THE CALL OF THE WILD

By Jack London

Jack London

1876-1916 American author,

journalist, and social activist

Passionate about unionization, socialism, the rights of workers

Wrote a dystopian novel, The Iron Heel

Family Life

Parents weren’t legally married, but lived the “married” life

London’s mother thought London’s father was possessed by an Indian chief when she got pregnant

Father wanted mother to have an abortion Mother shot herself, but missed Mother had baby, but gave him to slave to

raise for the first year of his life

Childhood

Mother married Civil War veteran, John London

The new family of three moved to San Francisco and then to Oakland

London at the age of nine with dog, Rollo

Gold Rush and First Success

Joined in the Klondike Rush

Trip turned to be detrimental for London

London got scurvy, which caused him to lose his four front teeth, facial scars, and pain in his hips and legs.

Marriages

Married Bessie and had two children, Joan and Becky

After four years, the marriage was dissolved

His next marriage was to Charmain Kittredge, which was a nymphomaniac

London was a cheater!

Beauty Ranch

Beauty Ranch was London’s dream Spent $80,000 ($1,930,00 nowadays) to build his dream

home The house he named “Wolf House” was 15,000 sq. ft. Two weeks before his dream home was done, it burnt

down It is now a National Landmark called Jack London State

Historic Park

Plagiarism

The Call of the Wild My Dogs in the Northland London wrote author a letter thanking him for the idea

Moon Face The Passing of the Cock-Eye Blacklock Based on the same newspaper event

Love of Life Lost in the Land of the Midnight Sun New York World published both stories side by side,

showing how similar they were to each other The Bishop’s Vision The Bishop of London & Public

Morality The author of TBOLPM demanded that London pay him

1/60th of the royalties he received (London said no)

Death of London

Some say that he committed suicide by drug overdose (morphine)

His death certificate sites uremia as the cause of death

Died on a sleeping porch on his cottage on Beauty Ranch

Buried with his second wife

The Beginnings of TCOTW

On January 26, 1903, London submitted TCOTW to Saturday Evening Post

SEP agreed to publish it, but London was instructed to cut the text by 5000 words and name his price

He agreed to cut the text and wanted 3¢ a word, which was $750

Macmillian, a publishing company, bought the text for $2000

TCOTW History

Begins on an estate in Santa Clara Valley

The setting of the story is based off the Bond Family Farm, where he spent much time

Buck, the protagonist, is based off a St. Bernard/Scotch shepherd mix dog that the Bond brothers lent to London

TCOTW is a story about Buck’s fight to survive