House Wolf

And how else was to call the house on his ranch of London, if his writing birth was held in 1900 with the release of the collection of the stories "Son of Wolf". By this time, a 24-year-old author was printed for seven years, but that was the first book.

For the first time in the grape valley of Sonoma to the north of San Francisco, he got in 1903, and in two years he bought a plot of 52 hectares, fascinated by these places.

No wonder: As far as Northern California is more beautiful than the most famous South with her Hollywood and Beverly Hills. In the north – Yosemite National Park, Golden Fever Towns, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Mirror Lake Tahoe, Sequoal Forests, One of the most beautiful in the world of cities – Spacious light San Francisco, exciting road number 1 on the ocean edge by the once our Fort Ross and now These amazing valleys – Sonoma and Napa, where they produce the best in Western Hemisphere Wine.

From the city of Sonoma, it is necessary to drive to the northeast kilometers fifteen to Glen-Ellen, from there hand to the house of the wolf. Now Rancho spread over 320 hectares – heirs bought.

In 1916, Jack London died here, and it is immediately clear, even if I did not know earlier. The sinister burnt ruins will prompt that the tragedy occurred, although the house itself died three years earlier than the owner. The grave of Jack London is just noticeable: she is on a hilly, without any solid tombstone. The main monument to him – the remains of the house of the wolf.

London began to build it in 1911 with a scope: Cabinet twelve to six meters, the same library, all the convenience of that era. On the section of sequoia. Many guest rooms. The house was still settled, and typical invitations were printed: guests were asked to call ahead, promised to meet at the station, they were offered riding horses and strollers, in the summer – swimming pool. The owner in the morning worked and was going to start communicating only at 12.thirty.

Nobody arrived anywhere. Jack London did not live any day in his cherished creation, over which she was shaking more than any book. House Wolf burned. In 80 years, the expert committee came to the final conclusion that arson was not – an accident.

It is always worth a look at the invariably eloquent houses of writers: the ascetic dwelling of Flaubert, the smooth-owned hotel rooms O’Henry, the tearing duma duma. Jack London, who lived with a bachelor bag, just before forty, finally wanted to grow up. Did not come out, not given. He did not survive this.

After the fire, London and his wife Charmian lived in a small cottage – it is nearby, in full preservation. On the morning of November 22, 1916, the writer found on the veranda. Near two empty bottles with morphine and atropine and notepad with a deadly dose of poison. Official version – Uremia: body self-defense due to renal failure. The opinions of biographers share approximately in half.

For his life, Jack London suffered a few heavy diseases – from Qingi to a tropical fever. He drank from his youth and strongly. Only a drunkard could write such a heartfelt book about drunkenness – "John barley grain" – that she seriously influenced the introduction in the states of dry law. When Osip Mandelstam in 1913 wrote in the reviews of London "Impeccurious Physical and High Health", he was already a complete alcoholic.

There were a lot of reasons for dying, but also to do it witness – too: enough to look at the ruins of the house of the wolf.