Readers often link the name of Jack London and Stewart Edward White.
The men were of the same literary stature, though different from each
other in almost every respect. Both found inspiration in the same
theme--the struggle of man with primeval forces. In their technique
we find the difference. There is a sharp contrast between the fire of
Jack London and the held-in strength of Stewart Edward White. White
was once asked if it was not possible to lay hold of the heart and
imagination of the public through a novel which had no human love
interest in it--whether man matched against nature was not, after all,
the eternal drama. White considered for a moment and then said: “In the
main, that is correct. Only I should say that the one great drama is
that of the individual man’s struggles toward perfect adjustment with
his environment. According as he comes into correspondence and harmony
with his environment, by that much does he succeed. That is what an
environment is for. It may be financial, natural, sexual, political,
and so on. The sex element is important, of course--very important.
But it is not the only element by any means; nor is it necessarily
an element that exercises an _instant_ influence on the great drama.
Anyone who so depicts it is violating the truth. Other elements of the
great drama are as important--self-preservation, for example, is a very
simple and even more important instinct than that of the propagation of
the race. Properly presented, these other elements, being essentially
vital, are of as much interest to the great public as the relation of
the sexes.” These words express clearly the trend of Stewart Edward
White’s work.
From the beginning, Mr. White’s career has been one of prompt
recognition and well-ordered prosperity. He was born at Grand Rapids,
Michigan, on March 12, 1873. He attended no school until he was
sixteen years of age, and yet, far from being behind his schoolmates,
he entered the high school in the junior class with boys of his own
age and graduated at eighteen, president of his class. He excelled in
athletics and held the long distance running record of his school. He
graduated a few years later from the University of Michigan, and then
spent two years in the Columbia Law School, New York.
With private tutors, and then amidst the best university surroundings,
Stewart Edward White’s education was obtained under advantageous
auspices. He read and traveled a great deal, and had time to indulge
his love of outdoor life. His first production was a story entitled “A
Man and His Dog,” and under the advice of Professor Brander Matthews,
of Columbia, he offered it for publication. It was bought by _Short
Stories_ for $15. This was Mr. White’s first income from literary
work. Then, after a trip to the Hudson Bay country, he wrote a story
entitled “The Claim Jumpers,” which was published in 1901 and met
with an encouraging reception. “The Westerners,” which was finished
later, was bought for serial publication for about $500. This was a
distinct advance in his literary affairs, and when “The Blazed Trail”
was published in 1902, Mr. White came truly into his own. “The Blazed
Trail” was written in a lumber camp in the depth of a western winter,
and it was composed during the early hours from four A. M. till eight,
before he put on his snow-shoes for a day’s lumbering. “The Conjurer’s
House” came out in 1903, and in that same year “The Forest,” which Mr.
White regards as one of the most instructive books he has written. It
is the story of a canoe trip. The immediate success of “The Forest”
led to the writing of “The Mountains,” which told the adventures of
a camping trip in the Sierras. Then “The Mystery,” “Camp and Trail,”
“The River Man,” “The Rules of the Game,” “The Call of the North,”
“The Rediscovered Country,” “The Adventures of Bobby Orde,” “The Gray
Dawn,” “The Leopard Woman,” and other books followed. In all his books
he told the vigorous story of life in its primitive forms. “Gold” is
a picture of the madness of ’49. “The Dawn” is a story of California,
“The Leopard Woman” a romance of the African wilds. In his later books,
Africa became to Mr. White a very real and commanding subject--and one
that still holds him in its lure.
Mr. White produces his books fast and in highly finished form. He is
essentially a realist. Human achievement, with all its vital interest
and meaning, laid hold early on his imagination and gave to his stories
their all-pervading sense of truth to life. As a critic has said,
“One puts down a book by him with a feeling of having read through
experiences, dramatic and full of romance, yet never breaking the
bounds of probability--and that is fine art.” Mr. White’s home is in
Santa Barbara, California, and his field of active experience includes
a substantial part of the whole surface of the earth.
Mr. White entered the U. S. Service shortly after war was declared.
The picture on the opposite side of this sheet shows him in uniform as
Major of U. S. Field Artillery.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No. 14, SERIAL No. 162
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.