Jack London (1876-1916) was an American novelist and short story writer. Drawing on his own adventures as a sailor, tramp and gold seeker, he wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang and The Sea-Wolf, tales of survival in harsh landscapes that made him one of the most popular writers of his time.
Works
The Call of the Wild
A hard youth
Born in San Francisco in 1876, Jack London grew up poor in Oakland. As a teenager he worked in a cannery, raided oyster beds and sailed to Japan on a sealing schooner.
He tramped across the United States, was briefly jailed for vagrancy, and then studied hard to enter the University of California, which he left after one semester.
The Klondike
In 1897 he joined the gold rush to the Klondike, in the Canadian Yukon. He found no gold, but brought back the material for many stories.
The Call of the Wild (1903), told from the point of view of a dog, made him famous. White Fang (1906) tells the opposite story, of a wild wolf-dog that becomes tame.
A prolific writer
London wrote more than fifty books in less than twenty years, including The Sea-Wolf, Martin Eden and The Iron Heel, as well as essays on poverty and social justice.
He wrote a thousand words every day, and became one of the best-paid authors in America.
Anecdotes
The People of the Abyss
In 1902 London spent weeks living among the poor of the East End of London, disguised as a stranded sailor, and described their misery in The People of the Abyss.
The Snark
In 1907 he set off on a voyage across the Pacific in a boat he had built, the Snark, with his wife Charmian. Illness forced him to end the journey in Australia.
Frequently asked questions
Which novel made Jack London famous?
The Call of the Wild, in 1903.
Where did he search for gold?
In the Klondike, in the Canadian Yukon.
When did he die?
In 1916, at the age of forty.