Die glücklichen Inseln Erzählungen aus der Südsee

by Jack London

Published posthumously, this collection of seven short stories and sketches creates a fascinating portrait of life on the picturesque Hawaiian Islands. Brimming with vivid descriptions of the sea and forest, these tales examine the lives of an array of characters and the effect upon them of their contact with Western civilization.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Adventure, Literature, American

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam.

His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen".

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack London died November of 1916 and these posthumously published stories were written during his final year of life.

The opening title story is very fine indeed. I don’t think that any of the other works match it; they tend to be “tales” rather than coherent literary short stories. Often they have a tendency to ramble from one idea to another but give a very vivid picture of the society in Hawaii that was undergoing cultural shifts.

Despite any shortcomings in structure the tales still have entertaining moments. “The Bones of Kahekili” and “When Alice Told Her Soul” are comedies, the former being the more successful. “The Water Baby” stands out for its remarkable and rather mystical approach to the clash of the old and new in Hawaiian culture. It was written only a month before London’s death. “Shin Bones”is a rather grotesque piece and “The Tears of Ah Kim” is another story based on the clash of old and new. The final piece, “The Kanaka Surf” has the makings of a fine story but takes too long to get to the point.

London’s vivid and realistic technique make the collection absorbing and the wonderful title story is very moving.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5* Loved the first story which gives all the flavour of the Big Island and named so many places I know - lovely. The rest were okay - London writes well, his description is excellent, but these are not plot-driven stories,and feel a little lack-lustre as a result.

[Karel Baloun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew?  Over several months in 1916, mostly in Waikiki, Jack London wrote a handful of Hawaiian short stories, set on the islands introducing many Hawaiian words.  London is a master at taking a simple idea, and an even more simple plot, and really making it come alive through vivid characters, great dialog, the most verdant and pungent word choice, and yes indeed, repetition. His writing is strongest when he takes a topic that isn't especially objectively important to the world, like the stealing of some family bones, but it super important to the characters in the story, having been the single most important formational event in their lives, or that could have been a loss of life or love if the currents of time had take it slightly differently. And London is strongest on simple emotional themes, like love both mature and youthful, betrayal and revenge, and the inevitability of aging.

Unfortunately, reaching back over 100 years, London's white supremacy naturally oozes through, especially as it is aligned with the race based caste system in the contemporary society.  But I quickly tired of discussions of fractions of white vs native blood, in this person or that person.  And his prejudices are most frustrating against the Chinese, whom he would have known in California only as the lowest class coolies. And yes towards women with their "fragile bones" (p198) and "a woman's lips must pour out whatever flows in through her ears, being so made" (p52). Sigh.

Having spent only a few months on Hawaii, I believe, I'm surprised how confidently London writes about the local flora, the wide variety of tools available, and the rich variety of traditional foods. Also he has an amazing intense paragraph about beach currents and intricacies of surfing (p194). Was the locally available culture so much more dense and intense? Is today's Hawaii a tame tourist monoculture? Are even the farmers market foods only a tiny sliver remnant of what the local diet had been? The entire world slides to a uniform bland grey, only punctuated by culinary innovations already adaptive to the climate crisis and to avoiding inedible mistakes.

While seeming to be surprisingly authentic, and perhaps retaining credibility with contemporary readers who didn't have access to the islands or to online research, these stories are now blatantly fictional, and I for one feel London confidently took too many liberties.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm the first to review this one?? Well then, I'm the one to give the warning - lots of ugly racist language in these stories - the "N" word, mostly. Was this language in common use at the time? It's the accompanying flip attitude that makes me think that in spite of his protestations, London was indeed racist. I now understand why Whitehorse changed the name of its "Jack London" street to "2 Mile Hill". And it's sad, because London could write very well - his description of a hurricane left me breathless. But he was a controversial man - not someone I admire, even though some of his writing is superb.

[patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halfway through, and thoroughly enjoying this history lesson of old Hawaii through London's tales. Defo a good read for anyone living in the aloha state with an interest in the past. Easy to find as a free download online.

[Bettie]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Станислав · Rating 4 out of 5]

Взгляд на прошлое смешанной элиты Гавайских островов. Богатая, пожилая гавайка, вспоминает свою единственную любовь на стороне - принца Лилолило.
Это скорее приторно, но интересно с исторической и социальной точки зрения. Гавайские острова были открыты английскими моряками в 70-х годах 18 века. Там было жестокое родоплеменное общество, которое, в отличии от многих других народов оказалось очень восприимчивым к европейскому влиянию. И уже за одно два поколения на Гавайях образовалось королевство, правители которого быстро экспортировали европейские и американские вещи, идеи и людей из-за моря. Первый король Гавайев даже установил торговлю с российскими владениями на Тихом Океане и вообще пытался в международную политику. Элита острова быстро освоила лошадей и превратилась в некоторое подобие феодальных правителей Европы прошлого и переженились с европейцами. Интересно, что здесь почти не видно какого-либо расизма по отношению к гавайцам. Здесь есть конфликт двух кровей пылающей, эмоциональной - гавайской и ледяной - новоанглийской. Одни готовы всё спустить на ветер в порыве чувств, другие тридцать лет могут жить впроголодь и беречь каждый цент. Всё же потомки островных вождей проигрывают потомкам пуритан, но видимо ДжекЛондон предвидит какое-то слияние двух натур, сам он как калифорниец не слишком жаловал скаредных жителей Новой Англии.

[DJNana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very similar to the previous collection of short stories I read, The House of Pride, these 7 stories are all set on Hawaii. Again, themes of family relationships, ancestry, the love between man and woman, the customs of Hawaiian natives, men conquering their environment, the effect of religion on the person. There is even another story of an immigrant Chinese who makes it big.

Uniformly excellent, again. Will be reading probably all the rest of Jack London's work.

Favourite story: The Kanaka Surf. A wonderful story of a man who is convinced of his wife's infidelity, and devises a vicious test.

Would I re-read: yes.

[Debbie Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to an audiobook that had House of Pride and this combined, though I didn't know it was a combination. I puzzled over why I enjoyed the first half of the book much more than the second (I started skipping a few stories in this, the second half). Anyway, I liked House of Pride more, though I did think When Alice Told Her Soul, The Water-Baby, and the first half of The Kanaka Surf were alright.

[Kevin Farrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad that I finally read it, although it is not one that I will keep re-reading like, Don't Stop the Carnival, and Treasure Island, bout of which I re-read at least every 2 years. A couple of good short stories. Having been stationed in Pearl Harbor for 4 years, it was fun hearing about Hawaii in the early 1900's.

[Yaren Koç · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think you feel like you are there. A good book to learning about Hawaiian culture and people. I have feeling that in every story.

[Forked Radish · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a lot of racist/Darwinist (a tautology) 🐂 💩! And the lionizing of the Hawaiian royalty is a 🤒 joke when the best of the Hawaiian king would make Idi Amin or Pol Pot seem like a 😇.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The royal family exploits its subjects, even in a pre-modern society--though its ability to do so was still relatively small.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a bunch of short stories that take place in post-Kingdom Hawaii, up until around the 1910s. There are love stories (tragic or not), adventure stories, and some comedy as well. I liked it.

[Laura Hinrichs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories about Hawaii. The book really captures the island nicely.

[Greta · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of stories was published after Jack London died and I bet if he had lived, then there would have been more adventure in each story.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When else could you read it if not on a Hawaii vacation