From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

The Scarlet Plague

Jack London

Start date: March 15, 2023

Finish date: April 1, 2023

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

Discussion leader: Gertie

Why we're reading this: Our April book, read anytime, discussion opens April 1st.

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AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

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What Members Thought

Jun 27, 2010 Michele rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia-apocalypse

Good, but too short -- would make a great first chapter for a novel. It definitely doesn't read like it was written in 1912, and some of the past events the old man, Grandser, narrates are almost eerie in their applicability today, particularly his description of how fast the plague spread due to air travel and of the communication network dying and going silent. In his time it would have been telephones and telegraph, which took a bit of effort to use; how much more stark and disorienting such Good, but too short -- would make a great first chapter for a novel. It definitely doesn't read like it was written in 1912, and some of the past events the old man, Grandser, narrates are almost eerie in their applicability today, particularly his description of how fast the plague spread due to air travel and of the communication network dying and going silent. In his time it would have been telephones and telegraph, which took a bit of effort to use; how much more stark and disorienting such a thing would be today for people who are used to always-on instant interconnection!

The feral kids' attitude towards the old man is more than a little disturbing and depressing, though: insensitive verging on brutal. One would like to think that a single generation would not have fallen quite so far. Their interaction reminds me of Earth Abides, I think it is, where the main character laments the younger generation's lack of interest in reading. London's class snobbery is a little off-putting (the lower-class Chauffeur tribe!) -- though perhaps on second though he was making a point about income inequality and the parlous effects thereof?

I was perplexed that in Grandser's summation of "the eternal types -- the priest, the soldier, and the king" he omits the scholar. The scholar is clearly present in the story in the form of the narrator himself: Grandser was formerly a professor of English, in telling his story he spends a good bit of time trying to explain things like mathematics and germs to the boys, and he gets quite irate at the thought of his descendants falling prey to superstition and magical thinking. So why leave the scholar out of this list? Did he see it as an inessential component of civilization, a luxury rather than a necessity? Or did he believe that humanity doesn't truly value knowledge?

Overall a good, if short, read and a highly interesting example of pre-Golden Age science fiction. This edition was published as part of HiLo Books Radium Age Science Fiction series and I intend to find the rest in the series. ...more

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Feb 04, 2014 Joe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As dystopian stories go, this is one of the better ones. Sure, it has all the hallmarks of a story written in the 19th century, despite being of 1912 origin, and feels like a story H.G. Wells wrote, but this is a particular achievement, given that the story was written not by Wells, but by Jack London, better known for pessimistic potboilers of the 'Man vs. Wild' variety. The story opens with a brief introduction to the characters, but this is merely a framing device for the actual story, the ol ...more

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