Jack London: An American Life

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American, Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book Jack London: An American Life by Earle Labor, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Earle Labor ISBN: 9781466863163
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: December 24, 2013
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: Earle Labor
ISBN: 9781466863163
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: December 24, 2013
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

A revelatory look at the life of the great American author—and how it shaped his most beloved works

Jack London was born a working class, fatherless Californian in 1876. In his youth, he was a boundlessly energetic adventurer on the bustling West Coast—an oyster pirate, a hobo, a sailor, and a prospector by turns. He spent his brief life rapidly accumulating the experiences that would inform his acclaimed bestselling books The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf.
The bare outlines of his story suggest a classic rags-to-riches tale, but London the man was plagued by contradictions. He chronicled nature at its most savage, but wept helplessly at the deaths of his favorite animals. At his peak the highest paid writer in the United States, he was nevertheless forced to work under constant pressure for money. An irrepressibly optimistic crusader for social justice and a lover of humanity, he was also subject to spells of bitter invective, especially as his health declined. Branded by shortsighted critics as little more than a hack who produced a couple of memorable dog stories, he left behind a voluminous literary legacy, much of it ripe for rediscovery.
In Jack London: An American Life, the noted Jack London scholar Earle Labor explores the brilliant and complicated novelist lost behind the myth—at once a hard-living globe-trotter and a man alive with ideas, whose passion for seeking new worlds to explore never waned until the day he died. Returning London to his proper place in the American pantheon, Labor resurrects a major American novelist in his full fire and glory.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A revelatory look at the life of the great American author—and how it shaped his most beloved works

Jack London was born a working class, fatherless Californian in 1876. In his youth, he was a boundlessly energetic adventurer on the bustling West Coast—an oyster pirate, a hobo, a sailor, and a prospector by turns. He spent his brief life rapidly accumulating the experiences that would inform his acclaimed bestselling books The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf.
The bare outlines of his story suggest a classic rags-to-riches tale, but London the man was plagued by contradictions. He chronicled nature at its most savage, but wept helplessly at the deaths of his favorite animals. At his peak the highest paid writer in the United States, he was nevertheless forced to work under constant pressure for money. An irrepressibly optimistic crusader for social justice and a lover of humanity, he was also subject to spells of bitter invective, especially as his health declined. Branded by shortsighted critics as little more than a hack who produced a couple of memorable dog stories, he left behind a voluminous literary legacy, much of it ripe for rediscovery.
In Jack London: An American Life, the noted Jack London scholar Earle Labor explores the brilliant and complicated novelist lost behind the myth—at once a hard-living globe-trotter and a man alive with ideas, whose passion for seeking new worlds to explore never waned until the day he died. Returning London to his proper place in the American pantheon, Labor resurrects a major American novelist in his full fire and glory.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book Mimi and Bear Make a Friend by Earle Labor
Cover of the book Marvelous Mattie by Earle Labor
Cover of the book The Village of Waiting by Earle Labor
Cover of the book In Praise of the Stepmother by Earle Labor
Cover of the book The Magnetic North by Earle Labor
Cover of the book Behind the Glass Wall by Earle Labor
Cover of the book The Arbogast Case by Earle Labor
Cover of the book The Burial at Thebes by Earle Labor
Cover of the book The White Road by Earle Labor
Cover of the book The Bird Artist by Earle Labor
Cover of the book Essays One by Earle Labor
Cover of the book 97,196 Words by Earle Labor
Cover of the book Sorry You're Lost by Earle Labor
Cover of the book Mr. Know-It-All by Earle Labor
Cover of the book The High Road by Earle Labor
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy