980), "River of Death" (1981), Partisans’ (1982), "Floodgate" (1983), "San Andreas" (1984) and "Santorini" (1986). This period has been described lazily described with excessive dialogue, although in my opinion San Andreas’ is far superior to HMS Ulysses’ both of which are set in the same ocean.

In the early 1960′s MacLean undertook an experiment as to whether his books sold themselves, or whether it was his name that was selling his work. "Dark Crusader" (1960) and "Satan Bug" were both written using the pseudonym, Ian Stuart. Both books proved to be literary successes, but it failed to verify that it was the content of the books that was the selling point. Any fan of MacLean would easily see the author’s style and characteristic in the two novels. Both books were later re-released with MacLean acknowledged as the author.

The style was obvious. There is a lack of sex throughout his work. Female characters were normally only a supportive role and were often only a hindrance to the telling of a good story. There is though always a leading man, a hero devoted to their work or task at hand. Facing the lead character would be overwhelming odds of villains or the elements. Villains would range from Nazis to Communists, from drug dealers to terrorists and blackmailers. The heroes would be calm individuals but pushed to their physically limits to fight those overwhelming odds.

The harsh elements were the other main theme of all of MacLean’s works, often stories were based in the Arctic north, be it land or seas. The sea plays a big part in almost half of MacLean’s work as he drew on his own personal knowledge to write detailed backdrops for his stories.

At his peak MacLean was one of the best selling authors of his day. In fact MacLean’s books sold so well that he moved to Switzerland as a tax exile.

A large number of MacLean’s novels were turned into successful films, the most notable being the wartime epics of "Guns of Navarone" and "Where Eagles Dare". In total 14 of the 28 MacLean novels were turned into film with greater or lesser acclaim, even today the majority can be found on DVD format.

MacLean’s personal life was a mixture of good times and bad. In essence MacLean was not the most enthusiastic of writers, seeing writing as a means to an end rather than for any personal belief. When he had made enough money in the 1960′s MacLean actually stopped writing and instead he ran a series of hotels, including Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor.

This though proved to be only a short break, and the pressure of writing a novel a year for most of his adult life took its toil on the man. Turning to alcohol he soon became addicted to it. MacLean was married twice, first to Gisela MacLean with whom he had three sons and then to Marcelle Gorgeus in 1972.

In 1983, MacLean was awarded a Doctorate of Literature by the University of Glasgow, as recognition for his literary work. By this time though MacLean had returned to the continent to live. Alcohol was impacting on MacLean’s health, though. It is blamed for bringing about his premature death at the age of 65 in Munich in 1987. He was though returned to Switzerland to be buried, and is interned in the Protestant churchyard in Cligny, Switzerland. He is buried near to the grave of Richard Burton, the star of "Where Eagles Dare".

Even after his death MacLean is literary impact was still apparent. MacLean had been commission to come up with some story lines for movie adaptation. Thus he invented the UNACO series, who’s characters were taken on in eight novels by John Dennis and Alastair MacNeill. In even more recent years UNACO characters have been adopted by Hugh Miller in a further two novels, whilst the characters from Navarone have been written up by Sam Llewellyn.

MacLean’s work is still as readable today as it was when it was written. Thus the majority of his novels are still in production in the United Kingdom today. His work influenced many other novelists, including Clive Cussler and Len Deighton, whilst film adaptations have also brought his work to a vast number of observers.

Copyright - First Published 26th March 2008

Keywords - Alistair Maclean, Alistair MacNeill, Guns of Navrone author, navarone, narvarone author