Jack London: America's Greatest Author
by Barry Wright
Essay: Jack London: America's Greatest Author
Pages: 10
Rating: 3 stars
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Jack London (1876-1916) was a heavy influence to the naturalism movement that occurred in the United States
from the 1890's to the 1920's. The naturalistic movement combined realism's emphasis on depicting surface
reality with a philosophy of determinism, which holds that humans have little ability to impose their will upon their
own destinies (Matterson). In To Build a Fire, London quotes that, "It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an
intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that mate the day dark, and that was due to the absence of
the sun" (Kinsella 608), in order to emphasize how vulnerable man is to his environment. Jack London's passion for
nature and creating stories during the time of the naturalistic movement had an incredible affect and influence on
the life and writings of one of America's greatest authors.
In 1897, Jack London left the University of California to travel to the Alaskan Yukon in search of gold (Kinsella 606).
London's firsthand experiences in the frozen tundra gave way to the creation of many of his best-selling novels
and short stories, like The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906) (Kinsella 606). The production of many of
his famous short stories allowed him to gain recognition throughout the world. With the fame that he obtained,
he was able to preach his message to people throughout the world (Hartzell). He wrote to convey that man cannot
always overcome certain forces of nature, and that we have to succumb to some of those forces in order to survive
(Existential). London impacted his time period with his socialist style of writing. He was a “work beast”, which
meant he spent most of his youth working in order to support his poor family. He worked a wide spectr...