Jack London

American author, journalist and social activist (1876-1916) · United States · Writers · Died at 40

Jack London is read about 3,232 times a day, in 98 languages.

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He turned Alaska's frozen brutality into bestsellers and became one of the first writers to get rich and famous doing it - while spending his off-hours agitating for socialism and animal rights in San Francisco's radical literary scene.

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A life in dates

1916Died22 November 1916“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.”In their words2 December 1916The Bulletin, San Francisco, California, December 2, 1916, part 2, p. 1.Read the whole statement

1910“The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances.”In their words"To Build a Fire" published as a collection of short stories in the book Lost Face (1910)Read the whole statement

1906“Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.”In their wordsWhite Fang (1906)Read the whole statement

1905“I love the flesh. I'm a pagan. “Who are they who speak evil of the clay? The very stars are made of clay like mine!”In their words11 August 1905Letter to Charles Warren Stoddard (11 August 1905)Read the whole statement

1904“Life? Bah! It has no value. Of cheap things it is the cheapest.”In their words"The Sea-Wolf" (1904)Read the whole statement

1903“I do not live for what the world thinks of me, but for what I think of myself.”In their words21 August 1903Letter to Charles Warren Stoddard (21 August 1903)Read the whole statement

1876Born12 January 1876

Also in Deutsch

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Croc-Blanc Jack London traduction (...)London Jack bpt6k9656830d 11

Famous fantastic mysteries 194902

Father Damien's grave in 1907

In their own words 10

Jack London

10 statements, newest first

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
Dec 2, 1916, The Bulletin, San Francisco, California, December 2, 1916, part 2, p. 1., Own words
The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances.
1910, "To Build a Fire" published as a collection of short stories in the book Lost Face (1910), Own words
Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.
1906, White Fang (1906), Own words

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About this person

John Griffith London was born January 12, 1876, and by the time he died at forty in 1916, he'd pioneered the model of the writer as international celebrity. His breakout came with The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both drawn from the Klondike Gold Rush and both still taught in schools. He wrote cold-country survival stories like "To Build a Fire" and ranged south to the Pacific for tales like "The Pearls of Parlay." In San Francisco he ran with a radical set called "The Crowd," pouring his socialism into The Iron Heel and The People of the Abyss. He made a fortune from magazines and commercial fiction, then used the platform to argue for workers and animals alike.

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United States

In common with Jack

Florence LawrenceAlso in The Call of the Wild (1908)

Robert HarronAlso in Man's Genesis (1912)

Charles InsleeAlso in The Call of the Wild (1908)

Frank E. WoodsAlso in Man's Genesis (1912)

Harry SolterAlso in The Call of the Wild (1908)

Charles Hill MailesAlso in Man's Genesis (1912)

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