American literature: Jack London

Ever since I learned how to read I started to read short stories and folk tales in Mongolian. Later I found short stories of American writers which was translated into Mongolian when I was 10. I was very addicted to read interesting, adventurous short stories which made me feel happy. 6 years later while I was sitting in world literature class, I found out those short stories were written by Jack London, Ernest Hemingway. So I've been familiar with those writers from American literature. My favorites of Jack London are White Fang, Call of the wind and I also like The Old man and the sea, Lost Generation, Farewell to Arms from Ernest Hemingway's works.

Jack London was born in January 12, 1876 San Francisco,CA and graduated high school in Oakland. In 1886 he admitted to University of California at Berkeley but he gave up his school in 1897 to start his writing career but he didn't succeed. In fall of 1897 he sailed to join Klondike Gold rush but he got sick and while he going back to home he was told that his father died. His short stories gained success between 1898-1903 and were published under Houghton Mifflin company. He wrote his famous novel The Call of the wind in 1903. He married Bessie Maddern on April 7, 1900, the same day The Son of the Wolf was published. But in 1904 he divorced from Maddern. After divorcing Maddern, London married Chairman Kittredge in 1905. Their time together included numerous trips, including a 1907 cruise on the yacht Snark to Hawaii and on to Australia. Many of London's stories are based on his visits to Hawaii, the last one for 10 months beginning in December 1915. London wrote from a socialist viewpoint, which is evident in his novel The Iron Heel. Neither a theorist nor an intellectual socialist, London's socialism grew out of his life experience.

Jack London wrote 43 novels for 16 years and after his death 7 novels were published in 1933. All of his works are about past and future, sailor, dog, Gold rusher, Indian, proletarian those are very easy, simple to understand. His idea shows mostly things that he had seen or been part of this. His works are considered one of the best adventurous and action. He was very kind one who always took responsible of many people and helped them.

Many older sources describe his death as a suicide, and some still do. However, this appears to be at best a rumor, or speculation based on incidents in his fiction writings. His death certificate gives the cause as uremia, which means he had kidney disease that caused poisoning. He died November 22, 1916, in a sleeping porch in a cottage on his ranch. But his novels and short stories are still in many people's mind.

Mongolian music

Music is very important part of Mongolian culture. Mongolian music is varied in many genres like Folk /Traditional/, Classic /Opera/, Modern /Pop, Rock, Hip Hop, R&B, other/. Today I will focus on traditional music. Especially throat singing /overtone singing/ which is called Khoomii in Mongolian. Among the unique contributions of Mongolia to the world's musical culture are the long songs, one of the greatest features of the Mongolian music, throat singing (overtone singing) and morin khuur (tradtional musical instrument), the horse-headed fiddle. The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country: Oirats, Hotogoid, Tuvans, Darhad, Buryats, Tsaatan, Dariganga, Uzemchins, Barga, Kazakhs and Khalha.

Overtone singing, also known as throat singing , is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the formats created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocals folds, and out the lips to produce a melody.

In Mongolia, throat singing is found mostly in the western part of the country. Khöömii (throat singing) (written in Cyrillic as Хөөмий) can be divided up into the following categories.

• uruulyn / labial Khöömii
• tagnain / palatal Khöömii
• khamryn / nasal Khöömii
• bagalzuuryn, khooloin / glottal, throat Khöömii
• tseejiin khondiin, khevliin / chest cavity, stomach Khöömii
• turlegt or khosmoljin Khöömii / Khöömii combined with long song

Mongolians also sing in a style known as "karkhiraa" (literally "growling").

Here I included video of Mongolian famous performer from Youtube:

Here is some Monglian throat singer's songs:

Siilen boor - Zulsar

14 The mirare of roush rocks.wma - Zulsar

18 Altain magtaal.wma - Zulsar

The Secret history of Mongols

We can't think without reading. Literature makes us feel the fortune of reading and gives us all kind of knowledge. Everything has beginning and history. I want to start writing history of Mongolian literature especially the earliest and the most famous book of Mongolia. Mongolian literature had been developing orally especially those song, fairy tale, shaman's worship word, proverb, words of war and hunting until 13th century by nomads. Fairy tales and legends those have been told for centuries are similar to American-Indian's and ancient Greek philosopher Ezop's tale, some legends of the Bible's old testament. The most of oral folk tales and legends were written in 'The secret history of Mongolia' in 1240. This book is one of the most studied and popular of Nomad people was translated to many languages. The author of the book is still unknown.

The book is about the life of Genghis khan, early history of Mongol empire which was written highly organized and understandable to modern readers. The Secret History is regarded as a piece of classic literature in both Mongolia and the rest of the world.

Like many texts during the period, it contains elements of folklore and poetry, and is not really as factual as some historians would have wanted. It is also at times inconsistent. The work sets out with a rather mythical genealogy of Genghis Khan's family. The description of Genghis Khan (Temüjin)'s life begins with the kidnapping of his mother Oulen by his father Yesugei. It then covers Genghis Khan ( Temüjin)'s early life, the difficult times after the murder of his father, the many conflicts, wars, and plots before he gains the title of Genghis Khan in 1206. The later parts of the work deal with Genghis' and Ögödei'(his son)s campaigns, and the text ends with Ögödei's reflections on what he did well and what he did wrong. Several passages of the Secret History appear in slightly different versions in the 17th century Mongolian chronicle Altan Tobchi.

If you want to know more about early Mongolia and Genghis Khan you definitely should read "the Secret history of Mongol". It is sold on amazon.com.