2 Literary Giants Written Off

They say one was non-American. And the other was un-American.

So a plan to name new reading rooms at El Segundo’s public library in honor of authors Agatha Christie and Jack London has been ordered shelved by the City Council.

“I’m a great fan of Agatha Christie. Murder mystery novels is what I read. But she’s a British citizen,” said Councilman John Gaines.

“And I’m also a great fan of Jack London. I read all his books as a kid. But quite frankly, he was a world-renowned communist.”

Other council members agreed Tuesday night, ordering library staff and advisory board members to come up with a list of authors’ names that might be more suitable for library doors in the beachside city south of Los Angeles International Airport.

“Agatha Christie is a legendary mystery writer. But she has no connection with El Segundo,” Mayor Kelly McDowell said Thursday.

“From the modern-day perspective, Jack London’s political views would not be seen as mainstream, certainly not in my community,” McDowell said. “El Segundo is frequently referred to as ‘Mayberry.’ This is a conservative city with traditional values.”

The names of Christie and London had been proposed for two small reading rooms recently constructed with a $321,000 grant from the council. Library staffers and advisors had recommended naming two other new rooms “Parkview East” and “Parkview West” because they overlook a city park.

“I think the Parkview names are great,” Councilman Carl Jacobson said.

The council’s rejection of Christie and London shocked city library director Debra Brighton. She told panel members that the authors were endorsed by library supporters who considered numerous other writers.

“Jack London was a California native author, extremely popular and probably the highest-paid author of his time,” she said. His books are “on all the classic lists.”

Brighton said London denounced socialism “in the latter part of his years.”

As for Christie, she’s “the queen of crime” whose books have been “only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare,” Brighton said. And “I wanted a woman representative as well as a male.”

The name controversy was causing rumbles -- and grumbles -- in the library’s main reading room Thursday. Nearby shelves contained 64 Christie books. Only seven London volumes were on display, however.

Library visitor Randy Hood, an Oakland warehouse manager vacationing in Los Angeles, was studying bus schedules at a table a few steps from what would have been the Jack London Room.

“I’m all for the Jack London name. In Oakland we have Jack London Square. He’s a very popular guy up there,” Hood said. “Where I’m from, he’s revered, not reviled.”

At a reading table, El Segundo resident Lee Sevilla was supportive of both Christie and London.

“It’s ridiculous. They’re both great writers, wonderful authors. People know who they are. If you tried to name the rooms after local authors, people might not know who they were,” said Sevilla, an artist.

El Segundo officials may have a tough time settling on suitable alternatives, warned professor David Killoran, English department chairman at Loyola Marymount University, a few miles north of the library.

“You can’t do anything these days without offending someone. You really have to do your political due-diligence. Are there any unsullied American authors?” he asked. “It would be hard off the top of my head to name a writer who would be everybody’s notion of all-American. Writers by their very definition are troublemakers.”

London and Christie might have the last word on the controversy, however -- even though they died in 1916 and 1976, respectively.

“If one sticks too rigidly to one’s principles, one would hardly see anybody,” Christie once wrote.

Could London have been urging library supporters to go with their gut instinct -- and fight for it, if necessary?

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club,” he once wrote.

El Segundo officials agreed on one thing Thursday. They won’t be able to close the chapter on the dispute before the new reading rooms are dedicated one week from today.

Times staff writer Nick Shields contributed to this report.