The Iron Heel in Utopian and Dystopian Reading Group

Jan 04, 2014 Shawn rated it liked it · review of another edition

First of all I have to say that I have been reading all sorts of foreign authors lately (and tons of really dry academic pieces), all of them translated from Romanian, German, Japanese and Spanish. I guess I didn’t realize how much is so often lost in translation. As soon as I started reading this book I could tell immediately that the voice was that of an ‘authentic’ American author, dated though the language was at times. To be clear, I’m not at all trying to say that American language authors First of all I have to say that I have been reading all sorts of foreign authors lately (and tons of really dry academic pieces), all of them translated from Romanian, German, Japanese and Spanish. I guess I didn’t realize how much is so often lost in translation. As soon as I started reading this book I could tell immediately that the voice was that of an ‘authentic’ American author, dated though the language was at times. To be clear, I’m not at all trying to say that American language authors are superior, but am merely stating that there is no substitute for reading in the original language in which a book was written. I guess this means that I need to revisit my German and take more seriously learning Romanian and Spanish. I can’t wait to get to the point where I can read Caragiale, Neruda and Goethe in their native tongues.

Secondly, after reading the book I looked at a few reviews. Most folks liked the book, but those who didn’t seem to fall into two camps. The first group felt that the book doesn’t compare to London’s greatest works and with this, I agree. His prose is pedantic and longwinded. But, he is also telling it from the perspective from a layman, who we shouldn’t really expect be as eloquent as London. The other group of ‘haters’ seem to be folks who are ‘conservative’ and have a problem with the word ‘socialist.’ To me, if you hate the book because it is promoting socialism and if you hate socialism because of the propaganda you’ve bought into from the ‘conservative’ media, you should go jump off a bridge. Truly. I am no socialist, but that fact doesn’t prevent me from appreciating other’s views. Moreover, many of London’s arguments are taken directly from real historical events and many of the concerns London sets forth in this book were and are not only the concerns of socialists, but also of liberals and conservatives. Hating a book because it discusses the world from the viewpoint of an ideology that one doesn’t agree with is simply ignorant. After all, I am willing to bet that many of the same folks who hated London’s socialist diatribes really enjoyed Plato’s ‘Republic.’

With that being said, on to the review…

Jack London’s novel illustrating the rise and downfall of the world oligarchy, or ‘Iron Heel,’ is narrated by the wife of one of the leading figures of the socialist movement that brought the first major challenge to the plutocracy of America at the beginning of the 20th century. The book is told in the form of a memoir of the wife of one of the primary figures of the socialist uprising and defeat. Some of it is pretty dry reading, as some other reviewers have mentioned. London goes to great lengths to explain the socialist theory of capitalism and how the oligarchy eventually manipulates it to take control fo the United States. As I said, it’s rather dry reading, but it’s still interesting. Certainly London was writing at a time when the instruments of capitalism weren’t nearly as advanced as they are now, but the novel wasn’t written so long ago that we are unable to draw parallels and ask ourselves, ‘What if?’ And it is this question that motivates writers of dystopia.

As a warning, it is excellent reading. As a novel, “The Iron Heel’ fails in a couple fundamental ways, both of which have to do with structure and style. Most of the book is the unexciting recap of events leading up the first major socialist uprising in Chicago. Lots of theory. Lots of rushed narrative that lacks description of pathos. The characters are hardly developed, with the exception, possible, of their intellects. In a sense, this is really an intellectual biography of the main character as told by his revolutionary wife, who in my view is more interesting than he is. It isn’t until the last few chapters that London’s prose that he is so famous for finally breaks through, almost as if it had had enough and wanted to be seen. The descriptions of the Chicago uprising are apocalyptic, especially the scenes in which London describes the revolting slave class, which is true horror. Unfortunately, just when the reader thinks that London has redeemed himself, the novel comes to an abrupt end. We know from the memoir that, after three hundred years, the rule of the oligarchy comes to an end, but we don’t know how it comes about. One would have thought that London would have chosen to include the final battle that ushered in the new era of the working man, but he doesn’t. He leaves the reader in the dark. Flawed novel or not, though, for dystopia fans, ‘The Iron Heel’ is one of the essential reads of the cannon. So, somewhat equivocally, I can’t give this book a high rating, but I do recommend it.
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Jul 14, 2021 David Mills rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

Favorite quote = “No man can be intellectually insulted. Insult, in its very nature, is emotional.”

From my 1001 Books to Read Before You Die (Edited by Peter Boxall) reading list.

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