About Jack London

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 proper function of man is to live, not exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them, I shall use my time." – Jack London 1876-1916

best known for the adventure novels White Fang and The

Call of the Wild.

London, was born on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco

California.

boy, was the son of Flora Wellman, an unwer mother

and William Chaney, an attorney and journalist.His father was never part of his life, and his mother ended up marrying John London, a Civil War veteran.

1893. That year he had weathered a harrowing sealing voyage,

one in which a typhoon had nearly taken out London and his crew. The 17-year-old adventurer had made it home and regaled his mother with his tales of what had happened to him. Jack London was full of a new idea. He was going to become a writer. But to his surprise, when he tried to write, he couldn’t make the words tell the stories. His language was poor and it was full of mistakes, because he did not know grammar.

they see somebody so much older in the class room.

He learned from his teachers and from other pupils, but most of all, he learned from books. He read all the books on the shelves of the school library and the city library. As he read novels by well-known authors he tried to notice the words they used and how they used them: he tried to discover the secrets of their art.

was discovered in Alaska. But by the age of 22,

however, London still hadn't put together much of a living. He had once again returned to California and was still determined to carve out a living as a writer. His experience in the Yukon had convinced him he had stories he could tell.

The experience of writing and getting published greatly disciplined London

as a writer. From that time forward, London made it a practice to write at least a thousand words a day.

age of 27 with his novel The Call of the

Wild (1903), which told the story of a dog that finds its place in the world as a sled dog in the Yukon.

prolific writer, he published more than 50 books over the

last 16 years of his life. The titles included The People of the Abyss (1903), which offered a scathing critique of capitalism and White Fang (1906), a popular tale about a wild wolf dog becoming domesticated.

Nietzschean Superman hero, visionary fantasy The Iron Heel (1908), which

became very popular in the Soviet Union, The Cruise of the Snark  (1911), a travel book from his journeys in South Pacific, and semi-autobiographical Martin Eden, Londons most autobiographical novel.

daughters together, Joan and Bess. By some accounts Bess and

London's relationship was constructed less around love and more around the idea that they could have strong, healthy children together. It's not surprising, then, that their marriage lasted just a few years.

London faced a number of health issues. This included kidney

disease, which ended up taking his life. He died at his California ranch, which he shared with Kittredge, his second wife, , on November 22, 1916.