THE LAST PHASE OF THE SOUTH SEA SLAVE TRADE: JACK LONDON'S ADVENTURE

Authors

Philip Castille, University of Houston-VictoriaFollow

Abstract

This paper explores Jack London's failed 1907–08 South Pacific voyage aboard the Snark as a crucible for physical collapse, racial ideology, and literary production. Once a symbol of Anglo-Saxon strength, London suffered debilitating illness and personal humiliation in Melanesia, experiences that destabilized his self-concept and white supremacist beliefs. Despite abandoning his global journey, London produced significant nonfiction and fiction, most notably his 1911 novel Adventure. Drawing from his time in the Solomon Islands, the novel channels his physical and ideological decline into a narrative of colonial dominance, racial hierarchy, and survival. While Adventure adheres to Edwardian tropes of racial encounter, it simultaneously exposes the horrors of the Pacific indenture system—also known as “blackbirding”—and offers one of the few American literary treatments of the South Sea slave trade. The novel reflects both London’s complicity in and critique of empire, racial violence, and economic exploitation, framed by his personal deterioration and desperate reaffirmation of colonial power.

Recommended Citation

Castille, Philip (2012) "THE LAST PHASE OF THE SOUTH SEA SLAVE TRADE: JACK LONDON'S ADVENTURE," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 35: No. 3, Article 2.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol35/iss3/2