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= Jack_London =
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Introduction
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John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 - November 22, 1916), better
known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and
activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he
was one of the first American authors to become an international
celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an
innovator in the genre that would later become known as science
fiction.
London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San
Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal welfare, workers' rights
and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics,
such as his dystopian novel 'The Iron Heel', his non-fiction exposé
'The People of the Abyss', 'War of the Classes', and 'Before Adam'.
His most famous works include 'The Call of the Wild' and 'White Fang',
both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as
well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the
North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in
stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen".
Family
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Jack London was born January 12, 1876. His mother, Flora Wellman, was
the fifth and youngest child of Pennsylvania Canal builder Marshall
Wellman and his first wife, Eleanor Garrett Jones. Marshall Wellman
was descended from Thomas Wellman, an early Puritan settler in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. Flora left Massillon, Ohio and moved to the
Pacific coast when her father remarried after her mother died. In San
Francisco, Flora worked as a music teacher and spiritualist.
The biographer Clarice Stasz and others believe London's father was
astrologer William Chaney. Flora Wellman was living with Chaney in San
Francisco when she became pregnant. Whether Wellman and Chaney were
legally married is unknown. Stasz notes that in his memoirs, Chaney
refers to London's mother Flora Wellman as having been "his wife"; he
also cites an advertisement in which Flora called herself "Florence
Wellman Chaney".
According to Flora Wellman's account, as recorded in the 'San
Francisco Chronicle' of June 4, 1875, Chaney demanded that she have an
abortion. When she refused, he disclaimed responsibility for the
child. In desperation, she shot herself. She was not seriously
wounded, but she was temporarily deranged. After giving birth, Flora
sent the baby for wet-nursing to Virginia (Jennie) Prentiss, a
neighbor and former slave. Prentiss was an important maternal figure
throughout London's life, and he would later refer to her as his
primary source of love and affection as a child.
Late in 1876, Flora Wellman married John London, a partially disabled
Civil War veteran, and brought her baby John, later known as Jack, to
live with the newly married couple. The family moved around the San
Francisco Bay Area before settling in Oakland, where London completed
public grade school. The Prentiss family moved with the Londons, and
remained a stable source of care for the young Jack.
In 1897, when he was 21 and a student at the University of California,
Berkeley, London searched for and read the newspaper accounts of his
mother's suicide attempt and the name of his biological father. He
wrote to William Chaney, then living in Chicago. Chaney responded that
he could not be London's father because he was impotent; he casually
asserted that London's mother had relations with other men and averred
that she had slandered him when she said he insisted on an abortion.
London was devastated by his father's letter; in the months following,
he quit school at Berkeley and went to the Klondike during the gold
rush boom.
Early life
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London was born near Third and Brannan Streets in San Francisco. The
house burned down in the fire after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake;
the California Historical Society placed a plaque at the site in 1953.
Although the family was working class, it was not as impoverished as
London's later accounts claimed. London was largely self-educated.
In 1885, London found and read Ouida's long Victorian novel 'Signa'.
He credited this as the seed of his literary success. In 1886, he went
to the Oakland Public Library and found a sympathetic librarian, Ina
Coolbrith, who encouraged his learning. (She later became California's
first 'poet laureate' and an important figure in the San Francisco
literary community).
In 1889, London began working 12 to 18 hours a day at Hickmott's
Cannery. Seeking a way out, he borrowed money from his foster mother
Virginia Prentiss, bought the sloop 'Razzle-Dazzle' from an oyster
pirate named French Frank, and became an oyster pirate himself. In his
memoir, 'John Barleycorn', he claims also to have stolen French
Frank's mistress Mamie. After a few months, his sloop became damaged
beyond repair. London hired on as a member of the California Fish
Patrol.
In 1893, he signed on to the sealing schooner 'Sophie Sutherland',
bound for the coast of Japan. When he returned, the country was in the
grip of the panic of '93 and Oakland was swept by labor unrest. After
grueling jobs in a jute mill and a street-railway power plant, London
joined Coxey's Army and began his career as a tramp. In 1894, he spent
30 days for vagrancy in the Erie County Penitentiary at Buffalo, New
York. In 'The Road', he wrote:
After many experiences as a hobo and a sailor, he returned to Oakland
and attended Oakland High School. He contributed a number of articles
to the high school's magazine, 'The Aegis'. His first published work
was "Typhoon off the Coast of Japan", an account of his sailing
experiences.
As a schoolboy, London often studied at Heinold's First and Last
Chance Saloon, a port-side bar in Oakland. At 17, he confessed to the
bar's owner, John Heinold, his desire to attend university and pursue
a career as a writer. Heinold lent London tuition money to attend
college.
London desperately wanted to attend the University of California,
located in Berkeley. In 1896, after a summer of intense studying to
pass certification exams, he was admitted. Financial circumstances
forced him to leave in 1897, and he never graduated. No evidence has
surfaced that he ever wrote for student publications while studying at
Berkeley.
While at Berkeley, London continued to study and spend time at
Heinold's saloon, where he was introduced to the sailors and
adventurers who would influence his writing. In his autobiographical
novel, 'John Barleycorn,' London mentioned the pub's likeness
seventeen times. Heinold's was the place where London met Alexander
McLean, a captain known for his cruelty at sea. London based his
protagonist Wolf Larsen, in the novel 'The Sea-Wolf,' on McLean.
Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon is now unofficially named Jack
London's Rendezvous in his honor.
Gold rush and first success
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On July 12, 1897, London (age 21) and his sister's husband Captain
Shepard sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush. This was the setting
for some of his first successful stories. London's time in the harsh
Klondike, however, was detrimental to his health. Like so many other
men who were malnourished in the goldfields, London developed scurvy.
His gums became swollen, leading to the loss of his four front teeth.
A constant gnawing pain affected his hip and leg muscles, and his face
was stricken with marks that always reminded him of the struggles he
faced in the Klondike. Father William Judge, "The Saint of Dawson",
had a facility in Dawson that provided shelter, food and any available
medicine to London and others. His struggles there inspired London's
short story, "To Build a Fire" (1902, revised in 1908), which many
critics assess as his best.
His landlords in Dawson were mining engineers Marshall Latham Bond and
Louis Whitford Bond, educated at the Bachelor's level at the Sheffield
Scientific School at Yale and at the Master's level at Stanford,
respectively. The brothers' father, Judge Hiram Bond, was a wealthy
mining investor. While the Bond brothers were at Stanford, Hiram at
the suggestion of his brother bought the New Park Estate at Santa
Clara as well as a local bank. The Bonds, especially Hiram, were
active Republicans. Marshall Bond's diary mentions friendly sparring
with London on political issues as a camp pastime.
London left Oakland with a social conscience and socialist leanings;
he returned to become an activist for socialism. He concluded that his
only hope of escaping the work "trap" was to get an education and
"sell his brains". He saw his writing as a business, his ticket out of
poverty and, he hoped, as a means of beating the wealthy at their own
game.
On returning to California in 1898, London began working to get
published, a struggle described in his novel 'Martin Eden' (serialized
in 1908, published in 1909). His first published story since high
school was "To the Man On Trail", which has frequently been collected
in anthologies. When 'The Overland Monthly' offered him only five
dollars for it--and was slow paying--London came close to abandoning
his writing career. In his words, "literally and literarily I was
saved" when 'The Black Cat' accepted his story "A Thousand Deaths" and
paid him $40--the "first money I ever received for a story".
London began his writing career just as new printing technologies
enabled lower-cost production of magazines. This resulted in a boom in
popular magazines aimed at a wide public audience and a strong market
for short fiction. In 1900, he made $2,500 in writing, about $ in
today's currency.
Among the works he sold to magazines was a short story known as either
"Diable" (1902) or "Bâtard" (1904), two editions of the same basic
story. London received $141.25 for this story on May 27, 1902. First
published as "Diable - A Dog". 'The Cosmopolitan', v. 33 (June 1902),
pp. 218-26. [FM]
This tale was titled "Bâtard" in 1904 when included in FM. The same
story, with minor changes, was also called "Bâtard" when it appeared
in the 'Sunday Illustrated Magazine' of the 'Commercial Appeal'
(Memphis, Tenn.), September 28, 1913, pp. 7-11. London received
$141.25 for this story on May 27, 1902. In the text, a cruel French
Canadian brutalizes his dog, and the dog retaliates and kills the man.
London told some of his critics that man's actions are the main cause
of the behavior of their animals, and he would show this famously in
another story, 'The Call of the Wild'.
In early 1903, London sold 'The Call of the Wild' to 'The Saturday
Evening Post' for $750 and the book rights to Macmillan. Macmillan's
promotional campaign propelled it to swift success.
While living at his rented villa on Lake Merritt in Oakland,
California, London met poet George Sterling; in time they became best
friends. In 1902, Sterling helped London find a home closer to his own
in nearby Piedmont. In his letters London addressed Sterling as
"Greek", owing to Sterling's aquiline nose and classical profile, and
he signed them as "Wolf". London was later to depict Sterling as Russ
Brissenden in his autobiographical novel 'Martin Eden' (1910) and as
Mark Hall in 'The Valley of the Moon' (1913).
In later life London indulged his wide-ranging interests by
accumulating a personal library of 15,000 volumes. He referred to his
books as "the tools of my trade".
''The Crowd'' (literary group)
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'The Crowd' gathered at the restaurants (including Coppa's
*
*
* ) at the old Montgomery Block and later was a:
Bohemian group that often spent its Sunday afternoons picnicking,
reading each other's latest compositions, gossiping about each other's
infidelities and frolicking beneath the cherry boughs in the hills of
Piedmont
- Alex Kershaw, historian
Formed after 1898, they met at Xavier Martinez's home on Sundays, and
at Jack London's home on Wednesdays. The group usually included George
Sterling (poet) and his wife Caroline "Carrie" E. (née Rand) Sterling,
Anna Strunsky, Herman Whitaker, Ambrose Bierce, Richard Partington and
his wife Blanche, Joseph Noel (dramatist, novelist and journalist),
Joaquin Miller, Arnold Genthe and the hosts, Jack London and his wife,
Bessie Maddern London, and Xavier Martinez and his wife, Elsie
Whitaker Martinez.
First marriage (1900–1904)
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London married Elizabeth Mae (or May) "Bessie" Maddern on April 7,
1900, the same day 'The Son of the Wolf' was published. Bess had been
part of his circle of friends for a number of years. She was related
to stage actresses Minnie Maddern Fiske and Emily Stevens. Stasz says,
"Both acknowledged publicly that they were not marrying out of love,
but from friendship and a belief that they would produce sturdy
children." Kingman says, "they were comfortable together... Jack had
made it clear to Bessie that he did not love her, but that he liked
her enough to make a successful marriage."
London met Bessie through his friend at Oakland High School, Fred
Jacobs; she was Fred's fiancée. Bessie, who tutored at Anderson's
University Academy in Alameda California, tutored Jack in preparation
for his entrance exams for the University of California at Berkeley in
1896. Jacobs was killed aboard the 'Scandia' in 1897, but Jack and
Bessie continued their friendship, which included taking photos and
developing the film together. This was the beginning of Jack's passion
for photography.
During the marriage, London continued his friendship with Anna
Strunsky, co-authoring 'The Kempton-Wace Letters', an epistolary novel
contrasting two philosophies of love. Anna, writing "Dane Kempton's"
letters, arguing for a romantic view of marriage, while London,
writing "Herbert Wace's" letters, argued for a scientific view, based
on Darwinism and eugenics. In the novel, his fictional character
contrasted two women he had known.
London's pet name for Bess was "Mother-Girl" and Bess's for London was
"Daddy-Boy". Their first child, Joan, was born on January 15, 1901,
and their second, Bessie "Becky" (also reported as Bess), on October
20, 1902. Both children were born in Piedmont, California. Here London
wrote one of his most celebrated works, 'The Call of the Wild.'
While London had pride in his children, the marriage was strained.
Kingman says that by 1903 the couple were close to separation as they
were "extremely incompatible". "Jack was still so kind and gentle with
Bessie that when Cloudsley Johns was a house guest in February 1903 he
didn't suspect a breakup of their marriage."
London reportedly complained to friends Joseph Noel and George
Sterling:
Stasz writes that these were "code words for [Bess's] fear that [Jack]
was consorting with prostitutes and might bring home venereal
disease."
On July 24, 1903, London told Bessie he was leaving and moved out.
During 1904, London and Bess negotiated the terms of a divorce, and
the decree was granted on November 11, 1904.
War correspondent (1904)
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London accepted an assignment of the 'San Francisco Examiner' to cover
the Russo-Japanese War in early 1904, arriving in Yokohama on January
25, 1904. He was arrested by Japanese authorities in Shimonoseki, but
released through the intervention of American ambassador Lloyd
Griscom. After travelling to Korea, he was again arrested by Japanese
authorities for straying too close to the border with Manchuria
without official permission, and was sent back to Seoul. Released
again, London was permitted to travel with the Imperial Japanese Army
to the border, and to observe the Battle of the Yalu.
London asked William Randolph Hearst, the owner of the 'San Francisco
Examiner', to be allowed to transfer to the Imperial Russian Army,
where he felt that restrictions on his reporting and his movements
would be less severe. However, before this could be arranged, he was
arrested for a third time in four months, this time for assaulting his
Japanese assistants, whom he accused of stealing the fodder for his
horse. Released through the personal intervention of President
Theodore Roosevelt, London departed the front in June 1904.
Bohemian Club
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On August 18, 1904, London went with his close friend, the poet George
Sterling, to "Summer High Jinks" at the Bohemian Grove. London was
elected to honorary membership in the Bohemian Club and took part in
many activities. Other noted members of the Bohemian Club during this
time included Ambrose Bierce, Gelett Burgess, Allan Dunn, John Muir,
Frank Norris, and Herman George Scheffauer.
Beginning in December 1914, London worked on 'The Acorn Planter, A
California Forest Play', to be performed as one of the annual Grove
Plays, but it was never selected. It was described as too difficult to
set to music. London published 'The Acorn Planter' in 1916.
Second marriage
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After divorcing Maddern, London married Charmian Kittredge in 1905.
London had been introduced to Kittredge in 1900 by her aunt Netta
Eames, who was an editor at 'Overland Monthly' magazine in San
Francisco. The two met prior to his first marriage but became lovers
years later after Jack and Bessie London visited Wake Robin, Netta
Eames' Sonoma County resort, in 1903. London was injured when he fell
from a buggy, and Netta arranged for Charmian to care for him. The
two developed a friendship, as Charmian, Netta, her husband Roscoe,
and London were politically aligned with socialist causes. At some
point the relationship became romantic, and Jack divorced his wife to
marry Charmian, who was five years his senior.
Biographer Russ Kingman called Charmian "Jack's soul-mate, always at
his side, and a perfect match." Their time together included numerous
trips, including a 1907 cruise on the yacht 'Snark' to Hawaii and
Australia. Many of London's stories are based on his visits to Hawaii,
the last one for 10 months beginning in December 1915.
The couple also visited Goldfield, Nevada, in 1907, where they were
guests of the Bond brothers, London's Dawson City landlords. The Bond
brothers were working in Nevada as mining engineers.
London had contrasted the concepts of the "Mother Girl" and the "Mate
Woman" in 'The Kempton-Wace Letters'. His pet name for Bess had been
"Mother-Girl"; his pet name for Charmian was "Mate-Woman". Charmian's
aunt and foster mother, a disciple of Victoria Woodhull, had raised
her without prudishness. Every biographer alludes to Charmian's
uninhibited sexuality.
Joseph Noel calls the events from 1903 to 1905 "a domestic drama that
would have intrigued the pen of an Ibsen.... London's had comedy
relief in it and a sort of easy-going romance." In broad outline,
London was restless in his first marriage, sought extramarital sexual
affairs, and found, in Charmian Kittredge, not only a sexually active
and adventurous partner, but his future life-companion. They attempted
to have children; one child died at birth, and another pregnancy ended
in a miscarriage.
In 1906, London published in 'Collier's' magazine his eye-witness
report of the San Francisco earthquake.
Beauty Ranch (1905–1916)
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In 1905, London purchased a 1000 acre ranch in Glen Ellen, Sonoma
County, California, on the eastern slope of Sonoma Mountain. He wrote:
"Next to my wife, the ranch is the dearest thing in the world to me."
He desperately wanted the ranch to become a successful business
enterprise. Writing, always a commercial enterprise with London, now
became even more a means to an end: "I write for no other purpose than
to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no
other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent
estate."
Stasz writes that London "had taken fully to heart the vision,
expressed in his agrarian fiction, of the land as the closest earthly
version of Eden ... he educated himself through the study of
agricultural manuals and scientific tomes. He conceived of a system of
ranching that today would be praised for its ecological wisdom." He
was proud to own the first concrete silo in California. He hoped to
adapt the wisdom of Asian sustainable agriculture to the United
States. He hired both Italian and Chinese stonemasons, whose
distinctly different styles are obvious.
The ranch was an economic failure. Sympathetic observers such as Stasz
treat his projects as potentially feasible, and ascribe their failure
to bad luck or to being ahead of their time. Unsympathetic historians
such as Kevin Starr suggest that he was a bad manager, distracted by
other concerns and impaired by his alcoholism. Starr notes that London
was absent from his ranch about six months a year between 1910 and
1916 and says, "He liked the show of managerial power, but not
grinding attention to detail .... London's workers laughed at his
efforts to play big-time rancher [and considered] the operation a rich
man's hobby."
London spent $80,000 ($ in current value) to build a 15000 sqft stone
mansion called Wolf House on the property. Just as the mansion was
nearing completion, two weeks before the Londons planned to move in,
it was destroyed by fire.
London's last visit to Hawaii, beginning in December 1915, lasted
eight months. He met with Duke Kahanamoku, Prince Jonah Kūhiō
Kalaniana'ole, Queen Lili'uokalani and many others, before returning
to his ranch in July 1916. He was suffering from kidney failure, but
he continued to work.
The ranch (abutting stone remnants of Wolf House) is now a National
Historic Landmark and is protected in Jack London State Historic Park.
Animal activism
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London witnessed animal cruelty in the training of circus animals, and
his subsequent novels 'Jerry of the Islands' and 'Michael, Brother of
Jerry' included a foreword entreating the public to become more
informed about this practice. In 1918, the Massachusetts Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the American Humane Education
Society teamed up to create the Jack London Club, which sought to
inform the public about cruelty to circus animals and encourage them
to protest this establishment. Support from Club members led to a
temporary cessation of trained animal acts at Ringling-Barnum and
Bailey in 1925.
Death
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London died November 22, 1916, in a sleeping porch in a cottage on his
ranch. London had been a robust man but had suffered several serious
illnesses, including scurvy in the Klondike. Additionally, during
travels on the 'Snark', he and Charmian picked up unspecified tropical
infections and diseases, including yaws. At the time of his death, he
suffered from dysentery, late-stage alcoholism, and uremia; he was in
extreme pain and taking morphine and opium, both common
over-the-counter drugs at the time.
London's ashes were buried on his property not far from the Wolf
House. London's funeral took place on November 26, 1916, attended only
by close friends, relatives, and workers of the property. In
accordance with his wishes, he was cremated and buried next to some
pioneer children, under a rock that belonged to the Wolf House. After
Charmian's death in 1955, she was also cremated and then buried with
her husband in the same spot that her husband chose. The grave is
marked by a mossy boulder. The buildings and property were later
preserved as Jack London State Historic Park, in Glen Ellen,
California.
Suicide debate
================
Because he was using morphine, many older sources describe London's
death as a suicide, and some still do. This conjecture appears to be a
rumor, or speculation based on incidents in his fiction writings. His
death certificate gives the cause as uremia, following acute renal
colic.
The biographer Clarice Stasz writes, "Following London's death, for a
number of reasons, a biographical myth developed in which he has been
portrayed as an alcoholic womanizer who committed suicide. Recent
scholarship based upon firsthand documents challenges this
caricature." Most biographers, including Russ Kingman, now agree he
died of uremia aggravated by an accidental morphine overdose.
London's fiction features several suicides. In his autobiographical
memoir 'John Barleycorn', he claims, as a youth, to have drunkenly
stumbled overboard into the San Francisco Bay, "some maundering fancy
of going out with the tide suddenly obsessed me." He said he drifted
and nearly succeeded in drowning before sobering up and being rescued
by fishermen. In the dénouement of 'The Little Lady of the Big House',
the heroine, confronted by the pain of a mortal gunshot wound,
undergoes a physician-assisted suicide by morphine. Also, in 'Martin
Eden', the principal protagonist, who shares certain characteristics
with London, drowns himself.
Plagiarism accusations
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London was vulnerable to accusations of plagiarism, both because he
was such a conspicuous, prolific, and successful writer and because of
his methods of working. He wrote in a letter to Elwyn Hoffman,
"expression, you see--with me--is far easier than invention." He
purchased plots and novels from the young Sinclair Lewis and used
incidents from newspaper clippings as writing material.
In July 1901, two pieces of fiction appeared within the same month:
London's "Moon-Face", in the 'San Francisco Argonaut,' and Frank
Norris' "The Passing of Cock-eye Blacklock", in 'Century Magazine'.
Newspapers showed the similarities between the stories, which London
said were "quite different in manner of treatment, [but] patently the
same in foundation and motive." London explained both writers based
their stories on the same newspaper account. A year later, it was
discovered that Charles Forrest McLean had published a fictional story
also based on the same incident.
Egerton Ryerson Young claimed 'The Call of the Wild' (1903) was taken
from Young's book 'My Dogs in the Northland' (1902). London
acknowledged using it as a source and claimed to have written a letter
to Young thanking him.
In 1906, the 'New York World' published "deadly parallel" columns
showing eighteen passages from London's short story "Love of Life"
side by side with similar passages from a nonfiction article by
Augustus Biddle and J. K. Macdonald, titled "Lost in the Land of the
Midnight Sun". London noted the 'World' did not accuse him of
"plagiarism", but only of "identity of time and situation", to which
he defiantly "pled guilty".
The most serious charge of plagiarism was based on London's "The
Bishop's Vision", Chapter 7 of his novel 'The Iron Heel' (1908). The
chapter is nearly identical to an ironic essay that Frank Harris
published in 1901, titled "The Bishop of London and Public Morality".
Harris was incensed and suggested he should receive 1/60th of the
royalties from 'The Iron Heel,' the disputed material constituting
about that fraction of the whole novel. London insisted he had clipped
a reprint of the article, which had appeared in an American newspaper,
and believed it to be a genuine speech delivered by the Bishop of
London.
Atheism
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London was an atheist. He is quoted as saying, "I believe that when I
am dead, I am dead. I believe that with my death I am just as much
obliterated as the last mosquito you and I squashed."
Political views
=================
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. As London
explained in his essay "How I Became a Socialist", his views were
influenced by his experience with people at the bottom of the social
pit. His optimism and individualism faded, and he vowed never to do
more hard physical work than necessary. He wrote that his
individualism was hammered out of him, and he was politically reborn.
He often closed his letters "Yours for the Revolution".
London joined the Socialist Labor Party in April 1896. In the same
year, the 'San Francisco Chronicle' published a story about the
twenty-year-old London's giving nightly speeches in Oakland's City
Hall Park, an activity he was arrested for a year later. In 1901, he
left the Socialist Labor Party and joined the new Socialist Party of
America. He ran unsuccessfully as the high-profile Socialist candidate
for mayor of Oakland in 1901 (receiving 245 votes) and 1905 (improving
to 981 votes), toured the country lecturing on socialism in 1906, and
published two collections of essays about socialism: 'War of the
Classes' (1905) and 'Revolution, and other Essays' (1906).
Stasz notes: "London regarded the Wobblies as a welcome addition to
the Socialist cause, although he never joined them in going so far as
to recommend sabotage." Stasz mentions a personal meeting between
London and Big Bill Haywood in 1912. In his 1913 book 'The Cruise of
the Snark', London writes about appeals to him for membership of the
'Snarks crew from office workers and other "toilers" who longed for
escape from the cities, and of being cheated by workmen.
In his Glen Ellen ranch years, London felt some ambivalence toward
socialism and complained about the "inefficient Italian labourers" in
his employ. In 1916, he resigned from the Glen Ellen chapter of the
Socialist Party. In an unflattering portrait of London's ranch days,
California cultural historian Kevin Starr refers to this period as
"post-socialist" and says that "[...] by 1911 [...] London was more
bored by the class struggle than he cared to admit."
George Orwell, however, identified a fascist strain in London's
outlook: But temperamentally he was very different from the majority
of Marxists. With his love of violence and physical strength, his
belief in 'natural aristocracy', his animal-worship and exaltation of
the primitive, he had in him what one might fairly call a Fascist
strain.
Race
======
London shared common concerns among many European Americans in
California about Asian immigration, described as "the yellow peril";
he used the latter term as the title of a 1904 essay. This theme was
also the subject of a story he wrote in 1910 called "The Unparalleled
Invasion". Presented as an historical essay set in the future, the
story narrates events between 1976 and 1987, in which China, with an
ever-increasing population, is taking over and colonizing its
neighbors with the intention of taking over the entire Earth. The
western nations respond with biological warfare and bombard China with
dozens of the most infectious diseases. On his fears about China, he
admits (at the end of "The Yellow Peril"), "it must be taken into
consideration that the above postulate is itself a product of Western
race-egotism, urged by our belief in our own righteousness and
fostered by a faith in ourselves which may be as erroneous as are most
fond race fancies."
By contrast, many of London's short stories are notable for their
empathetic portrayal of Mexican ("The Mexican"), Asian ("The
Chinago"), and Hawaiian ("Koolau the Leper") characters. London's war
correspondence from the Russo-Japanese War, as well as his unfinished
novel 'Cherry', show he admired much about Japanese customs and
capabilities. London's writings have been popular among the Japanese,
some of whom believe he portrayed them positively.
In "Koolau the Leper", London describes Koolau, who is a Hawaiian
leper--and thus a very different sort of "superman" than Martin
Eden--and who fights off an entire cavalry troop to elude capture, as
"indomitable spiritually--a ... magnificent rebel". This character is
based on Hawaiian leper Kaluaikoolau, who in 1893 revolted and
resisted capture from forces of the Provisional Government of Hawaii
in the Kalalau Valley.
Those who defend London against charges of racism cite the letter he
wrote to the 'Japanese-American Commercial Weekly' in 1913:
In 1996, after the City of Whitehorse, Yukon, renamed a street in
honor of London, protests over London's alleged racism forced the city
to change the name of "Jack London Boulevard" back to "Two-mile Hill".
Shortly after boxer Jack Johnson was crowned the first black world
heavyweight champ in 1908, London pleaded for a white candidate to
come forward to defeat Johnson. Nat Fleischer, a boxing writer,
reported that London told Jim Jeffries: "it's up to you, to save the
white race." The phrase about saving the "white race" was an
embellishment by Fleischer, but it is clear from London's writings
that he preferred that a white boxer win the title of champion. The
term "great white hope" in boxing is often attributed to London, but
it was first used in contexts outside of boxing in the 19th century,
and in the 1960s to refer to Jeffries.
Eugenics
==========
With other modernist writers of the day, London supported eugenics.
The notion of "good breeding" complemented the Progressive era
scientism, the belief that humans assort along a hierarchy by race,
religion, and ethnicity. The Progressive Era catalog of inferiority
offered basis for threats to American Anglo-Saxon racial integrity.
London wrote to Frederick H. Robinson of the periodical 'Medical
Review of Reviews', stating, "I believe the future belongs to
eugenics, and will be determined by the practice of eugenics."
Although this led some to argue for forced sterilization of criminals
or those deemed feeble-minded, London did not express this extreme.
His short story "Told in the Drooling Ward" is from the viewpoint of a
surprisingly astute "feebled-minded" person.
Hensley argues that London's novel 'Before Adam' (1906-07) reveals
pro-eugenic themes. London advised his collaborator Anna Strunsky
during preparation of 'The Kempton-Wace Letters' that he would take
the role of eugenics in mating, while she would argue on behalf of
romantic love. (Love won the argument.) 'The Valley of the Moon'
emphasizes the theme of "real Americans," the Anglo Saxon, yet in
'Little Lady of the Big House', London is more nuanced. The
protagonist's argument is not that all white men are superior, but
that there are more superior ones among whites than in other races;
encouraging the best in any race to mate will improve its population
qualities. Living in Hawaii challenged his orthodoxy. In "My Hawaiian
Aloha," London noted the liberal intermarrying of races, concluding
how "little Hawaii, with its hotch potch races, is making a better
demonstration than the United States."
Short stories
===============
Western writer and historian Dale L. Walker writes:
London's "strength of utterance" is at its height in his stories, and
they are painstakingly well-constructed. "To Build a Fire" is the best
known of all his stories. Set in the harsh Klondike, it recounts the
haphazard trek of a new arrival who has ignored an old-timer's warning
about the risks of traveling alone. Falling through the ice into a
creek in seventy-five-below weather, the unnamed man is keenly aware
that survival depends on his untested skills at quickly building a
fire to dry his clothes and warm his extremities. After publishing a
tame version of this story--with a sunny outcome--in 'The Youth's
Companion' in 1902, London offered a second, more severe take on the
man's predicament in 'The Century Magazine' in 1908. Reading both
provides an illustration of London's growth and maturation as a
writer. As Labor (1994) observes: "To compare the two versions is
itself an instructive lesson in what distinguished a great work of
literary art from a good children's story."
Other stories from the Klondike period include: "All Gold Canyon",
about a battle between a gold prospector and a claim jumper; "The Law
of Life", about an aging American Indian man abandoned by his tribe
and left to die; "Love of Life", about a trek by a prospector across
the Canadian tundra; "To the Man on Trail," which tells the story of a
prospector fleeing the Mounted Police in a sled race, and raises the
question of the contrast between written law and morality; and "An
Odyssey of the North," which raises questions of conditional morality,
and paints a sympathetic portrait of a man of mixed White and Aleut
ancestry.
London was a boxing fan and an avid amateur boxer. "A Piece of Steak"
is a tale about a match between older and younger boxers. It contrasts
the differing experiences of youth and age but also raises the social
question of the treatment of aging workers. "The Mexican" combines
boxing with a social theme, as a young Mexican endures an unfair fight
and ethnic prejudice to earn money with which to aid the revolution.
Several of London's stories would today be classified as science
fiction. "The Unparalleled Invasion" describes germ warfare against
China; "Golia" is about an irresistible energy weapon; "The Shadow and
the Flash" is a tale about two brothers who take different routes to
achieving invisibility; "A Relic of the Pliocene" is a tall tale about
an encounter of a modern-day man with a mammoth. "The Red One" is a
late story from a period when London was intrigued by the theories of
the psychiatrist and writer Jung. It tells of an island tribe held in
thrall by an extraterrestrial object.
Some nineteen original collections of short stories were published
during London's brief life or shortly after his death. There have been
several posthumous anthologies drawn from this pool of stories. Many
of these stories were located in the Klondike and the Pacific. A
collection of 'Jack London's San Francisco Stories' was published in
October 2010 by Sydney Samizdat Press.
* "Typhoon off the Coast of Japan" (November 12, 1893)
* " 'Frisco Kid's' Story" (February 15, 1895)
* "Sakaicho, Hona Asi and Hakadaki" (April 19, 1895)
* "Night's Swim In Yeddo Bay" (May 27, 1895)
* "Who Believes in Ghosts!" (October 21, 1895)
* "And 'Frisco Kid Came Back" (November 4, 1895)
* "One More Unfortunate" (December 18, 1895)
* "O Haru" (1993; written in April 1897)
* "The Mahatma's Little Joke" (1993; written in May 1897)
* "The Strange Experience of a Misogynist" (1993; written between May
and September 1897), originally titled "The Misogynist"
* "Two Gold Bricks" (September 1897)
* "The Plague Ship" (1993; written between September and December
1897)
* "The Devil's Dice Box" (December 1976; written in September 1898)
* "The Test: A Clondyke Wooing" (1983; written in September 1898)
* "A Klondike Christmas" (1983; written in November 1898)
* "A Dream Image" (1898)
* "To the Man on Trail: A Klondike Christmas" (January 1899)
* "The White Silence" (February 1899)
* "The Son of the Wolf" (April 1899)
* "The Men of Forty-Mile" (May 1899)
* "A Thousand Deaths" (May 1899)
* "An Old Soldier's Story" (May 20, 1899)
* "In a Far Country" (June 1899)
* "The Priestly Prerogative" (July 1899)
* "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (July 1899)
* "The Wife of a King" (August 1899)
* "In the Time of Prince Charley" (September 1899)
* "Old Baldy" (September 16, 1899)
* "The Grilling of Loren Ellery" (September 24, 1899)
* "The Rejuvenation of Major Rathbone" (November 1899)
* "The King of Mazy May" (November 30, 1899)
* "The Wisdom of the Trail" (December 1899)
* "A Daughter of the Aurora" (December 24, 1899)
* "Pluck and Pertinacity" (1899)
* "An Odyssey of the North" (January 1900)
* "A Lesson in Heraldry" (March 1900)
* "The End of the Chapter" (June 9, 1900)
* "Uri Bram's God" (June 24, 1900)
* "Even unto Death" (July 28, 1900)
* "Grit of Women" (August 1900)
* "Jan the Unrepentant" (August 1900)
* "The Man with the Gash" (September 1900)
* "Their Alcove" (September 1900)
* "Housekeeping in the Klondike" (September 16, 1900)
* "The Proper 'Girlie' " (October 1900)
* "Thanksgiving on Slav Creek" (November 24, 1900)
* "Where the Trail Forks" (December 1900)
* "The Great Interrogation" (December 1900)
* "Semper Idem" (December 1900)
* "A Northland Miracle" (November 4, 1926; written in 1900)
* "Dutch Courage" (November 29, 1900)
* "A Relic of the Pliocene" (January 12, 1901)
* "The Law of Life" (March 1901)
* "Siwash" (March 1901)
* "The Lost Poacher" (March 14, 1901)
* "At the Rainbow's End" (March 24, 1901)
* "The God of His Fathers" (May 1901)
* "The Scorn of Woman" (May 1901)
* "The Minions of Midas" (May 1901)
* "Chris Farrington: Able Seaman" (May 23, 1901)
* "A Hyperborean Brew" (July 1901)
* "Bald Face" (September 6, 1901)
* "Keesh, Son of Keesh" (January 1902)
* "An Adventure in the Upper Sea" (May 1902)
* "To Build a Fire" (May 29, 1902, revised August 1908)
* "Diable -- A Dog" (June 1902), renamed 'Bâtard' in 1904
* "To Repel Boarders" (June 1902)
* "The 'Fuzziness' of Hoockla-Heen" (July 3, 1902)
* "Moon-Face" (July 21, 1902)
* "Nam-Bok, the Liar" (August 1902)
* "Li Wan the Fair" (August 1902)
* "The Master of Mystery" (September 1902)
* "In the Forests of the North" (September 1902)
* "The Sunlanders" (September 1902)
* "The Death of Ligoun" (September 1902)
* "The Story of Jees Uck" (September 1902)
* "The Sickness of Lone Chief" (October 1902)
* "The League of the Old Men" (October 4, 1902)
* "Lost Face" (1902)
* "In Yeddo Bay" (February 1903)
* "The One Thousand Dozen" (March 1903)
* "The Shadow and the Flash" (June 1903)
* "The Faith of Men" (June 1903)
* "The Leopard Man's Story" (August 1903)
* "The Marriage of Lit-Lit" (September 1903)
* "Local Color" (October 1903)
* "Too Much Gold" (December 1903)
* "Amateur Night" (December 1903)
* "The Dominant Primordial Beast" (1903)
* "Keesh, The Bear Hunter" (January 1904); often reprinted as "The
Story of Keesh"
* "The Banks of the Sacramento" (March 17, 1904)
* "White and Yellow" (February 16, 1905)
* "The King of the Greeks" (March 2, 1905)
* "A Raid on the Oyster Pirates" (March 16, 1905)
* "The Siege of the 'Lancashire Queen' " (March 30, 1905)
* "Charley's Coup" (April 13, 1905)
* "Demetrios Contos" (April 27, 1905)
* "Yellow Handkerchief" (May 11, 1905)
* "All Gold Cañon" (November 1905)
* "Love of Life" (December 1905)
* "The Sun-Dog Trail" (December 1905)
* "A Nose for the King" (March 1906)
* "Planchette" (June 1906)
* "The Unexpected" (August 1906)
* "Brown Wolf" (August 1906)
* "The Apostate" (September 1906)
* "Up the Slide" (October 25, 1906)
* "A Wicked Woman" (November 1906)
* "The White Man's Way" (November 4, 1906)
* "The Wit of Porportuk" (December 1906)
* "When God Laughs" (January 1907)
* "Just Meat" (March 1907)
* "Created He Them" (April 1907)
* "Morganson's Finish" (May 1907)
* "A Day's Lodging" (May 25, 1907)
* "Negore the Coward" (September 1907)
* "Chased by the Trail" (September 26, 1907)
* "The Passing of Marcus O'Brien" (January 1908)
* "Trust" (January 1908)
* "That Spot" (February 1908)
* "Flush of Gold" (April 1908)
* "Make Westing" (April 1908)
* "The Enemy of All the World" (October 1908)
* "Aloha Oe" (December 1908)
* "A Curious Fragment" (December 10, 1908)
* "The Dream of Debs" (January 1909)
* "The House of Mapuhi" (January 1909)
* "The Seed of McCoy" (April 1909)
* "The Madness of John Harned" (May 1909)
* "South of the Slot" (May 22, 1909)
* "Good-by, Jack" (June 1909)
* "The Chinago" (June 26, 1909)
* "The Sheriff of Kona" (August 1909)
* "The Heathen" (September 1909)
* "A Piece of Steak" (November 20, 1909)
* "Koolau the Leper" (December 1909)
* "Mauki" (December 1909)
* "The Mission of John Starhurst" (December 29, 1909); reprinted as
"The Whale Tooth"
* "Samuel" (1909)
* "Chun An Chun" (Spring 1910)
* "The Terrible Solomons" (March 1910)
* "The Inevitable White Man" (May 14, 1910)
* "The Unparalleled Invasion" (July 1910)
* "Winged Blackmail" (September 1910)
* "When the World was Young" (September 10, 1910)
* "The Benefit of the Doubt" (November 12, 1910)
* "Under the Deck Awnings" (November 19, 1910)
* "Yah! Yah! Yah!" (December 1910)
* "The House of Pride" (December 1910)
* "To Kill a Man" (December 10, 1910)
* "Bunches of Knuckles" (December 18, 1910)
* "Goliath" (1910)
* "The 'Francis Spaight' " (January 1911)
* "The Hobo and the Fairy" (February 11, 1911)
* "The Strength of the Strong" (March 1911)
* "The Eternity of Forms" (March 1911)
* "A Son of the Sun" (May 27. 1911)
* "The Taste of the Meat" (June 1911)
* "The Proud Goat of Aloysius Pankburn" (June 24, 1911)
* "The Meat" (July 1911)
* "The Night Born" (July 1911)
* "War" (July 29, 1911)
* "The Goat Man of Fuatino" (July 20, 1911)
* "The Stampede to Squaw Creek" (August 1911)
* "The Mexican" (August 19, 1911)
* "Shorty Dreams" (September 1911)
* "A Little Account with Swithin Hall" (September 2, 1911)
* "A Goboto Night" (September 30, 1911)
* "The Man on the Other Bank" (October 1911)
* "The Pearls of Parlay" (October 14, 1911)
* "The Race for Number Three" (November 1911)
* "The End of the Story" (November 1911)
* " The Jokers of New Gibbon" (November 11, 1911)
* "By the Turtles of Tasman" (November 19, 1911)
* "The Little Man" (December 1911)
* "The Unmasking of the Cad" (December 23, 1911)
* "The Hanging of Cultus George" (January 1912)
* "The Mistake of Creation" (February 1912)
* "A Flutter in Eggs" (March 1912)
* "The Sea-Farmer" (March 1912)
* "The Feathers of the Sun" (March 9, 1912)
* "The Town-Site of Tra-Lee" (April 1912)
* "Wonder of Woman" (May 1912)
* "The Prodigal Father" (May 1912)
* "The Scarlet Plague" (June 1912)
* "The Captain of the Susan Drew" (December 1, 1912)
* "Samuel" (May 1913)
* "The Sea-Gangsters" (November 1913)
* "Told in the Drooling Ward" (June 1914)
* "The Hussy" (December 1916)
* "Man of Mine" (February 1917)
* "Like Argus of the Ancient Times" (March 1917)
* "Jerry of the Islands" (1917)
* "When Alice Told Her Soul" (March 1918)
* "The Princess" (June 1918)
* "The Tears of Ah Kim" (July 1918)
* "The Water Baby" (September 1918)
* "The Red One" (October 1918)
* "In the Cave of the Dead" (November 1918)
* "Shin-Bones" (1918)
* "On the Makaloa Mat" (March 1919)
* "The Bones of Kahekili" (July 1919)
* " Whose Business Is to Live" (September 1922)
* "Eyes of Asia" (September 1924)
Novels
========
London's most famous novels are 'The Call of the Wild', 'White Fang',
'The Sea-Wolf', 'The Iron Heel', and 'Martin Eden'.
In a letter dated December 27, 1901, London's Macmillan publisher
George Platt Brett, Sr., said "he believed Jack's fiction represented
'the very best kind of work' done in America."
Critic Maxwell Geismar called 'The Call of the Wild' "a beautiful
prose poem"; editor Franklin Walker said that it "belongs on a shelf
with 'Walden' and 'Huckleberry Finn'"; and novelist E.L. Doctorow
called it "a mordant parable ... his masterpiece."
The historian Dale L. Walker commented:
Some critics have said that his novels are episodic and resemble
linked short stories. Dale L. Walker writes:
Ambrose Bierce said of 'The Sea-Wolf' that "the great thing--and it is
among the greatest of things--is that tremendous creation, Wolf Larsen
... the hewing out and setting up of such a figure is enough for a man
to do in one lifetime." However, he noted, "The love element, with its
absurd suppressions, and impossible proprieties, is awful."
'The Iron Heel' is an example of a dystopian novel that anticipates
and influenced George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. London's
socialist politics are explicitly on display here. 'The Iron Heel'
meets the contemporary definition of soft science fiction. 'The Star
Rover' (1915) is also science fiction.
* 'The Cruise of the Dazzler' (1902)
* 'A Daughter of the Snows' (1902)
* 'The Call of the Wild' (1903)
* 'The Kempton-Wace Letters' (1903) (published anonymously,
co-authored with Anna Strunsky)
* 'The Sea-Wolf' (1904)
* 'The Game' (1905)
* 'White Fang' (1906)
* 'Before Adam' (1907)
* 'The Iron Heel' (1908)
* 'Martin Eden' (1909)
* 'Burning Daylight' (1910)
* 'Adventure' (1911)
* 'The Scarlet Plague' (1912)
* 'A Son of the Sun' (1912)
* 'The Abysmal Brute' (1913)
* 'The Valley of the Moon' (1913)
* 'The Mutiny of the Elsinore' (1914)
* 'The Star Rover' (1915) (published in England as 'The Jacket')
* 'The Little Lady of the Big House' (1916)
* 'Jerry of the Islands' (1917)
* 'Michael, Brother of Jerry' (1917)
* 'Hearts of Three' (1920) (novelization of a script by Charles
Goddard)
* 'The Assassination Bureau, Ltd' (1963) (left half-finished,
completed by Robert L. Fish)
''Credo'' is likely by London despite doubts
==============================================
London's literary executor, Irving Shepard, quoted a 'Jack London
Credo' in an introduction to a 1956 collection of London stories:
I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than
it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent
glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
The biographer Stasz notes that the passage "has many marks of
London's style" but the only line that could be safely attributed to
London was the first. The words Shepard quoted were from a story in
the 'San Francisco Bulletin', December 2, 1916, by journalist Ernest
J. Hopkins, who visited the ranch just weeks before London's death.
Stasz notes, "Even more so than today journalists' quotes were
unreliable or even sheer inventions," and says no direct source in
London's writings has been found. However, at least one line,
according to Stasz, is authentic, being referenced by London and
written in his own hand in the autograph book of Australian
suffragette Vida Goldstein:
Dear Miss Goldstein:-
Seven years ago I wrote you that I'd rather be ashes than dust. I
still subscribe to that sentiment.
Sincerely yours,
Jack London
Jan. 13, 1909
In his short story "By The Turtles of Tasman", a character, defending
her "ne'er-do-well grasshopperish father" to her "antlike uncle",
says: "... my father has been a king. He has lived .... Have you lived
merely to live? Are you afraid to die? I'd rather sing one wild song
and burst my heart with it, than live a thousand years watching my
digestion and being afraid of the wet. When you are dust, my father
will be ashes."
The last three sentences of the credo have been deemed to be an
authentic quotation of Jack London by 'The Oxford Dictionary of
American Quotations'. Likewise, National Public Radio has ascribed the
quotation to Jack London, and explained that it was published via a
journalist; NPR did not question the accuracy of that reporter who
first published the credo in 1916.
Part of the credo was used to describe the philosophy of the fictional
character James Bond, in the Ian Fleming novel 'You Only Live Twice'
(1964), and again in the movie 'No Time to Die' (2021). According to
a 2021 article about that Bond movie in 'The Independent', "The quote
was originally...by the American writer Jack London...."
Diatribe about scabs has unknown author
=========================================
A short diatribe on "The Scab" is often quoted within the U.S. labor
movement and frequently attributed to London. It opens:
In 1913 and 1914, a number of newspapers printed the first three
sentences with varying terms used instead of "scab", such as
"knocker",
"stool pigeon"
or "scandal monger". Those newspapers did not attribute those
sentences to London.
This passage as given above was the subject of a 1974 Supreme Court
case, 'Letter Carriers v. Austin', in which Justice Thurgood Marshall
referred to it as "a well-known piece of trade union literature,
generally attributed to author Jack London". A union newsletter had
published a "list of scabs", which was granted to be factual and
therefore not libelous, but then went on to quote the passage as the
"definition of a scab". The case turned on the question of whether the
"definition" was defamatory. The court ruled that "Jack London's...
'definition of a scab' is merely rhetorical hyperbole, a lusty and
imaginative expression of the contempt felt by union members towards
those who refuse to join", and as such was not libelous and was
protected under the First Amendment.
Despite being frequently attributed to London, the passage does not
appear at all in the extensive collection of his writings at Sonoma
State University's website. However, in his book 'War of the Classes',
he published a 1903 speech titled "The Scab" which gave a much more
balanced view of the topic:
List of publications
======================================================================
Source unless otherwise specified:
Short story collections
=========================
* 'Son of the Wolf' (1900)
* 'The God of His Fathers & Other Stories' (1901)
* 'Children of the Frost' (1902)
* 'The Faith of Men and Other Stories' (1904)
* 'Tales of the Fish Patrol' (1906)
* 'Moon-Face and Other Stories' (1906)
* 'Love of Life and Other Stories' (1907)
* 'Lost Face' (1910)
* 'South Sea Tales' (1911)
* 'When God Laughs and Other Stories' (1911)
* 'The House of Pride & Other Tales of Hawaii' (1912)
* 'Smoke Bellew' (1912)
* 'A Son of the Sun' (1912)
* 'The Night Born' (1913)
* 'The Strength of the Strong' (1914)
* 'The Turtles of Tasman' (1916)
* 'The Human Drift' (1917)
* 'The Red One' (1918)
* 'On the Makaloa Mat' (1919)
* 'Dutch Courage and Other Stories' (1922)
Autobiographical memoirs
==========================
* 'The Road' (1907)
* 'The Cruise of the Snark' (1911)
* 'John Barleycorn' (1913)
Non-fiction and essays
========================
* 'Through the Rapids on the Way to the Klondike' (1899)
* 'From Dawson to the Sea' (1899)
* 'What Communities Lose by the Competitive System' (1900)
* 'The Impossibility of War' (1900)
* 'Phenomena of Literary Evolution' (1900)
* 'A Letter to Houghton Mifflin Co.' (1900)
* 'Husky, Wolf Dog of the North' (1900)
* 'Editorial Crimes - A Protest' (1901)
* 'Again the Literary Aspirant' (1902)
* 'The People of the Abyss' (1903)
* 'How I Became a Socialist' (1903)
* 'War of the Classes' (1905)
* 'The Story of an Eyewitness' (1906)
* 'A Letter to Woman's Home Companion' (1906)
* "The Lepers of Molokai" in 'Woman's Home Companion' (1908)
* "The Nature Man" in 'Woman's Home Companion' (1908)
* "The High Seat of Abundance" in 'Woman's Home Companion' (1908)
* 'Revolution, and other Essays' (1910)
* 'Mexico's Army and Ours' (1914)
* 'Lawgivers' (1914)
* 'Our Adventures in Tampico' (1914)
* 'Stalking the Pestilence' (1914)
* 'The Red Game of War' (1914)
* 'The Trouble Makers of Mexico' (1914)
* 'With Funston's Men' (1914)
Plays
=======
* 'Theft' (1910)
* 'Daughters of the Rich: A One Act Play' (1915)
* 'The Acorn Planter: A California Forest Play' (1916)
Poetry
========
* 'A Heart' (1899)
* 'Abalone Song' (1913)
* 'And Some Night' (1914)
* 'Ballade of the False Lover' (1914)
* 'Cupid's Deal' (1913)
* 'Daybreak' (1901)
* 'Effusion' (1901)
* 'George Sterling' (1913)
* 'Gold' (1915)
* 'He Chortled with Glee' (1899)
* 'He Never Tried Again' (1912)
* 'His Trip to Hades' (1913)
* 'Homeland' (1914)
* 'Hors de Saison' (1913)
* 'If I Were God' (1899)
* 'In a Year' (1901)
* 'In and Out' (1911)
* 'Je Vis en Espoir' (1897)
* 'Memory' (1913)
* 'Moods' (1913)
* 'My Confession' (1912)
* 'My Little Palmist' (1914)
* 'Of Man of the Future' (1915)
* 'Oh You Everybody's Girl' (19)
* 'On the Face of the Earth You are the One' (1915)
* 'Rainbows End' (1914)
* 'Republican Rallying Song' (1916)
* 'Sonnet' (1901)
* 'The Gift of God' (1905)
* 'The Klondyker's Dream' (1914)
* 'The Lover's Liturgy' (1913)
* 'The Mammon Worshippers' (1911)
* 'The Republican Battle-Hymn' (1905)
* 'The Return of Ulysses' (1915)
* 'The Sea Sprite and the Shooting Star' (1916)
* 'The Socialist's Dream' (1912)
* 'The Song of the Flames' (1903)
* 'The Way of War' (1906)
* 'The Worker and the Tramp' (1911)
* 'Tick! Tick! Tick!' (1915)
* 'Too Late' (1912)
* 'Weasel Thieves' (1913)
* 'When All the World Shouted my Name' (1905)
* 'Where the Rainbow Fell' (1902)
* 'Your Kiss' (1914)
Legacy and honors
======================================================================
* Mount London, also known as Boundary Peak 100, on the Alaska-British
Columbia boundary, in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains of
British Columbia, is named for him.
* Jack London Square on the waterfront of Oakland, California was
named for him.
* He was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 25¢ Great
Americans series postage stamp released on January 11, 1986.
* Jack London Lake (), a mountain lake located in the upper reaches of
the Kolyma River in Yagodninsky district of Magadan Oblast.
* Fictional portrayals of London include Michael O'Shea in the 1943
film 'Jack London', Jeff East in the 1980 film 'Klondike Fever',
Michael Aron in the 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' episode Time's
Arrow from 1992, Aaron Ashmore in the 'Murdoch Mysteries' episode
"Murdoch of the Klondike" from 2012, and Johnny Simmons in the 2014
miniseries 'Klondike'.
See also
======================================================================
* List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
Bibliography
======================================================================
*
*
*
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*
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The Jack London Online Collection
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External links
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* [
http://westernamericanliterature.com/jack-london/ Western American
Literature Journal: Jack London]
* [
http://london.sonoma.edu/ The Jack London Online Collection] Site
featuring information about Jack London's life and work, and a
collection of his writings.
* Biographical information and writings
* [
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=478 Jack London State
Historic Park]
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20040604041358/http://www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/JackLondon.html
The Huntington Library's Jack London Archive]
* [
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf3t1nb062/ Guide to
the Jack London Papers] at The Bancroft Library
* [
http://london.sonoma.edu/ Jack London Collection] at
[
http://library.sonoma.edu/ Sonoma State University Library]
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20070808132144/http://carl-bell-2.baylor.edu/~bellc/JL/
Jack London Stories], scanned from original magazines, including the
original artwork
* 5 short
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20110515030211/http://californialegacy.org/radio_anthology/scripts/london.html
radio episodes] from Jack London's writing at California Legacy
Project
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* [
http://www.shapell.org/Collection/Historical-Figures/London-Jack
Jack London Personal Manuscripts]
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License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London
