Jack London

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Lore & Background

Jack London was born January 12, 1876, near Third and Brannan Streets in San Francisco. His mother, Flora Wellman, was a music teacher and spiritualist. The biographer Clarice Stasz and others believe London's father was astrologer William Chaney. Whether Wellman and Chaney were legally married is unknown. According to Flora's account in the San Francisco Chronicle of June 4, 1875, Chaney demanded she have an abortion; when she refused, he disclaimed responsibility. In desperation, she shot herself but was not seriously wounded. After giving birth, Flora sent the baby to Virginia (Jennie) Prentiss, a neighbor and former slave, for wet-nursing. Prentiss was an important maternal figure throughout London's life. Late in 1876, Flora married John London, a partially disabled Civil War veteran, and brought baby John to live with them. The family moved around the San Francisco Bay Area before settling in Oakland. London was largely self-educated. In 1885, he found and read Ouida's long Victorian novel Signa, which he credited as the seed of his literary success. In 1886, he went to the Oakland Public Library and found a sympathetic librarian, Ina Coolbrith, who encouraged his learning. In 1889, London began working 12 to 18 hours a day at Hickmott's Cannery. Seeking a way out, he borrowed money from his foster mother Virginia Prentiss, bought the sloop Razzle-Dazzle from an oyster pirate named French Frank, and became an oyster pirate himself. After a few months, his sloop became damaged beyond repair, and he hired on as a member of the California Fish Patrol. In 1893, he signed on to the sealing schooner Sophie Sutherland, bound for the coast of Japan. After grueling jobs in a jute mill and a street-railway power plant, London joined Coxey's Army and began his career as a tramp. In 1894, he spent 30 days for vagrancy in the Erie County Penitentiary at Buffalo, New York. He later wrote in The Road: 'Man-handling was merely one of the very minor unprintable horrors of the Erie County Pen.' After many experiences as a hobo and a sailor, he returned to Oakland and attended Oakland High School, contributing articles to the school's magazine, The Aegis. His first published work was 'Typhoon off the Coast of Japan,' an account of his sailing experiences. As a schoolboy, London often studied at Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon. At 17, he confessed to the bar's owner, John Heinold, his desire to attend university and pursue a career as a writer; Heinold lent him tuition money. In 1896, after a summer of intense studying, he was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley, but financial circumstances forced him to leave in 1897, and he never graduated. On July 12, 1897, London (age 21) and his sister's husband Captain Shepard sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush. London's time in the harsh Klondike was detrimental to his health; he developed scurvy, lost his four front teeth, and suffered pain in his hip and leg muscles. Father William Judge, 'The Saint of Dawson,' provided shelter, food, and medicine. His struggles there inspired his short story 'To Build a Fire' (1902, revised in 1908). London left Oakland with a social conscience and socialist leanings; he returned to become an activist for socialism. On returning to California in 1898, he began working to get published. His first published story since high school was 'To the Man On Trail.' When The Overland Monthly offered him only five dollars for it—and was slow paying—London came close to abandoning his writing career. He was saved when The Black Cat accepted his story 'A Thousand Deaths' and paid him $40—the 'first money I ever received for a story.' In 1900, he made $2,500 in writing, about $97,000 in today's currency.

Reader's Guide

Jack London's significance lies in his role as a pioneer of commercial fiction and one of the first American authors to achieve international celebrity and financial success from writing. His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories 'To Build a Fire', 'An Odyssey of the North', and 'Love of Life.' He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as 'The Pearls of Parlay' and 'The Heathen.' London was a passionate advocate of socialism, animal welfare, and workers' rights, and his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam reflect these concerns. His time in the Klondike, where he developed scurvy and lost his four front teeth, inspired some of his most famous stories, including 'To Build a Fire' (1902, revised in 1908), which many critics assess as his best. London's legacy endures through his widely read novels and short stories, which continue to be studied for their naturalistic style and social commentary. He remains a key figure in American literature, remembered for both his adventurous life and his literary output.

Did You Know?

• London's mother, Flora Wellman, shot herself in desperation after his biological father William Chaney demanded she have an abortion; she was not seriously wounded but was temporarily deranged.
• London's first published work was 'Typhoon off the Coast of Japan,' an account of his sailing experiences on the sealing schooner Sophie Sutherland.
• In 1894, London spent 30 days for vagrancy in the Erie County Penitentiary at Buffalo, New York, which he later described in The Road as containing 'unprintable horrors.'
• London developed scurvy in the Klondike, losing his four front teeth and suffering pain in his hip and leg muscles; Father William Judge provided him shelter, food, and medicine.
• In 1900, London made $2,500 from writing, equivalent to about $97,000 in today's currency.