JACK LONDON

1876 - 1916

BIO: BIRTH

• Jack was born on January

12, 1876. near San

Francisco, CA.• Was originally born John Griffith Chaney.

• When Jack was born, His mother was unmarried.

• Jack father has never been truly Identified.

BIO: FAMILY

• His Mother’s name was Flora Wellman.

• She was a local Music teacher.

• Many believe that Jack’s Father may have been

William Chaney.

- Chaney was a lawyer, journalist, and a

highly respected figure in the Astrology community.

• Shortly after jack was born, Flora married John

London, a partially disabled Civil War veteran.

BIO: FAMILY

London's first marriage was to Bess Maddern (elizabeth) in

1900.

They had two daughters, Joan and Bess.

After 4 years of marriage, Jack and Bess got divoced,

because He had an affair with Charmian Kittredge.

Re-married in 1905 to Charmian.

One child died at birth, and another pregnancy ended in a

miscarriage.

BIO:FAMILY

Both children were born in Piedmont, California.

Here London wrote one of his most celebrated

works, The Call of the Wild

Their first child, Joan, was born on January 15,

1901, and their second, Bessie (later called Becky),

on October 20, 1902

BIO: EARLY LIFE

At the age of 15, Jack had many part time jobs in order to help

his family financially.

London was born near Third and Brannan Streets in San

Francisco. The house burned down in the fire after the 1906 San

Francisco earthquake.

As a schoolboy, London often studied at Heinold's First and Last

Chance, 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.

BIO:LIFE

In 1905, London purchased a 1,000 acres ranch in Glen

Ellen, Sonoma County, California.

He desperately wanted the ranch to become a

successful business enterprise.

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.

BIO:LIFE

The ranch was an economic failure.

Jack would leave home for six months at a time, some say

he was distracted but other say that it was because he was

a alcoholic.

London spent $80,000 to build a 15,000-square-foot stone

mansion on the property. Just as the mansion was nearing

completion, two weeks before the London's planned to

move in, it was destroyed by fire.

BIO: EDUCATION •Dropped out from Oakland High School at the age of

14 to help support his family

• At 19, London went back to finish up High School

•Wanted to become a doctor

•Attended to University of California and Ohio State College

•He bought a boat and became an illegal oyster pirate at San

Francisco Bay

•Earned the title “Prince of the Oyster Pirates”

•Made a huge amount of money

Realized the consequences of the lifestyle as a pirate and quitted

INFORMATION

London joined the Socialist Labor Party in April

1896.

In 1901, he left the Socialist Labor Party and

joined the new Socialist Party of America.

London wrote from a socialist viewpoint

London shared common Californian concerns

about Asian immigration.

HOW HE GOT STARTED:

Spending the winter of 1897 in the Yukon provided the metaphorical

gold for his first stories, which he began publishing in the Overland

Monthly in 1899. From that point he was a highly disciplined writer,

who would produce over fifty volumes of stories, novels, and political

essays.

London was among the most publicized figures of his day, and he used

this pulpit to endorse his support of socialism, women's suffrage, and

eventually, prohibition. He was among the first writers to work with the

movie industry, and saw a number of his novels made into films.

HOW HE GOT STARTED

His novel The Sea-Wolf became the basis for the first full-length

American movie.  He was also one of the first celebrities to use his

endorsement for commercial products in advertising, including dress

suits and grape juice.

Because he was an autodidact, London's ideas lacked consistency and

precision. For example, he clearly accepted the Social Darwinism and

scientific racism prevalent during his time, yet he seem troubled that

the "inevitable white man," as he called him, would destroy the rich

cultures of various native groups he had encountered over the years.

HOW HE GOT STARTED

His socialism was fervent, but countered by his

strong drive toward individualism and capitalist

success. These contradictory themes in his life and

writing make him a difficult figure to reduce to

simple terms.

London's great love became agriculture, and he

often stated he wrote to support his Beauty Ranch in

Glen Ellen.

GOLD RUSH:

On July 12, 1897, London (age 21) and his sister's husband

Captain Shepard sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush.

Getting the Scurvy sickness it inspired him to write how to

build a fire.

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."

GOLD RUSH

London was fortunate in the timing of his writing

career. He started just as new printing technologies

enabled lower-cost production of magazines. This

resulted in a boom in popular magazines aimed at a

wide public, and a strong market for short fiction. In

1900, he made $2,500 in writing, about $70,000 in

current value. His career was well under way.

GOLD RUSH

While living at his rented villa on Lake Merritt in

Oakland, London met poet George Sterling and in

time they became best friends. In 1902, Sterling

helped London find a home closer to his own in

nearby Piedmont.

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.”

MOST POPULAR WORKS:

• Summary of the novel

• Two men are out in the wild of the north. Their

dogs disappear as they are lured by a she-wolf

and eaten by the pack. They only have three

bullets left and Bill, one of the men, uses them to

try to save one of their dogs; he misses and is

eaten with the dog. Only Henry and two dogs are

left; he makes a fire, trying to drive away the

wolves. They draw in close, and he is almost

eaten, saved only by a company of men who were

traveling nearby.

• Why did he write the book?

• Jack London had drifted from job to job. He had

tried digging for gold in the Klondike. Then he

started writing. He wrote about what he knew.

He had lived where dogs were necessary. Wolves

and dogs bred with each other.

• Theme?

• He uses naturalism as his theme.

Summary of the novel:

This is the story of a dog’s change from a pet to a wild animal.

Buck is a pet dog in California around the time gold was

discovered in California. He is stolen and sent north to become a

sled dog. He has to learn how to adapt to his new environment

and actually adapts quicker than he thought he would. He

becomes leader of his pack and starts to become a stronger and

more powerful dog. Buck starts to hear the “call of the wild” and

wants to become more like a wolf or primitive dog. Although, he

still finds himself attached to the human world. Once Indians kill

his last owner, whom he loved very much, he makes the

transformation and becomes leader of a wolf pack.

Why did he write the book?

Jack London spent an unsuccessful year or so looking for gold

during the Klondike gold rush. As an adventurer, he returned

with the seeds of his novels.

What is the theme of the novel?

Civilization vs. the Wild

The novel traces Buck’s gradual transformation from a

domesticated dog into a wild dog.

WHITE FANG AND CALL OF THE WILD:

White Fang:

Call Of The Wild:

BIO:DEATH

London died November 22, 1916, in a sleeping porch in

a cottage on his ranch.

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.

Some people say that it was kidney failure and his

alcoholism that killed him.