Category: Classics

Lifespan: (January 12, 1876 –November 22, 1916)

Interesting & Unique Facts: London was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was also one of the first Americans to make a lucrative career exclusively from writing. Jack London desperately wanted to attend the University of California Berkley and, in 1896 after a summer of intense cramming, he was able to do so; but financial circumstances forced him to leave in 1897 and so he never graduated.

On July 25, 1897, Jack London and his brother-in-law, James Shepard, sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he would later set his first successful stories. London's time in the Klondike, however, was quite detrimental to his health. Like many others who were involved in the Klondike Gold Rush he was malnourished, and eventually he developed scurvy. London's gums became swollen, leading to the loss of his four front teeth.

London's death is controversial. Some believe that he committed suicide while his death certificate gives the cause as uremia, also known as uremic poisoning.

Author's work in order (with publication dates):

Novels

• A Daughter of the Snows (1902)
• The Call of the Wild (1903)
• The Kempton-Wace Letters (1903) Published anonymously, co-authored by Jack London and Anna Strunsky.
• The Sea-Wolf (1904)
• The Game (1905)
• White Fang (1906)
• Before Adam (1907)
• The Iron Heel (1908)
• Martin Eden (1909)
• Burning Daylight (1910)
• Adventure (1911)
• The Scarlet Plague (1912)
• A Son of the Sun (1912)
• The Abysmal Brute (1913)
• The Valley of the Moon (1913)
• The Mutiny of the Elsinore (1914)
• The Star Rover (1915) published in England under the title The Jacket
• The Little Lady of the Big House (1916)
• Jerry of the Islands (1917)
• Michael, Brother of Jerry (1917)
• Hearts of Three (1920) novelization by Jack London of a movie script by Charles Goddard
• The Assassination Bureau, Ltd (1963) half-completed by Jack London; completed by Robert Fish

Short Stories

• A Curious Fragment (1908)
• A Piece of Steak (1909)
• A Relic of the Pliocene (1901)
• A Thousand Deaths (1899)
• An Odyssey of the North (1900)
• All Gold Canyon
• Diable — A Dog (1902) Renamed to Bâtard in 1904
• By The Turtles of Tasman
• Even unto Death (1900)
• Goliah (1910)
• Good-by, Jack (1909)
• In a Far Country (1899)
• In the Forests of the North (1902)
• Keesh, Son of Keesh (1902)
• Love of Life (1905)
• Moon-Face (1902)
• Negore the Coward (1904)
• Samuel
• South of the Slot (1909)
• The Apostate (1906)
• The Chinago (1909)
• The Death of Ligoun (1902)
• The Dream of Debs (1909)
• The Dominant Primordial Beast (1903)
• The Enemy of All the World (1908)
• The God of His Fathers (1901)
• The King of Mazy May (1899)
• The Law of Life (1901)
• The Leopard Man's Story (1903)
• The Madness of John Harned
• The Man With the Gash (1900)
• The Mexican
• The Minions of Midas (1901)
• The One Thousand Dozen (1903)
• The Red One (1918)
• The Rejuvenation of Major Rathbone (1899)
• The Scarlet Plague (1912)
• The Seed of McCoy (1909)
• The Shadow and the Flash (1903)
• The Strength of the Strong (1911)
• The Sundog Trail
• The Unparalleled Invasion (1910)
• The White Silence (1899)
• To Build a Fire (1902, revised 1908)
• Told in the Drooling Ward
• To the Man on Trail
• War (1911)
• When the World was Young (1910)
• Who Believes in Ghosts! (1895)