As a big fan and frequent visitor to Sonoma County's Jack London State Park and its haunting home museums and ruins from the life and times of its famous literary owners, Jack and Charmian London, I've been looking forward to Napa Valley College Poetry Professor Iris Jamahl Dunkle's six-year-in-the-writing and making, biography on trailblazer Charmian Kittredge London — Charmian Kittredge London — Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer.
And so I was happy to learn that Copperfield's Books is featuring the author in conversation with Petaluma-based 2019 Pulitzer Poet Forrest Gander in its new and exciting virtual event online event library. I can't wait to dive into this biography this fall.
Iris read all of the books about Jack London that she could get her hands on but it wasn't until many years later, working at the park as a volunteer when she started reading The Book of Jack London written by Charmian, that she realized the real story of the independent and brilliant Charmian herself, a central figure in California history had yet to be told.
It's compelling to hear the author read a section where young Charmian's life in Sonoma County takes hold at a mere 18-months in the heart of Petaluma. Her father Kit was an entrepreneur. He moved his family to Petaluma when Charmian was a toddler, where he had bought The American Hotel on Main Street, strategically located on the Petaluma River, then booming transportation hub for connections to San Francisco. It was a family-run business with his wife, Charmian's mother, Daisy, running housekeeping. With the help of Daisy's brother and sister they attracted distinguished guests from far and wide. Daisy felt quite at home in the bustling town of Petaluma, entertaining guests and local society in the parlor.
Tragically, a fire disturbed their happiness, destroying the hotel. Daisy and Charmian were led from the back door of the burning hotel before it burned to the ground. The family's financial losses were significant and their lives forever changed.
Charmian's mother Daisy was a poet. Her Aunt Netta was also a writer as were other family members. According to the author, there was much literary instruction and reading in her life growing up. She was raised to be an independent young woman and the idea of settling down with a man was not a priority.
She was a stenographer in San Francisco when she met Jack London in 1900, although their romantic connection did not kick into gear until 1902, despite the fact that Jack had a wife and kids at the time. After challenging Jack to a fencing dual at a gathering in his home in Piedmont (she had learned to fence at Mills College, Oakland), he was enthralled. Most of the women who flirted with him at gatherings would have let him win. His appreciation of her not giving in to his ego altered the trajectory of her independent life.
As Forrest Gander states, she could out-fence, out-ride and out-sail Jack. Could she out-write him?
Jack London was a brand, although it was their collaborative team work that worked so well. Charmian typed and corrected his hand written manuscripts and wrote significant portions of Valley of the Moon. Her book The Log of the Snark and two books on Hawaii sealed her own status as a travel writer. She wrote The Book of Jack London after losing her husband — the book that drew Iris into wanting to write about Charmian.
Charmian Kittredge London — Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer was originally slated as a scholarly biography for another publisher that let it go. Iris really wanted Charmian's story to be told and to permeate the scholarship wall as a trade biography instead. It's surprising to hear that the University of California Press wasn't interested in it, but its loss was the gain of University of Oklahoma Press, in adding this to its great stories of the West told from a woman's point of view.
According to Forrest Gander, the book: "Reads almost like thriller. The Pulse and energy of the book doesn't let up — it's really a fun read."
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