Jack London :: essays research papers

Jack London fought his way up out of the factories and waterfront dives of West Oakland to stick the highest paid, most popular novelist and rook story writer of his day. He wrote passionately and prolifically about the great questions of life and death, the struggle to survive with dignity and integrity, and he wove these elemental ideas into stories of high adventure based on his own primary experiences at sea, or in Alaska, or in the fields and factories of California. As a result, his writing appealed not to the few, but to millions of people all close to the world.Along with his books and stories, however, Jack London was widely known for his personal exploits. He was a celebrity, a colorful and controversial personality who was often in the news. Generally fun-loving and playful, he could also be combative, and was quick to side with the underdog against seediness or oppression of any kind. He was a fiery and liquid public speaker, and much sought after as a subscriber on socialism and other economic and political topics. Despite his aver socialism, most people considered him a living symbol of rugged individualism, a man whose fabulous achievement was due not to special favor of any kind, but to a combination of unusual mental efficiency and immense vitality.Strikingly handsome, full of laughter, restless and courageous to a fault, forever and a day eager for adventure on land or sea, he was superstar of the most attractive and romantic figures of his time.Jack London ascribed his literary success largely to hard work - to "dig," as he put it. He tried never to miss his early morning 1,000-word writing stint, and among 1900 and 1916 he completed over fifty books, including both fiction and non-fiction, hundreds of short stories, and numerous articles on a wide range of topics. Several of the books and galore(postnominal) of the short stories argon classics of their kind, well thought of in critical foothold and still popular aro und the world. Today, almost countless editions of Londons writings are available and some of them have been translated into as many as 70 different languages. In addition to his daily writing stint and his commitments as a lecturer, London also carried on voluminous correspondence (he received some 10,000 letters per year), read proofs of his work as it went to press, negotiated with his various agents and publishers,