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The novelist and short-story writer Jack London was, in his lifetime,one of the most popular authors in the world. After World War I his famewas eclipsed in the United States by a new generation of writers, but heremained popular in many other countries, especially in the SovietUnion, for his romantic tales of adventure mixed with elementalstruggles for survival.
John Griffith London was born in San Francisco on Jan. 12, 1876. Hisfamily was poor, and he was forced to go to work early in life tosupport himself. At 17 he sailed to Japan and Siberia on a seal-huntingvoyage. He was largely self-taught, reading voluminously in librariesand spending a year at the University of California. In the late 1890she joined the gold rush to the Klondike. This experience gave himmaterial for his first book, 'The Son of Wolf', published in 1900, andfor 'Call of the Wild' (1903), one of his most popular stories.
In his writing career of 17 years, London produced 50 books and manyshort stories. He wrote mostly for money, to meet ever-increasingexpenses. His fame as a writer gave him a ready audience as a spokesmanfor a peculiar and inconsistent blend of socialism and racialsuperiority.
London's works, all hastily written, are of uneven quality. The bestbooks are the Klondike tales, which also include 'White Fang' (1906) and'Burning Daylight' (1910). His most enduring novel is probably theautobiographical 'Martin Eden' (1909), but the exciting 'Sea Wolf'(1904) continues to have great appeal for young readers.
In 1910 London settled near Glen Ellen, Calif., where he intended tobuild his dream home, "Wolf House." After the house burned down beforecompletion in 1913, he was a broken and sick man. His death on Nov. 22,1916, from an overdose of drugs, was probably a suicide.
