For Jenny-- re Martin Eden
Dear Jenny--
Martin Eden has always been my favorite Jack London novel so I commend you for writing about it. One of my favorite passages reads:
“... The thirteen colonies threw off their rulers and formed the Republic so-called. The slaves were their own masters. There were no more masters of the sword. But you couldn’t get along without masters of some sort, and there arose a new set of masters– not the great, virile, noble men, but the shrewd and spidery traders and money-lenders. And they enslaved you all over again– but not frankly, as the true, noble men would do with weight of their own right arms, but secretly, by spidery machinations and by wheedling and cajolery and lies. They have purchased your slave judges, they have debauched your slave legislatures, and they have forced to worse horrors than chattel slavery your slave boys and girls. Two million of your children are toiling today in this trader-oligarchy of the United States. Ten millions of you slaves are not properly sheltered nor properly fed.”
I apologize for not citing chapter and page number but have misplaced my copy somewhere in the mass of books in my possession.
I see you are from Shanghai. Years and years ago (1988-90) I taught at the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages and had a delightful time. I have not been back to China since then. My wife has and tells me that I would not know the place.
I wish you well with your research and remember, with writing, one's confidence is essential, especially when writing in another language. So I don't want you to be too critical of your English. Just write with an open and honest heart and mind, like Jack London would want you to. Proofreaders, though wonderful people, are a dime a dozen.
As ever,
"The Yuletide Kid"
