Novels and Stories: The Call of the Wild / White Fang / The Sea-Wolf / Klondike and Other Stories

By Jack London

Book Overview

This Library of America volume of Jack London's best-known work is filled with thrilling action, an intuitive feeling for animal life, and a sense of justice that often works itself out through violence. London enjoyed phenomenal popularity in his own time (which included the depressions of the 1890s and the beginnings of World War One), and he remains one of the most widely read of all American writers.

The Call of the Wild (1903), perhaps the best novel ever written about animals, traces a dog's sudden entry into the wild and the education necessary for his survival in the ways of the wolf pack. Like many of London's stories, this one is inspired by the early deprivations of his own pathetically short life: the primitive conditions of life as an oyster pirate in San Francisco; the restless existence of a hobo; the isolation of a prison inmate; the exertion of a laborer in the Oakland slums; and the frustration of a failed prospector for gold in the Alaskan Klondike.

White Fang (1906), in which a wolf-dog becomes domesticated out of love for a man, is apparently the reverse side of the process found in The Call of the Wild, yet for many readers its moments of greatest authenticity are those which suggest that, in actual practice, civilization is pretty much a dog's life for everyone, of "hunting and being hunted, eating and being eaten, all in blindness and confusion, with violence and disorder, a chaos of gluttony."

Though London was a reader of Marx and Nietzsche and an avowed socialist, he doubted that socialism could ever be put into practice and was convinced of the necessity for a brutal individualism. He thought of The Sea-Wolf (1904), the story of Wolf Larsen and his crew of outcasts on the lawless Alaskan seas, as "an attack upon the superman philosophy," but the Captain is far more memorable than any of the book's civilized characters. London is an immensely exciting writer partly because the conflicts in his thinking tend to enhance rather than hinder the romantic and thrilling turns of his plots.

The stories of the Klondike, which are based on his personal experiences and the stories of California, Mexico, and the South Seas, span the whole of London's career as a writer. He is one of the great storytellers in American literature, and his politics, with all their passion and contradiction, come to life through the vigor and red-blooded energy of his prose.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0940450054
• ISBN13: 9780940450059
• Release Date: November 1982
• Publisher: Library of America
• Length: 1021 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.2" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Amazing on multiple levels!

Novels and Stories was the first of a two volume set that I scored for cheap on ebay a few years ago. The second, Novels and Social writings concentrates on his political/social novels and essays while this one is comprised of his Alaskan and sea bearing adventure stories. This book weighs in at over 1000 pages and includes three GREAT novels in Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf and White Fang as well as multitudes of his short stories. I can't say enough about how much I love Londons writings and how much admiration I have for him as a man as well. I've read Call of the Wild about every two years or so since the first time I read it as a child and I get more out of it every time I re-read it. His adventure stories on one level are just great red blooded adventure stories that anyone who has any heart or spirit would enjoy and there is a deeper level to London as well. His stories are highly spiritual if you are able to look at them on another level. Although thats something that you have to "feel" from within I suppose.

A Don't Miss!!!

First story so beautiful and poignant, it brought tears to my eyes. London displays a true understanding of the deeper reaches of nature. A remarkably real parable of the civilized dog brought back to his wild roots. "White Fang", longer and wildly overwritten, is nevertheless deeply affecting also. Romantic, sentimental, and perhaps somewhat unrealistic. Each story was wonderful and very individual, somewhat amazing considering there are 40 of them. "The Sea Wolf" was the best of all, I thought. The character of Wolf Larsen was just totally intriguing. And I have never forgotten (and will probably carry with me to my grave) a line from that book, uttered by Larsen. To paraphase - The most abundant thing on this planet is not air, or water or land. They are all perishable, or can be ruined or consumed in some way or another. It is life, life itself, that is everywhere. Wolf Larsen was one of the most unforgettable characters in fiction that I have ever run across. An amoral man to the nth degree.

A good collection

Collected works of Jack London have been reprinted in a variety of editions. It is a good collection to add to any library. Jack London (1876-1916) was born John Griffith Chaney to an unwed mother. He is known to have associated with the rougher elements of society and went to Alaska in 1897 in the early stages of the gold rush, returning a year later broke and in ill health. Most of his writing used the Yukon and Alaska as a setting, although some material is undoubtedly drawn from other sources as well. The description of the town used in one of his short stories fits in well with what he would have observed during his stopover in my hometown in Washington State. He is generally regarded as an author/adventurer, and his novels and short stories have endured the test of time, being as popular now as when they were written. Like many artists and writers, his life was somewhat short.

Novels and Stories-- Jack London

A great collection of classic literature for lovers of the outdoors, social commentary, and students of American literature. From the internal struggles of Buck in "The Call of the Wild" to the intense individualism of Wolf in "The Sea Wolf" the reader is made to feel the emotions and desires of the characters. In addition, the text includes commentary on the texts and a chronology of London's life. These are helpful to the American literature student as well as those wishing to learn more about the life of this interesting man. Including some of the greatests novels, novelettes, and short stories in American history, a reader cannot go wrong with this wonderfully written and beautifully bound text.

Better than the Call of the Wild!!

Loved White Fang so much I have gone on and read everything this man ever wrote. If you love the outdoors, and can live without T.V. a few nights then get this one. You will not regret the money well spent.