Talk About Superman In The Jack London Creative Atavism

In the last decade of the 19th century, scientific socialism, realistic literature and evolutionism biology had made a marked development in Europe. However, as for America, an up-and coming capitalistic youngster, these three modern literatures were not only a virgin soil but also a forbidden area, for Victorianism and Midwest ethics' restriction limited objects depicted in literature to respectabie bourgeois and the rich, namely benefaction ever being rewarded while evil ever being punished. The literature only attends to pleasure of life and avoids wildness, sternness, beggary and trueness, as Jack London said "they, dull and frail, haven't viscera in stomach and genitalia between legs". By molding supermen, Jack London poured a fierce attack on it, but inevitably showed conservatism and blench on realistic tradition.When talking about superman, people often bethink of Nietzsche. As for superman, Nietzsche made many remarks. Steinnhart Eric, a famous American philosopher, said "Nietzsche named free spirit with combat effectiveness as superman". The superman stresses free spirit. While,on superman figures depicted by Jack London, we can find acquirement and affirmation of superman status depends on primitive power. It's a wild power which could be acquired and kept in the wilderness or ocean not affected by mankind civilization. Namely to say, people could achieve superman only by experiencing atavism in a certain primitive condition. In Occident culture, " from ancient Greek philosophy, it is surely established for .mankind's separation from natural universe". In Jack London's works, in a great expanse of snowfield, we often find superman's' confrontation with the nature and conquering on the nature. However, it is confrontation and conquest that reflects superman's primitive power and the nature's harmony. The superman's final tendency towards the nature shows Jack London's contradiction towards realistic civilization and free pursuit for beauty full of robust.Like Sea-wolf,Martin Eden,courser Buck and White Fang,ect. Jack London's works were full of primitive life-force emitted by these overmatches. Depicting and lauding overmatches' power was a repeated theme in Jack London's works. These overmatch figures stimulated a severe argument in critics. This argument focused on whether these overmatches were Nietzsche-called supermen. The American critic Quart, in his Nietzschean Psychology in London's The Sea-wolf, gave a Nietzschean superman affirmation to overmatch figures inJack London's works. Quart thought Jack London's Sea-wolf adopted Nietzsche as antitype. He had the same gift as Nietzsche and had similar details with Nietzsche, such as liking art, counter-ethics, counter-religion, having headache, finally blind and dying, etc. However, American contemporary critic and literature professor Walcott held opposite opinions towards Jack London's overmatch figures, "in the rude barbarian labyrinth that F ?Norris created and London boosted, the Nietzsche-raise concept of superman got lost", for Jack London's barbarian didn't display perfect ideal or advance to this ideal. This paper agrees with the latter's opinion, for through Jack London's works, we can find his supermen's mightiness lay in a primitive atavistic condition, expressed by the following: (1) superman is a product of heredity; (2) superman is a carrier of instinct; (3) superman is a god of wilderness. This is the chief topic in the first part of this paper.Why Jack London's superman caused severe argument is directly related to complex and contradiction that Jack London reflected through superman in his works. Jack London had a strong, obstinate and unruly character. His whole life was full of enthusiasm and keen pursuit. The famous biographer Irving Stone, in his chapter sailor on horseback, the biography of JackLondon, said "Nietzsche had a great emotional effect on Jack London, ......he found the theory ofsuperman in Nietzsche's works......Jack felt that superman philosophy was to his taste because he thought hewas a superman who c...