The portable Jack London

Format:

Book

Title:

The portable Jack London

Uniform Title:

Works. Selections. 1994

Author:

London, Jack, 1876-1916.

ISBN:

9780140179699

Publication Information:

New York : Penguin Books, 1994.

Physical Description:

xxxvii, 563 pages ; 20 cm.

Series title(s):

Viking portable library.

Contents:

Stories: To the man on trail -- In a far country -- Law of life -- Relic of the pliocene -- Nam-Bok the unveracious -- To build a fire (1902) -- Moon-face -- Batard -- Love of life -- All gold canyon -- Apostate -- To build a fire (1908) -- Chinago -- Koolau the leper -- Good-bye Jack -- Mauki -- Strength of the strong -- Samuel -- Piece of steak -- Madness of John Harned -- Night-born -- War -- Told in the drooling ward -- Mexican -- Red one -- Water baby. The call of the wild.

Nonfiction: Typhoon off the coast of Japan -- On the writer's philosophy of life -- First aid to rising authors -- Review of Frank Norris's The octopus -- Excerpts from The people of the abyss -- How I became a socialist -- Getting into print -- Terrible and tragic in fiction -- What life means to me -- Things alive -- Story of an eye-witness -- Reports on the James J. Jeffries-Jack Johnson championship fight -- Classic of the sea -- Introduction to Cry for justice -- Eight factors of literary success.

Letters: to editor, San Francisco Bulletin ; to Mabel Applegarth ; to Anna Strunsky ; to Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ; to Cloudesley Johns ; to George P. Brett ; to Charmian Kittredge ; to Frederick L. Bamford ; to Cloudesley Johns ; to 'dear comrades' ; to S.S. McClure ; to George Sterling ; to editor, Editor magazine ; to Becky London ; to Richard W. Gilder ; to William E. Walling ; to editor, Hololulu advertiser ; to 'comrades of the Mexican Revolution' ; to Ethan A. Cross ; to Joseph Conrad ; to Ethelda Hesser ; to John R. Lindmark ; to Mary Austin ; to members of Local Glen Ellen, Socialist Labor Party ; to Leo B. Mihan ; to Waldo Frank.

Summary:

Alfred Kazin has aptly remarked that "the greatest story Jack London ever wrote was the story he lived." Newsboy, factory "work beast," gang member, hobo, sailor, Klondike argonaut, socialist crusader, war correspondent, utopian farmer, and world-famous adventurer: London is the closest thing America has had to a literary folk hero. His writing itself is concerned with nothing less than the largest questions and the grandest themes: What does it mean to be a human being in the natural world? What debts do human beings owe each other - and to all their fellow creatures? This collection places London, at last, securely within the American literary pantheon. It includes the complete novel The Call of the Wild; such famous stories as "Love of Life," "To Build a Fire," and "All Gold Canyon"; journalism, political writings, literary criticism, and selected letters.

Subject(s):

English fiction.

Genre:

Action and adventure fiction.

Added Author:

Labor, Earle, 1928-2022.

Added Title:

Jack London.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Dallas Public Library	London, J. Portable	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Alfred Kazin has aptly remarked that "the greatest story Jack London ever wrote was the story he lived." Newsboy, factory "work beast," gang member, hobo, sailor, Klondike argonaut, socialist crusader, war correspondent, utopian farmer, and world-famous adventurer- London is the closest thing America has had to a literary folk hero. His writing itself is concerned with nothing less than the largest questions and the grandest themes- What does it mean to be a human being in the natural world? What debts do human beings owe each other - and to all their fellow creatures? This collection places London, at last, securely within the American literary pantheon. It includes the complete novel The Call of the Wild ; such famous stories as " Love of Life ," " To Build a Fire ," and " All Gold Canyon "; journalism, political writings, literary criticism, and selected letters.

Author Notes

One of the pioneers of 20th century American literature, Jack London specialized in tales of adventure inspired by his own experiences.

London was born in San Francisco in 1876. At 14, he quit school and became an "oyster pirate," robbing oyster beds to sell his booty to the bars and restaurants in Oakland. Later, he turned on his pirate associates and joined the local Fish Patrol, resulting in some hair-raising waterfront battles. Other youthful activities included sailing on a seal-hunting ship, traveling the United States as a railroad tramp, a jail term for vagrancy and a hazardous winter in the Klondike during the 1897 gold rush. Those experiences converted him to socialism, as he educated himself through prolific reading and began to write fiction.

After a struggling apprenticeship, London hit literary paydirt by combining memories of his adventures with Darwinian and Spencerian evolutionary theory, the Nietzchean concept of the "superman" and a Kipling-influenced narrative style. "The Son of the Wolf"(1900) was his first popular success, followed by 'The Call of the Wild" (1903), "The Sea-Wolf" (1904) and "White Fang" (1906). He also wrote nonfiction, including reportage of the Russo-Japanese War and Mexican revolution, as well as "The Cruise of the Snark" (1911), an account of an eventful South Pacific sea voyage with his wife, Charmian, and a rather motley crew.

London's body broke down prematurely from his rugged lifestyle and hard drinking, and he died of uremic poisoning - possibly helped along by a morphine overdose - at his California ranch in 1916. Though his massive output is uneven, his best works - particularly "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang" - have endured because of their rich subject matter and vigorous prose.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Viking has expanded its portable library of world writers and thinkers to include Jack London. Is Viking reaching a bit or do London's works deserve a place alongside those of Blake, Thomas Jefferson, Plato, Thoreau, Poe, Twain, Shakespeare, Joyce, Conrad, Chaucer, Karl Marx, and the other luminaries of the series? London criticism has, in the past quarter-century, finally begun to come of age, dispelling in its wake many of the canards about London's alleged pessimism, drug addiction, and suicide that, in spite of abundant evidence that they are false, have damaged his literary reputation within the US. Furthermore, as his place in the history of American letters begins to solidify, his appeal to readers throughout the world continues to grow. This selection of his works makes available the complete text of The Call of the Wild (1903), a number of London's best stories including "To Build a Fire," and selected letters and nonfiction pieces in one low-priced edition. No better bargain exists anywhere. Academic and general audiences. S. M. Nuernberg; University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh