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THE CALL OF THE WILD
By Jack London
Jack London
1876-1916 American author,
journalist, and social activist
Passionate about unionization, socialism, the rights of workers
Wrote a dystopian novel, The Iron Heel
Family Life
Parents weren’t legally married, but lived the “married” life
London’s mother thought London’s father was possessed by an Indian chief when she got pregnant
Father wanted mother to have an abortion Mother shot herself, but missed Mother had baby, but gave him to slave to
raise for the first year of his life
Childhood
Mother married Civil War veteran, John London
The new family of three moved to San Francisco and then to Oakland
London at the age of nine with dog, Rollo
Gold Rush and First Success
Joined in the Klondike Rush
Trip turned to be detrimental for London
London got scurvy, which caused him to lose his four front teeth, facial scars, and pain in his hips and legs.
Marriages
Married Bessie and had two children, Joan and Becky
After four years, the marriage was dissolved
His next marriage was to Charmain Kittredge, which was a nymphomaniac
London was a cheater!
Beauty Ranch
Beauty Ranch was London’s dream Spent $80,000 ($1,930,00 nowadays) to build his dream
home The house he named “Wolf House” was 15,000 sq. ft. Two weeks before his dream home was done, it burnt
down It is now a National Landmark called Jack London State
Historic Park
Plagiarism
The Call of the Wild My Dogs in the Northland London wrote author a letter thanking him for the idea
Moon Face The Passing of the Cock-Eye Blacklock Based on the same newspaper event
Love of Life Lost in the Land of the Midnight Sun New York World published both stories side by side,
showing how similar they were to each other The Bishop’s Vision The Bishop of London & Public
Morality The author of TBOLPM demanded that London pay him
1/60th of the royalties he received (London said no)
Death of London
Some say that he committed suicide by drug overdose (morphine)
His death certificate sites uremia as the cause of death
Died on a sleeping porch on his cottage on Beauty Ranch
Buried with his second wife
The Beginnings of TCOTW
On January 26, 1903, London submitted TCOTW to Saturday Evening Post
SEP agreed to publish it, but London was instructed to cut the text by 5000 words and name his price
He agreed to cut the text and wanted 3¢ a word, which was $750
Macmillian, a publishing company, bought the text for $2000
TCOTW History
Begins on an estate in Santa Clara Valley
The setting of the story is based off the Bond Family Farm, where he spent much time
Buck, the protagonist, is based off a St. Bernard/Scotch shepherd mix dog that the Bond brothers lent to London
TCOTW is a story about Buck’s fight to survive