London, Jack (John Griffith Chaney) (1876-1916)

US writer Jack London based many of his stories on his own experience in the wild and unfriendly Yukon region of northern Canada. His writing often carries contrasting messages since he believed in socialist equalities, but also in the rule of survival of the fittest.

US novelist. He was a prolific author of naturalistic novels, adventure stories, and socialist reportage. His works, which are often based on his own life, typically concern the human struggle for survival against extreme natural forces, as dramatized in such novels as The Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea Wolf (1904), and White Fang (1906). By 1906 he was the most widely read writer in the USA and had been translated into 68 languages.

London was an adventurer himself, at various times a sailor, a hobo riding freight trains, and a gold prospector in the Klondike. His many short stories are collected in The Son of the Wolf 1900, The God of His Fathers 1901, Children of the Frost 1902, Love of Life 1907, and Smoke Bellew 1912. Among his other novels are The People of the Abyss 1903, The Road 1907, The Iron Heel 1907, and Martin Eden 1909.