January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916

Biography

Jack London was an American novelist, short story writer, publicist, a classic of twentieth-century world literature.

The future writer was born January 12, 1876 in a poor family in San Francisco. At birth he was named John Chaney, but eight months later, when his mother married, he became John Griffith London. In 1889, London graduated from high school.

London’s youth came at a time of economic depression and unemployment, the family’s financial situation becoming increasingly precarious. In 1893, London goes on a voyage for eight months to fish for seals. Upon his return, he takes part in a literary contest – he writes an essay “Typhoon off the coast of Japan” and wins first prize.

By the age of twenty-three, London had changed many occupations, been arrested for vagrancy and speaking at socialist rallies, was a prospector in Alaska during the “gold rush,” was a student, sailed as a sailor, and participated in the march of the unemployed.

His short 40-year life included years of serious farming on a ranch in California, working as a correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the Mexican Revolution. Jack London also lectured at Harvard and Yale and was a Socialist Party activist – until he became disillusioned with its ideals. He was seriously ill several times, including with scurvy and tropical fever, and married twice.

Having assimilated the views of Karl Marx, H. Spencer and F. Nietzsche, London developed a philosophy of his own. As a socialist, he decided that under capitalism it was easiest to make money by writing and, beginning with short stories in the Overland Mansley, soon conquered the East Coast literary market with stories of adventure in Alaska. Neo-romantic tales and short stories about the North, prose about life at sea combine poetry of rugged nature and selfless courage with depictions of severe physical and moral trials.

In 1900. London publishes his first collection of stories The Son of the Wolf. Over the next seventeen years, he published two or even three books a year. By London comes to fame, his financial situation is stabilized, he married Elizabeth Maddern, he was born with two daughters.

Were published a collection of short stories “God of his fathers” (1901), the novel “The Daughter of Snows” and the book “Men of Abyss” about life in the poorest neighborhood of London’s East End (1902), the story “The Call of the Wild” (1903). In 1904, one of London’s most famous novels, The Sea Wolf, about Captain Wolf Larsen, is published. In the same year, London goes on a business trip to Korea for the Russo-Japanese war. Upon his return, he divorces his wife and marries her former girlfriend Charmaine Kittredzha.

In 1905 appears The War of the Classes, a political essay outlining London’s revolutionary-socialist views. In 1907, The Iron Heel, a utopian apocalyptic novel about class warfare, is published.

In 1907-1909. London makes a voyage by sea on the yacht “Snark”, which he built on his own drawings. In 1909 he published his autobiographical novel “Martin Eden” about a sailor who makes his way to the heights of knowledge and fame as a writer.

In 1913 appears an autobiographical treatise on alcoholism, John Barleycorn, a tragic argument in favor of Prohibition and the novel The Valley of the Moon.

On November 22, 1916. London died in Glen Ellen, California, from a lethal dose of morphine, which he took either to moderate the pain caused by uremia or deliberately, wishing to kill himself.

In 1920 the novel Hearts of Three was published posthumously, in which London turns to a new for him, but very promising genre of American literature – the film novel.

For less than 20 years of literary activity Jack London has created more than 200 stories, 20 novels and 3 plays. The subject matter of his works is as varied as his life. The most famous cycle of his works, conventionally called “The Northern Odyssey,” which includes, among others, the story “The Call of the Ancestors” (1903) and “White Fang” (1906), the stories “Law of Life” (1901), “Love of Life” (1905), “Fire” (1908).

London’s style of prose – clear and at the same time figurative – had a significant influence on many twentieth-century writers, in particular Hemingway, Orwell, Mailer, Kerouac.