Jack London 1876-1916

1. Jack London1876-1916 Political Activist and Writer

2. Childhood • Mother was Flora Wellman, a spiritualist and music teacher • Father was astrologer William Chaney • Both parents were financially and emotionally unstable—Wellman shot herself when Chaney demanded she abort the baby. Then, she gave the baby to an ex-slave named Virginia Prentiss to raise • When Flora recovered and married John London, a partially disabled Civil War veteran

3. Childhood, continued • John Griffith Chaney became John Griffith London and took the nickname of Jack • The family lived in and around the San Francisco Bay area, ultimately settling in Oakland where Jack finished grade school • His schooling was sporadic because of constant moves—family would be evicted for non-payment of rent

4. Work Was a child laborer Swept saloons and pool halls 1889—began 12-18-hour shifts in a cannery Borrowed enough to buy a small boat, became and oyster pirate 1893—signed on as a sailor on a voyage to Japan Joined Kelley’s Army and marched all the way to Buffalo, NY

5. Returned to Oakland and attended Oakland High School in return for janitorial work. Began writing of his experiences • Studied and gained entrance to UC Berkeley in 1896, but left in 1897 and never graduated • First stories appeared in the high school paper Formal Education Beginnings of his writing career

6. Heinhold’s Saloon • London loved his experiences as a sailor • Heinhold’s Saloon was a hangout for experienced sailors. He adopted it as a second—and sometimes first—home • Listened to the stories being told here and used them in his writing • Also was the beginning of his struggle with alcohol. His attraction to and attractiveness to women was already established

7. The Klondike • London at 21 sailed for the Gold Rush—the Klondike • No gold, but he did find dozens of experiences which he used in his writing • He also developed scurvy, which debilitated his body • His time in the Klondike gave him the basis for “To Build a Fire,” White Fang, and The Call of the Wild • It also gave him his politics—socialism—and a social conscience

8. Explosion of Magazines • London had good timing • His writing career coincided with the development of cheaper ways to print magazines, which needed content • By 1900 he was selling enough short stories and other works to earn $2500 ($65,00+ today) • Call of the Wild—1903—sold as a serial in a magazine and as a novel on its own—typical publishing method

9. Love and Marriage (Not with the same woman) Marriages Great Love Anna Strunsky • Bessie Maddern (1900)—2 children—divorced 1904 • Charmian Kittredge (1905)

10. Writing for Money Ranch • Bought ranch near Glen Ellen, California, in the Sonoma Mountains • Wrote many stories, articles and a few books to pay for the ranch, which bled money • Spent $80,000 on a stone mansion on the ranch ($1.95 million now), but it burned a week before they were to move in

11. Politics • London was a socialist • Agitated for child labor laws • Wrote several polemics (see definition) concerning child labor • Ran for several offices in California • Racial views • Complex—worried about “Yellow Peril” • Wrote sympathetically about Mexican immigrants, Japanese culture, and Jack Johnson, a black boxer

12. End of his Life • Believed for years to be a suicide • Death is attributed to uremia (uremic poisoning from kidney disease) or a morphine overdose • He suffered toward the end of his life from the after-effects of late-stage alcoholism as well as dysentery, uremia, and the results of scurvy