My brother recently referenced his desire to eat up some ancient sci-fi tales for his next long drive. When he said it, I suddenly realized that I too had a similar itch but just hadn’t been aware of it.
Sci-fi tales from a hundred years ago? From a handful of decades before we ever sent rockets outside the atmosphere? Yes, please.
This story by Jack London isn’t outer-space-type sci-fi, but it’s weird enough to fit into that category. The story follows a white man named Bassett as he explores the inner jungles of Guadalcanal, fighting malaria, facing cannibalistic tribes, befriending headhunters, and seeking the source of a sound which he heard along the shore a hundred miles distant.
The feel of this book is H. Rider Haggard-esque, and for obvious reasons it also has elements of Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness. What I likened it to most in my mind, though, was Jack London’s own novella, Before Adam, mainly due to his sub-human, primate-like view of dark-skinned natives deep in the jungles.
London was a product of his times, no doubt, and by that, I mean he really bought into Darwin’s racist theories, to which even the most progressive “woke” liberals of today still cling. Perhaps our race-card-dealing cancel-culture friends need to tone down their wolf-cries of “white supremacy” against the Conservative-Christians in America (the other half of the country which includes a massive, undeniable, loud-and-proud faction of people-of-color) and question the foundation of their own beliefs. Their beloved Darwin and his most ardent “scientific” followers believed blacks were the missing link, for crying out loud. Wake up, People.
OK. Stepping off the soapbox.
The Red One is gritty and harrowing, and London minces no words when he discusses the disgusting practices of cannibals, or when his shaman, Ngurn, describes his process for smoking human heads. In fact, he goes into great detail of how Bassett’s own head will soon become his magnum opus! Pretty dreary stuff.
The Red One isn’t a novel, but is more short-story sized, and its lack of chapters proves it to be just that. Still, it’s a well-encapsulated whole that is worth an hour or two of your time.
I loved this story, even if the ending came as no surprise. I recommend it to anyone who loves old-school adventure or antique sci-fi….even if you consider yourself progressive.
©2021 E.T.
Read More from Jack London:
- The Call of the Wild (1903)
- The Game (1905)
- Before Adam (1906)
- The Road (1907)
- When God Laughs (1911)
- The Human Drift (1917)
- Love of Life and Other Stories (1907)
- The Red One (1918)
- Stories of the North (1965)
You seem to misunderstand Darwin equally as much as the uneducated of the 1800s did. Homo Sapiens are comprised of all living human beings of every colour which are all the same species. Hopefully you’re aware, but there is no one missing like as evolutionary change is a slow gradual process over millions of years. Certainly, any snapshot of this change which could be called a missing link does not live any more. Other species like Neanderthals are our cousins. All variations or human beings going far back enough share a common ancestor from which these species branched out of. Darwin was aware of this seeing as he postulated this theory himself. Unquestionably people of many walks of life in the 1800s misinterpreted Darwin because they didn’t have education or the internet to educate themselves, as you do. Some also purposefully misunderstood Darwin’s theory for their own glory or agenda. I don’t know of too many people who still believe that people of darker skin are the missing link, other than racist right wing Nazis of the near past and present. Holding Darwin in contempt for others misunderstanding his work is pretty childish and reductive. Even had he believed this, unlike those who cling to an exact interpretation of a 2000 year old book, while also making that interpretation themselves – thankfully Darwin’s work was very clear on it’s meaning, wasn’t full of self contradiction and best of all was only a theory open to be amended at any time by more legitimate research and evidence 😉
Honestly, despite being a heavy reader of a wide variety of books, I had never before heard the idea that the Missing Link is a non-issue for the reasons you reference here. At least not until I finally read it in When the Earth was Flat. I keep reading, and I keep learning, though I still don’t agree with Darwin, thanks to that 2000-year-old book you referenced.