Tanrılar ve Köpekler

Dogs of the Islands #1

by Jack London

Jack London made a specialty of books about marvelous dogs. Jerry of the Islands tells the story of an Irish Terrier, a dog from the Southern seas, rather than the cold North. Jerry's life is colored by his experiences in the rough -- and sadly, racist -- land of Melanesia. First published in 1915, "Jerry of the Islands" tells the story of Jerry's narrow world, in which the dog has been born and raised to carry out the racist aims of his master, and his travels after that time...

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Adventure, Animals, Dogs, American, Novels

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1917

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

[Ivana Books Are Magic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jerry of the Islands: A True Dog Story is a book I struggled with from start to finish. The big question: 'is this book racist?' is not an easy one to answer. At surface it seems to be, but the more I think of it, the more it seems that London was portraying the racist views of his time without really believing in them himself. It's definitely a hard book to read or rate. I don't even know how many times I put it down, gave up on it only to pick it up again. I didn't enjoy the beginning at all and if I hadn't read other books by Jack London, I would have surely given up for good at some point- well at many points in this book actually. However, having read London before and being familiar with his at times particularly brutal version of naturalist writing style, I decided to push through and I'm not sorry I did. The story, in my personal view, does get better at one point. It will be really hard to write this without spoilers but there is an event that changes everything and once it happens you feel like you're reading a complete different story- and then there are more shifts.

Nevertheless, this is not a book I would go about recommending. It is not my intention to defend the author or to push my particular point of view with this review I'm about to share- because it a possible reading of this book and NOT THE only possible one. In other words, I'm not sure is my interpretation correct or even should others experience it in the same way. I don't know who Jack London really was or what he really thought. However, I don't is not fair to judge a historical book by todays' politically correct points of view. You cannot judge a past work by today's linguistic standards either, if we were to do that, we might as well burn all historical books and admit we want the dystopia described in Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World where all the books are banned and burned and nobody reads. Alright, we're close to that dystopia but hopefully not quite there yet.

That all being said, there was a lot to take in, too much at first for sure. Jerry is a dog basically breed to be a racist: a racist dog- and he is the hero of the story. All the horribly insulting racial terms and description set aside, there is no denying that this book has a racist premise. Jack is a white man's dog, he will never be anything else. It's repeated at nauseum. The world of the blacks, the ingenious people of the islands, is described as brutal and loveless, the one of the whites as civilized. Nevertheless, once I read the book, I couldn't notice a few things and correct me if I'm wrong (medium SPOILER Alert):
- The main white characters in this book are soft and stupid, they get killed all the time and only time they don't get killed is because the dog saves them. The whites are often not only unjust but also terribly naïve and sentimental. In other words, they are full of flaws. The author repeats the racial superiority theory many times, but he doesn't seem to believe in it himself or else why portray the whites in this negative way?
- The main black characters (the chief and two of his tribes' members: the little boy & the old blind man) are incredibly intelligent, cunning, brave and strong.
- The world of the black is described in a very negative way but at the same time you have a feeling that London admires them, especially particular individuals.
- It is the black man who sees the true value of Jerry. The blind black man who teaches Jerry to count to five and to communicate with him in language signs establishes a bond that no white person ever could. Despite the fact that Jerry's breed and raised to only trust whites, the old black man is the only person Jerry ever could communicate with.

Jack learns to admire the blacks too, seeing them as a sort of Gods as well, but he never feels like he really belongs to them. It is hard to understand why? Is it simply because he has been breed to? Is the difference between an animal and a human? An animal cannot go past his instinct and breeding and a person can? One thing I have to give to this story- it sure made me think. It might be messy, I might hate the beginning, I might cringe at almost every line, but it made me think and that's always a good thing.

So, is this book racist or not? Honestly, I'm not even sure. It's an odd book. It's like five different books in one. Many times in this novel, it is repeated that whites are superior to blacks, but when it comes to actual characters, it is the black characters that ask metaphorical questions about life and death, the afterlife and so on and all the whites do is fulfill the English stereotype. You know that stereotype about how the only creature that an English person can love is his or her own dog. It is only upon finishing this book that you get this feeling- or at least I did- that the real hero of this book isn't Jerry the racist dog, but rather the ingenious Machiavellian chief of the tribe who keeps outsmarting the English Empire at every move. This cruel but brilliant chief sits alone and asks metaphorical questions, he wants to know what happens after death but at the same time he lives in the present (so much so that he doesn't have any problems outsmarting a whole army of English men).

The main reason why I'm giving this book three stars is because there's just so much to stomach and the plot is a bit messy as well. I wanted to know more about characters but also more about Jerry, I was left somewhat hungry after finishing it- and that's ironic since I struggled so much with reading it. Moreover, I don't feel that I understood it completely, because really this is either a brilliantly anti-racist book or a subtly racist book that got out of hands of its author and ended up not being as racist as it should have been. I just don't know which is it! I find it harder to believe it is a racist book (even if Jerry really is a racist), the more I think about it. If you hated it, I get it but if you loved it, I get it too because it's one of those books that can be read in more than one way. Perhaps it is for everyone to interpret it for themselves. It's not the best work by London, but still quite strong and interesting. I'm certainly glad I read it.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Adventures of a racist dog. Even allowing for Prevailing Attitudes of the Times, it's hard to get through. Jack London is no Mark Twain.

[Sirpalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eskimeyen kitaplar yazanlardan biri daha.. Jack London’ı okumak her zaman çok keyifli.

[Sergey Barsamyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, unfaiirly unprized "dog storie" by the Master of wolf/dog stories - Jack London. This book, along with its twin - "Michael, brother of Jerry", will be perfect read for everyone who loved the stories about White Fang and Buck.

[Daniel Rivas del Monte · Rating 2 out of 5]

El perro racista correteando por las islas Salomón. Tiene su interés a ratos, pero huele demasiado a "La llamada de la selva".

[Николай Сусанин · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me no very like

[Muzaffer Bayraktar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kimsenin köpekleri bu kadar iyi anlayabileceğini ve üzerine muhteşem bir roman yazabileceğini düşünmemiştim. London'ın insanlar ve ırklar üzerine düşünceleri günümüz dünyasında oldukça rahatsız edici olabilir. Fakat bu söylenene göre gerçek bir hikaye ve daha da önemlisi bir köpek hakkında

[Tabitha Ormiston-Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a charming story about a dog, with all the detail and gritty reality we expect from Mr London. Normally Mr London's offerings would get more than three stars from me, however I found this book badly marred by the constant use of expressions which we no longer use in polite society, and which must nowadays be offensive to any thinking person. One realises that language as it was spoken, and the thoughts which it necessarily informed, were very different a hundred years ago, yet it was impossible to read parts of this book without distaste. Those reading this book need to brace themselves in advance to encounter a degree of racism that we seldom encounter today outside the hallowed corridors of the Liberal Party.

[William Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Sunday assignment, finish my first edition Jack London novel.

Not his best, but intriguing, and his insight into the presumed workings of the minds of dogs seems spot on.

The way racism infects the world, including through our training of pets, is projected convincingly as well.

Several reviews mistake London's accurate portrayal of historical racism as his own views. This is a mistake.

[Afyhrlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story for the adventure itself and the way that Jack London can make you care about what's going on in a dog's mind. Plus there's a happy ending. Caution: There is no holding back when it comes to the use of racial slurs.

[Arsenovic Nikola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jedna vrhunska knjiga

[Tuğba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jerry denen meleğin duygularına odaklanmaktan arka plandaki köle ticaretine duygu geliştiremedim. Pek çok kişi tarafından ırkçı bir köpek olduğu iddia edilmiş ama köpek ırkçı değil köpek bir sünger gibi verilen eğitimi emen süper kaliteli ve akıllı bir yaratık. Irkçı bir tacirin elinde siyahi düşmanı olabildiği gibi siyahi bir efendinin elinde konuşmayı öğrenebilen bir çocuk, sevgi dolu bir sahibenin elinde ise neredeyse ses sanatçısına dönüyor. London’ın köpek ruhunu çok iyi tahlil ettiğini düşünüyorum bu kitapla, o yüzden ‘ırkçı’ deyip kestirip atamıyorum. Olağanüstü bir hikâye, olağanüstü bir köpek, olağanüstü bir anlatım. Yazarın yaşanan onca acıdan sonra köpeğe mutlu sonu layık görmesi ise en güzel tarafıydı. Köpekleri cidden hak etmiyoruz.

[Ivaylo Tsvetkov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Куче-расист корабокрушира на остров с канибали и не преживява никакво личностно развитие. Накрая си го прибират. Le fin.

[David Bors · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice intresting book

[Michael Percy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book captures a part of the history of the Solomon Islands (and indeed, Australia), that has been conveniently forgotten. This book should be called Jerry the Racist Dog and it is difficult to see how the author's attitudes are not racist. Nevertheless, as I was recently informed by a reliable source, Lolita did not necessarily make Nabokov a paedophile, but it is still confronting. Written in the style of White Fang and Call of the Wild, the story is from Jerry's perspective, although more than a decade later. And unlike his stories about humans, the animal stories tend to have happy endings. I found an article in an Australian newspaper that shows part of London's inspiration for the book. While I must reserve judgement until I read some more of London's work, but in the meantime, I find it difficult to rate this book too highly.

[Matt James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Underrated and unrecognised in comparison with London's more prolific dog tales (Call of the Wild and White Fang), Jerry of the Islands holds the same frantic pace and naturalist description seen in London's earlier works, yet the Klondike has been displaced with tropical islands.

Yet the story falls short from its predecessors as London's usually tame naturalism surges into realms almost of science-fiction, as in the book Jerry not only develops his own language(!) but also avoids immense threats and obstacles in spectacular action-star like fashion. Forget the Ubermensch, Jerry is the Uberhound!

In some brief philosophical passages, London attempts to imbue Jerry of the Islands his usual Nietzschean and socialist view-points, but the story just leans too heavily upon the pulpy and the sensational for any of these fleeting passages to hold an .

[Cansu Melissa Çakır · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kitabın başından beri süren ırkçı dilin eninde sonunda ırkçılığın ne kadar yanlış ve gereksiz olduğuna bağlanması için sabırsızca bekledim. Lakin kitap bitti, ırkçılığı savunarak bitti. Bu tamı tamına ırkçı bir kitap?! Siyahileri horgörerek bitti?! Kesinlikle bir şeyleri anlamadığımı düşünüyordum, Jack London'ı biraz daha araştırmaya kalktım ve evet, adam ırkçıymış. :) Anglo-saksonların başarı ve üstünlüğü temsil eden bir ırk olduğunu ve bunlar tarafından diğer ırkların soykırıma uğratılmasının tamamen doğal seleksiyonun bir mekanizması olduğunu açıkça savunan koyu bir ırkçı. Kullandığı dil dönemine göre belki normal kabul edilse de günümüzde oldukça rahatsız edici olabiliyor. Onun haricinde kitabın edebi yanı, betimlemeleri fena değildi.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I have to say that Jack London really knows how to tell a story. The action, adventure, and absolutely captivating characters never fail to satisfy. My issues with this little-known posthumously published book are the Pidgin English dialect that is difficult to follow and the flagrant racism throughout. Yes, it was common in the time period, and yes, London is well-known for his application of Darwinist theories to the issues of race. This book is an excellent example of these, and at the same time becomes difficult to read and difficult to use in mainstream school or library settings.

[JoAnn Augustine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried. Getting past the use of the n-word was hard, though I am a Jack London fan and know that the word was a part of history, albeit one of the ugly parts. I made it half-way before the dialogue in beche-mer began. That is the language used between white and native populations in the South Seas. While it is a pidgin English, it is barely understandable. When it went on for pages at a time, I was at my maximum frustration. Nobody but myself cares if I read this book! So I stopped.

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows Jerry, a puppy, as he sets out on the sea with a sailor. From there he ends up on land with a group of people. And he makes his way further from there. Much of the story is from Jerry’s point of view.

It was ok. I had trouble following much of the dialogue. I (no surprise to me) found myself much more interested in the parts that were from Jerry’s point of view, rather than the parts that strayed from that and focused on the people in the story.

[Ayden W · Rating 3 out of 5]

The waves are raging by the canibale inhabited islands. "Jerry of The Islands" by Jack London is one of his best books. First it has the element of adventure with things changing all the time with ships and islands. It also has a great twist in the book which will keep you reading. "Jerry of The Islands" by Jack London is great from adventure to a twist.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

My wife recommended this book and I'm really glad for it.

I found myself getting really bored with the humans, though, and really only wanted to read Jerry's thoughts.

[Argos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tipik bir Jack London....

[Marte · Rating 1 out of 5]

racista.

[Bill Jenkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like many of Jack London’s novels, this story is full of violence and death, but there’s a good deal of action and adventure. Unlike The Call of the Wild however, this novel is not exclusively about the main character Jerry but focuses on many other characters such as Jerry’s masters.

It is well known that Jack London was a dog lover. I can take them or leave them. I don’t impose human mannerisms on dogs. They don’t have the brain capacity to think like a human despite what people want to believe. One other reviewer classified Jerry as a racist dog. A dog doesn’t have the ability to think in emotional prejudice. Dogs can be taught to show aggression towards blacks, whites, Asians, lions, tigers, and bears. They can also be taught to show affection toward all of these as well. Dogs are used as a tool of man and have been used and bred as such for many centuries.

We can call the islanders savages, brutes, beasts, monsters, barbarians, demons, sadists, animals, etc., but none of these terms have any derogatory meaning to them. It is Jack London who calls the islanders nig.ers, not Jerry the dog. A dog does not think in these terms. A case in point: Jerry has many black masters and does what he is trained to do as taught by these masters. In fact, one black master who is blind teaches Jerry to use available dog tonalities to count to five and explain what he sees to his blind master.

I’ve been disturbed by the use of nig.er by London in his novels. He clearly uses it in a derogatory manner. Here is an example: “Jerry had been born to hate niggers.” and “For Nalasu was not a white-god, but only a mere nigger god.”. Even in the Forward, Jack London writes “we found on board a nigger-chasing, adorable Irish terrier puppy.” How is a dog that chases another human charming? Others have said that we can’t judge Jack London’s choice of words here because of the time the story was written. I think London knew better than to use this kind of language especially in novels. He was supposed to be writing these stories to be sold. I would think this kind of language would be a mark against it but perhaps London just didn’t care.

I read somewhere that London’s forward to this novel talked about cruelty to animals. This is not the case. London is not making a statement about cruelty to animals with this novel. There is savagery through out this novel as there is in many of London’s novels and it has nothing to do with dogs. It’s all humans cruelty to other humans. This is what he wrote about.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jerry îşi dădu seama că se petrecea un lucru neobişnuit abia când domnul Haggin îl luă sub braţ destul de brusc şi îl trase către balenieră.

De şase luni de când se născuse Jerry, domnul Haggin îi era stăpân. Totuşi, cuvântul „stăpân” lipsea din vocabularul acestui frumos terier cu păr roşcat şi lins. În schimb, expresia „domnul Haggin” cuprindea întreaga semnificaţie pe care o are cuvântul „stăpân” pentru oameni, cel puţin în felul de a înţelege al câinilor. „Domnul Haggin” îi spuneau stăpânului său atât Bob, contabilul, cât şi Derby, cel care supraveghea plantaţia. Jerry îi mai auzise şi pe ceilalţi bipezi, destul de puţini, cum ar fi cei de pe Arangi, care veneau în vizită la ei, numindu-l tot aşa pe stăpân.

Câinii au însă o inteligenţă deosebită şi, datorită pasiunii lor şi afecţiunii nelimitate pe care o manifestă faţă de cei de care ascultă, stăpânul are pentru ei o semnificaţie mai amplă decât ne-o imaginăm. Omul se crede numai stăpân al câinelui. Câinele îl venerează însă ca pe un zeu.

Cuvântul „zeu” neaflându-se în vocabularul restrâns şi special al lui Jerry, sinonimul „domnul Haggin” reprezenta pentru el omnipotenţa binefăcătoare şi suverană.

Astfel că, atunci când omul îl luă sub braţ şi îl urcă în balenieră, câinele deveni neliniştit şi simţi că urma să se întâmple ceva deosebit. Negrii trecură imediat la vâsle. Nu mai fusese niciodată la bordul lui Arangi, care, cu fiecare efort făcut de vâslaşi, se mărea şi se apropia de ei.

Cu o oră înainte, Jerry părăsea casa de pe plantaţie şi cobora pe plajă ca să asiste le plecarea navei Arangi. În scurta lui viaţă, se bucurase de două ori la un asemenea eveniment. Ce era mai plăcut decât să alergi în galop pe plaja de nisip fin şi, ghidat cu grijă de Biddy şi Terrence, părinţii lui, să ia parte la bucuria care stăpânea peste tot?

Să-i fugăreşti pe negri! Ce plăcere pentru Jerry, care-i detesta pe negri şi ştia că Biddy, mama lui, ca şi Terrence, tatăl său, îi urau. Negrii erau făcuţi ca să mârâi la ei. Excepţie făceau doar servitorii din casă. Restul negrilor meritau să fie muşcaţi dacă intrau dincolo de zidurile ce trebuiau apărate. Biddy făcuse întotdeauna aşa, Terrence la fel.

[Ounheuane Paditsone · Rating 4 out of 5]

In today's world, this book wouldn't see the light of day: The use of the "N" word is excessive if not blatant. London begins toning it down somewhat half-way through the book by referring to them as the "blacks" but the damage by that point, has already been done. The protagonist is a Irish Terrier who is bred out of affluence and trained to despise and keep in check and upon occasion, maim and/or kill the disenfranchised slaves at the behest of their master. Throughout the story there is graphic violence a plenty--notably those suggesting taboo acts of cannibalism and dog feasting (both as a source of food) as it's done regularly on the Solomon Islands by rival tribes. I personally struggled with the slang spoken by the natives and their white oppressors as it was very difficult to make sense during the exchange. Overall, the internal dialogue and emotional depth of its protagonist saves the work from London as a biggoted view of the Western South Pacific during the 19th Century. Admittedly, "Jerry of the Islands: A True Dog Story" isn't for everyone and it certainly isn't "Call of the Wild" or "White Fang" for which London is perhaps best known for. Instead, it's the other other dog novel from Jack London that we today seldom talk about and for good reason.

[Krste · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is criticism going around that Jerry Of the Islands is an extremely racist book and, although it does seem like that at first, I disagree.
The story takes place in a time period and setting that are morally questionable today and Jerry himself is probably the most racist dog ever put on page due to that. But I never, not even once while I read it, got a feeling that might suggest that Jack London shared that views. Black people in this book are savage cannibals, but London also potrays a lot of them as smart, cunning and even kingly. To Jerry they are lesser than white people because he was trained like that.
I enjoyed the book quite nicely, especially when it focused on Jerry's perspective. London also paints a beautiful picture of the tropical setting with his descriptions. My biggest problem is that for a long time the story seems aimless. Jerry has a lot of adventures that ultimately go nowhere in particular. Its an enjoyable journey, but not an extremely memorable one.

[Ufuk Beyazova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tanrılar ve Köpekler / Jack London

Daha önce okuduğum romanlarından da hayvanları çok iyi tanıdığını, dünyaya onların gözüyle bakmayı başardığını bildiğim yazarın köpek Jerry'nin serüvenlerini yazdığı romanı. Olay köĺe ticareti yapılan dönemde geçiyor. Jery'nin sahibi beyaz bir köle taciri. Jery onu tanrı gibi görüyor. Bu tanrı ona beyazların efendi zencilerin köle olduklarını, zencilerle savaşmak gerektiğini öğretmiştir. Bir gün hepsi zenci olan Samoa yerlileri köle tacirinin gemisini  ele geçirir ve tüm beyazları öldürürler. Jery için nefret ettiği zenciler arasında zor bir yaşam başlamış oĺur. Yazar bir köpeğin gözünden insan ilişkilerini çok güzel anlatıyor. beyazkitaplik.com

[Mikhail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have re-read (well, re-listened this time) the book about 30 years after my first time. A bit less impressed this time, but still - this is a great book from Jack London, one of his famous books about dogs.
The book is written from the dog’s prospective, and can be very engaging for younger readers. (I just recall my first time.) Recommended.

I listened it in Russian translation full of n-words. Russians do not care, for them it is just a normal word fairly used, especially in the beginning of the 20th century describing events in remote islands populated by cannibals. Maybe some vigilantes have managed to ban the English version of the book by now, I don’t know.