John Griffith London - (1876-1916)

San Francisco

By Michael Kolumbic
San Pedro High School, San Pedro, California

I.  Biography

John Griffith London (1876-1916) was born on January 12, 1876 in the city of San Francisco, California.  He was born to Flora Wellman whom was not married but eventually got married to John London who was a partially disabled Civil War veteran.  Coming up in infancy his caretaker was Virginia Prentiss, an ex-slave who raised John up because of his mother's illness.  They all moved around the San Francisco Bay Area for a while before settling in West Oakland.  It was here that John completed grade school.  John went out and got several jobs when coming up.  He worked on a fish patrol to capture poachers, he pirated for oysters, he worked on a sealing ship, and he also joined Kelly's army of unemployed working men.

This wandering didn't last forever because he eventually returned to school and graduated at the age of nineteen.  During his travels he acquainted himself with the ideas and theories of Socialism.  He joined the Socialist Labor Party of Oakland.  He began giving speeches and publicly speaking.  Although reaching far out for such things as mayor, he did have the realization of one thing, and that was: if he didn't start making a living he would just fall into the hustle and bustle of life and probably become just another factory worker.  This was something he definitely didn't want.  He realized that writing could be his escape, or his way out of the world he lived in but didn't want to take part of. He wanted to be his own boss and live his life like he wanted.  Finally, he started submitting different works to various companies, but most of them turned him down. 

One thing that definitely seemed to be a turning point in London's quality of writing was his adventurous travels.  In 1897 his trip to the Yukon gave him things to write about.  Spending a year in the Alaskan

Gold Rush definitely seemed to give him what he needed to write such lively and interesting stories and novels.  He also traveled to the eastern countries such as Polynesia and Malaysia.  London soon came to another path to travel in his life.  He turned his attention to nature and agriculture.  Although London was a very busy man he also found time to do other, more enjoyable, things.  One of these excursions from writing was his marriage to Bess Maddern in 1900.  Together, they had two girls named, Joan and Bess.  During his marriage with Bess Maddern London he had an affair with Charmain Kittridge.  At the time he had co-written a book about how he feels that marriage should not be for love, but instead to make better offspring.  It was good that Bess agreed with this way of thinking from the start.  Although they were no doubt happy together, after his affair London married Charmain in 1905.  She became a figure that women looked up to.  She followed him on many of his bold adventures.      

During the years following, they did many things together.  In between all of the hustle and bustle of every day life, London managed to have his sailing vessel custom-made, which took two years beginning in

1906.  He called his ship the Snark.  Also he constructed his own Wolf House and Beauty Ranch.  This was between his daily writings of 1,000 words a day, proofreading his hundreds of works, maintaining a happy life, and dealing with the phone calls and meetings with big agents and publishers.  These were just some of the many things that London did.  He also went on a 27-month voyage on his vessel, the Snark, even though it was meant to be 7 years.  After that trip he returned to his Beauty Ranch in Glen Ellen.  At the time they were living in a small house on their land.  When he was about 34 or 35, his passion for nature and agriculture took off.  He would always go out exploring his land.  He loved to farm and be on the land. 

The basis for many of his later novels was written about life on a normal relaxing bit of land.  He had his house, Wolf House, built and designed by a well-known local architect named Albert Farr.  About two years later when most of the construction was done, they were only making plans to move in some of the custom made furniture when a fire broke out destroying the whole house.  London was not there when it happened but instead he came as soon as he heard and by that time it was to late.  The loss of Wolf House was devastating financially as well as emotionally because that was the thing London had put all his time into not including upwards of 80,000 dollars.  Even with technology as advanced as it is, no one has a clue if the fire was accidental or was it set deliberately. So London remained in the little ranch house with Charmain.  The house was enlarged with a generous 2,000-dollar gift from a magazine company. 

So London moved on with his life although it was hard.  He went out on his yawl, The Roamer a couple of times to get away and he also spent more time on the ranch rather than in the city.  He enjoyed the peace and quiet of the beautiful Sonoma Valley.  He kept piling out the books and poems and novels and he did other things, like be a war correspondent during the Villa-Carranza Revolution.  Finally, in 1915 and 1916 he agreed to spend some time with his wife in Hawaii.  This seemed to help his mental health tremendously.  The trip made him calm and he seemed to be helping.  The things in his life were starting to look up and be positive once again. 

Life on the ranch was always good because they were producing more and more things.  Even though the ranch kept London in debt it was the epitome of his life.  He was always giving and a wonderful farmer.  No matter how bad life treated him or how many things seemed to get in his way, he always was one step ahead planning for the next day, month, or year.  John Griffith London died on November 22, 1916 of gastrointestinal uremic poisoning.  This was the only thing that managed to bring him down.  The doctors that warned him didn't slow him a bit; the kidney problem he had didn't stop him, it was just this one thing.  The world seemed to react heavily upon this because he was the man to be missed and they did miss him.

The world might not know what it is missing to this day, but those of us that know about London know that he was the man of his time and that the world may never see such a passionate writer again.

II.  Professional Life

The professional life of John London was one of chaos, confusion, happiness, and extreme success.  He had his ups and his downs and in the end he always seemed to come out on top.  London began his working life at a young age but managed to hold on tight and finish school.  He was always trying to be on top of things.  At first he worked on jobs that were mainly needed for his physical strength, not his intellect.  As he grew though, he became more aware of the world around him and he began to work for more jobs that required thinking.  He struck gold in his writing career when he went to the Yukon in 1897.  That seemed to open up his writing spirit and let it go on a rampage.  His numerous works were almost always based on one of his many beliefs, or a personal experience he had.  London got thrown into the tornado of fame and carried around for a while.  Even though memories of his awesome life and beautifully written novels will probably live on forever, many things seemed to die with him.  The mobs of people that wanted to be just like London had lost their icon; their special figure they looked up to. London will definitely live in many people's hearts for the writings he produced with a passion.  

III.  Influences on Jack London

London had many influences in his life.  Many were not around during his lifetime but others were.  The two biggest general things that influenced London were the surroundings of where he was and people that shared similar ideas with him.  Some of these places could be the Yukon, the southern Pacific, and the beautiful countryside at his ranch.  Some of these people influences could be Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley, Friedrich Nietzsche, Herbert Spencer, Ernst Haeckal, David Starr Jordan, and many other people and close friends.  All of these different things contributed to the mind of London. 

First of all, the places London spent the majority of his life adventuring around the world, or right in his own backyard.  Many of his stories, poems, plays, and novels come from these such places.  The books he has written deal with the outdoors.  Many are from the Yukon.  Such is the setting for White Fang, Call of the Wild, and many other great books.  When London went on that twenty-seven month voyage in The Snark to the South Pacific, he picked up on many ideas for many different books.  Finally, his own land that he had was very inspiring because he looked at it with a very watchful and observant eye.  So as you can see, many ideas for works came from his experiences with his surrounding environment. 

Although they may have been a big influence on the description of the writing, the places did not contribute as much to London's thinking as much as did people.  Many different philosophers, naturalists, educators, and politics had a large influence on the thinking and kind of writings that London wrote.  One of these many people would be Karl Marx.  Karl Marx was a Socialist who lived during the nineteenth century.  Being a hard-core Socialist himself, London was no doubt influenced by this man.  Many of London's ideas were shown to have come from the original ideas of Karl Marx.  Many of these socialistic ideas are shown in one of London's works called The War of the Classes.  Ideas from both these great minds are shown there.

There were other men that also influenced London noticeably.  Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a believer in a man.  A man that would not only be perfect in mind, but in body as well.  He wrote a book about this man also, called Thus Spoken Zarathusa.  In the book he talked about this, "perfect man."  London also had books that talked about a "perfect-man."  One would be Burning Daylight.  In this book he talks about the story of a man who is perfect in many ways.

The other big influence in London's life would have to be CharlesDarwin.  Him and all the men like, Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), Thomas Huxley (1825-1895), David Starr Jordan (1851-1931), and John Tyndall.  It was Charles Darwin who has the credit for the ideas behind Social Darwinism, but many of the phrases such as, "Survival of the Fittest," comes from men like Herbert Spencer.  The whole idea that only the strong survive and move on in life are shown in the works of all these men including London.  This whole idea was what London believed in so well.  It was through works of other men that London got aquatinted to these ideas.  Many are shown in London's White Fang.

The other man that also had an effect on Jack London and his writing was Ernst Haekel (1843-1919).  He was a believer in Racialism.  Seeing how London also felt the same ways about many things they influenced each other greatly.  Racialism is the idea that some races or groups of people are stronger that others.  London believed that his race was better than others were.  He was or at least seemed to be catching along with ideas that were floating around at the time. 

Even though London was the individual he was, he always could be seen catching on or starting trends.  London had a good life and most of the ideas he had in his head were his own but he caught on to the ideas of others.

IV.  Literary Works

Books/Novels

The Call of the Wild - 1903
The Sea-Wolf - 1904
The Game - 1905
White Fang - 1906
Before Adam - 1907
The Iron Heel - 1908
Burning Daylight - 1910
Adventure - 1911
Smoke Below - 1912
The Valley of the Moon - 1913
Martin Eden - 1913
The Star Rover - 1915
Jerry of the Islands - 1917

Short Story Collections

Son of the Wolf - 1900 - Houghton Mifflin Co.
In a Far Country
The Son of the Wolf
The Men of Forty Mile
To the Man on the Trail
An Odyssey of the North
The White Silence
The Priestly Prerogative
The Wife of a King
The Wisdom of the Trail
The God of His Fathers and Other Stories - 1901 - McClure, Phillips, and Co.
The God of His Fathers
The Man with the Gash
A Daughter of the Aurora
The Great Interrogation
Jan the Unrepelent
At the Rainbow's End
Which Make Men Remember
Grit of Women
A Scorn of Women
Siwash
Where the Trail Forks
Children of the Frost - 1902 - Macmillan
In the Forests of the North
Sunlanders
Li-Wan, the Fair
The Law of Life
The Sickness of Lone Chief
The League of Old Men
Nam-Bak the Unveracious
Keesh, Son of Keesh
The Master of Mystery
The Death of Ligoun
The Faith of Men and Other Stories - 1904 - Macmillan
A Relic of the Pliocene
To Much Gold
Batard
A Hyperborean Brew
The One Thousand Dozen
The Story of Jesse Uck
The Faith of Men
The Marriage of Lit-Lit
Tales of the Fish patrol - 1905 - The Macmillan Co.
White and Yellow 
Charley's Coup
Yellow Handkerchief
The King of the Greeks
Demetrio's Contos
A Raid on the Oyster Pirates
The Siege of the 'Lancashire Queen'
Moon Face and Other Stories - 1906 - Macmillan
Moon-Face: A Story of Moral Antipathy
The Leopard Man's Story
Local Colour
The Minions of Midas
The Shadow and the Flash
Planchette
Amateur Night
All Gold Canyon
Love of Life and Other Stories - 1907 - Macmillan
Love of Life
The Story of Keesh
A Day's Lodging
Negore, the Coward
The Sun Dog Trail
The Unexpected
The White Man's Way
Brown Wolf
Lost Face - 1910 - Macmillan
Lost Face
To Build a Fire
Flush of Gold
The Wit of Porportuk
The Passing of Marcus O'Brien
Trust That Spot
South Sea Tales - 1911 - Macmillan
The House of Mapuhi
The Whale Tooth
Manki
Yah!Yah!Yah!
The Heathen
The Terrible Solomon's
The Inevitable White Man
The Seed of McCoy
When God Laughs and Other Stories - 1911 - Macmillan
When God Laughs
The Apostate
A Wicked Women
Just Meat
Created Hethem
The Chinago
Make Westing
Semperidem
Arose For the King
The "Francis Spaight"
A Curious Fragment
A Piece of Steak
The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaii - 1912 - Macmillan
The House of Pride
Koolau the Leper
Good-Bye Jack
Aloha Oe
Chan Ah Chan
The Sheriff of Kona
The Night Born - 1913 - The Century Co.
The Madness of John Harned
When the World was Young
The Benefit of the Doubt
Winged Blackmail
Bunches of Knuckles
War
Under the Deck Awning
To Kill a Man
The Mexican
The Strength of the Strong - 1914 - Macmillan
The Heathen
The Strength of the Strong
South of the Slot
The Unparalleled Invasion
The Enemy of All the World
The Dream of the Debs
The Sea Farmer
Samuel
The Turtles of the Tasman - 1916 - Macmillan
Turtles of the Tasman
The Eternity of Forms
Told in the Drooling Ward
The Hobo and the Fairy
The Prodigial Father
The First Poet
Finis
The End of the Story
The Red One - 1918 - Macmillan, New York
The Red One
The Hussy
Like Argus of the Ancient Times
The Princess
On the Makaloa Mat - 1919 - Macmillan
On the Makaloa Mat
The Bones of Kahekili
When Alice Told Her Soul
Shin-Bones
The Water Baby
The Tears Of Ah- Kim
The Kanaka Surf
Dutch Courage and Other Stories - 1922 - Macmillan
Preface- Charmain London
Dutch Courage
The Typhoon off the Coast of Japan
The Lost Poacher
The Banks of the Sacramento
Chris Farrington, Able Seaman
The Repel Boarders
The Adventure in the Upper Sea
Bald-Face
In Yeddo Bay
Whose Business is to Live

Plays
The Return of Ulysses - Never Published,  1 Act
The Great Interrogation - 1 Act, produced numerous times
As it was In the Beginning - Copyrighted in 1905, Never published, 4 Acts
Scorn of Women - Written in 1906, 3 Acts
Billy the Kid - produced in 1910
Theft - 4 Acts, written in 1910
Gold - 3 Acts
The First Poet - 1 Act, published twice, produced once
A Wicked Women - written in 1917, 1 Act
Babylonia - 1913, never produced or published
War - 3 Acts, copyrighted 1912
The Birth Mark - 1 Act, written in 1917
The Damascus Road - 3 Acts, originally The Common Man, copyrighted 1913
Daughters of the Rich - 1 Act, copyrighted in 1915, never published
The Acorn Planter - written in 1916, 3 Acts

Poems
"He Chortled With Glee"
"If I Were God"
"The Sea Sprite and The Shooting Star"
"In And Out"
"Sonnet"
"The Lover's Liturgy"
"Daybreak"
"The Worker and The Tramp"
"The Way of War"
"Abalone Song"
"Ballade of the False Lover"
"Cupid's Ideal"
"George Sterling"
"The Gift of God"
"Gold"
"He Never Tried Again"
"A Heart"
"Hors de Saison"
"The Song of the Flames"
"The Socialist's Dream"
"The Return of Ulysses- A Modern Version"
"The Republican Rallying Song"
"The Republican Battle-Hymn"
"Of Man of the Future"
"Moods"
"My Little Pelmist"
"My Confession"
"The Klondyker's Dream"
"Just Over the Way Where the Rainbow Fell"
"Je Vis En Espoir"
"In a Year, In a Year, When the Grapes are Ripe"

V.  Famous Jack London Quote

"I would rather be ashes than dust!

I would rather that my ashes should burn out in a brilliant blaze
than it should be stifled by dry rot.

I would rather be a superb meteor,
every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of a man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time."

—Jack London

UC Regents. Jack London's Writings. 1998.  http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Writings

Sisson, James E. "List of Jack London's Plays." http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Documents/I0040988.html

Sisson, James E. "List of Jack London's Poems." http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Documents/I0040991.html

Stasz, Clarice. "John Griffith London." Oct 21, 1998. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/jack.html

Sciambra, Joseph. The Philiosophy of Jack London. June 19, 1996. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Essays/philosophy.html

This essay was submitted by a student of Kathy Honda Stein, a teacher at San Pedro High School, in San Pedro, California.