Jack London

1388 Words3 Pages

"I wrote a thousand words every day"

Jack London is the name you can hear everywhere, his writing appealed to millions of people all around the world. London was an American novelist and short-story writer, who wrote passionately about questions of life and death, surviving. The writer had a lot of adventures, experienced the life at sea, or in Alaska, or in the fields and factories of California, all of these influenced his writing style. Jack London descended from the family of his mother Flora and astrologer and journalist William Chaney. The writer has got his education by himself and with help of a librarian Ina Coolbrith - he has a passion to read books at public libraries. Later in life, Jack finally graduated from high school in Oakland. Jack London's work carrier was so variable, he has been a laborer, factory worker, and oyster pirate on the San Francisco Bay, member of the California Fish Patrol, sailor, railroad hob, and gold prospector. Yes, gold prospecting was the big part of his life, when the young writer with his brother-in-law sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he would set his first successful stories. Jack London was a hard-worker, he tried never miss his early morning 1,000-word writing stint, what helped him to write over fifty books between 1900 and 1916. In addition to it, he corresponded with his readers, and made huge researches for improving his writing style, what is, obviously, genius. The consequences of such a hard work became the fact that Jack London had become the best selling, highest paid and most popular American author of his time. Many authors and social advocates have been inspired by Jack London’s heartfelt prose, and readers travel and experience so much through his books.

Jack London was not Jack London at first. His real name was John Griffith Chaney, or just Johnny. The future writer was born on January 12, 1876, at 615 Third Street, San Francisco, California. Jack London was raised in a family of his mother Flora, who was a spiritualist, and his stepfather John London, who loved him a lot. John London felt sorry for Jack, because he was a partially disabled Civil War veteran and Jack had to do all work. It is believed that Jack was the illegitimate son of Williams Chaney, an itinerant astrologer and journalist. London’s parents’ may be described as rather homely American family.

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