Jack London's Literary Success

Jack London was actually born as John Griffith Chaney, in San Francisco, on January 12, 1876. His books, including White Fang, The Call of the Wild, and Martin Eden, positioned Lon-don as one of the most well-known American authors of his era. Believing that “You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club,” London was renowned for his adventures, plots, and exotic settings; additionally, he developed exciting characters through his use of Symbolism, Social Darwinism, and most notably the use of the Naturalism movement.

Jack was the son of an unwed mother Flora Wellman, and a lawyer, columnist and revo-lutionary leader American astrology, William Chaney. However, Jacks father was absent throughout his life; and his mother eventually married John London, who was a veteran of the Civil War. His writing really began in the year 1893. He had just weathered a traumatic sea ex-pedition, where a typhoon had virtually eliminated both London and his entire crew. The young 17 year old adventurer had survived and returned to his mother, whom he shared his stories what. It was at that time that his mother spotted an ad in a local newspaper announcing a writ-ing contest, she encouraged Jack to put in writing and submit his adventurous tale. Equipped with merely an eighth-grade education, London bagged first prize, defeating college students from major universities such as Berkeley and Stanford.

For London, the contest was a turning point in his life that sets him on a path in life ded-icated to writing short stories. By age 22, though, because London struggled to find publishers, London had still not been able to embark on a profitable living as a writer. His life experiences in the Yukon had influenced him, convincing him...

... middle of paper ...

...Roosevelt on the Nature Fakirs." Straightaway, the new national catchphrase became, "nature faker," and the commentary ignited argument in newspapers and magazines all around the country as to what truly established au-thentic nature reporting. London publicly rebutted the president, maintaining that "the only fakir in this whole controversy . . . is the big fakir at Washington," and he promised to prove the Pres-ident wrong. London never missed an opportunity to play tug of war publicly with Roosevelt, and he criticized him as an amateur who did not comprehend evolution.

Jack London lived life abundantly and found great literary success in spite of his fren-zied lifestyle. A productive writer, he distributed more than 50 books the final 16 years of his life. He retired to a ranch near Sonoma, California where he later died of numerous illnesses and drug treatments.