顽童 - 2006-8-25 9:36:00
Who was . . .
An Overview
Considered by many to be America’s finest author, Jack London, whose name at birth was John Griffith Chaney, was born “south of the slot” on Market Street in San Francisco, California, on January 12, 1876. It is believed that he is the illegitimate son of William Chaney, an itinerant astrologer and journalist, who deserted Jack’s mother, Flora, a spiritualist, before he was born. Flora married John London, a Civil War veteran who had recently moved to San Francisco, eight months after Jack was born. Jack did not learn the true circumstances of his birth until he was in his early twenties. Much of his youth was spent in Oakland, California, on the waterfront.
Jack had little formal schooling. Initially, he attended school only through the 8th grade, although he was an avid reader, educating himself at public libraries, especially the Oakland Public Library under the tutelage of Ina Coolbrith, who later became the first poet laureate of California. In later years (mid-1890s), Jack returned to high school in Oakland and graduated. He eventually gained admittance to U.C. Berkeley, but stayed only for six months, finding it to be “not alive enough” and a “passionless pursuit of passionless intelligence”.
Jack’s extensive life experiences included: being a laborer, factory worker, oyster pirate on the San Francisco Bay, member of the California Fish Patrol, sailor, railroad hobo, and gold prospector (in the Klondike from 1897-1898). In his teens, he joined Coxey’s Army in its famous march on Washington, D.C., and was later arrested for vagrancy in Erie County, New York. As a journalist, Jack covered the Russo-Japanese War for the Hearst newspapers in 1904, and in 1914, he covered the Mexican Revolution for Collier’s.
It was during his cross-country travels that he became acquainted with socialism, which for many years, became his “holy grail”. He became known as the “Boy Socialist of Oakland” because of his passionate street corner oratory. In fact, he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Oakland several times as the socialist party candidate.
In 1900, Jack married his math tutor and friend, Bess Maddern. It was a Victorian marriage typical of the time, based on “good breeding”, not love. With Bess, he had two daughters — Joan and Bess (“Becky”). Following his separation from Bess in 1903, he married his secretary, Charmian Kittredge, whom he considered his “Mate Woman” and with whom he found true love. Together, they played, traveled, wrote and enjoyed life. Their one child, Joy, only lived for thirty-eight hours.
In 1907, with his second wife, Charmian, Jack sailed the Pacific to the South Seas in the Snark, which became the basis for his book, The Cruise of the Snark. With Charmian at his side, he also developed his “Beauty Ranch” on 1,400 acres of land in Glen Ellen, California.
By his death at age forty on November 22, 1916, Jack had been plagued for years by a vast number of health problems, including stomach disturbances, ravaging uremia, and failing kidneys. His death certificate states that he died of uremic poisoning.
Jack was among the most publicized figures of his day. In his lectures, he endorsed socialism and women’s suffrage. He was also one of the first celebrities used to endorse commercial products, such as grape juice and men’s suits.
Young Jack London’s exceptional brightness and his optimistic, buoyant personality eventually combined to transform his many experiences into a working philosophy of service and survival. He became the personification for his readers of many of the virtues and ideals of a turn-of-the-century Western American man and was the country’s first successful working class writer.
Jack London . . . The Writer
Once Ja
ck had resolved himself to succeed as an author, his diligent habits and innate skills catapulted him far beyond most of his literary peers in both perspective and content. By following a strict writing regimen of 1,000 words a day, he was able to produce a huge quantity of high quality work over a period of eighteen years.
Jack had become the best-selling, highest paid and most popular American author of his time. He was prolific: fifty-one of his books and hundreds of his articles had been published. He had written thousands of letters. Many additional works have been published posthumously. His most notable books include The Call of the Wild (originally entitled “The Sleeping Wolf”) which was published in 1903, The Iron Heel, White Fang, The Sea-Wolf (originally entitled “Mercy of the Sea”), The People of the Abyss (a sociological treatise about the slums of London, England), John Barleycorn, Martin Eden, and The Star Rover. His short story, “To Build A Fire”, is considered to be an all-time classic. His writings have been translated in several dozen languages and to this day continue to be widely read throughout the world.
This American literary genius brilliantly and compassionately portrayed his life and times, as well as the neverending struggles of man and nature. Millions of avid readers have been thrilled by his stories of adventure. Authors and social advocates have been inspired by his heartfelt prose. Nevertheless, many of his life experiences were more exciting than his fiction.
Jack London . . . The Sailor
No man has ever loved to sail more than Jack London. Even as a very young boy, fishing with his stepfather in small boats, his head would fill with visions of tropical islands and faraway places. As he grew up, he
occasionally rented boats with money earned from his many part-time jobs. At fifteen, with the financial assistance of “Aunt Jenny” Prentiss, Jack bought a sloop, the Razzle Dazzle, in order to escape the life of the “work beast”. He became an illegal oyster pirate, and before long, had earned the title of “Prince of the Oyster Pirates”; he made more money in one week than he was able to earn in his first full year as a professional writer. Realizing that the life of an oyster pirate frequently ended in prison or death, he reformed and became a California Fish Patrol deputy.
During his lifetime, Jack sailed on a variety of ships including: the sealing schooner Sophia Sutherland to Japan (on which he served as an able-bodied seaman); on the steamship SS Umatilla and the City of Topeka (to Alaska); the RMS Majestic (to England); the SS Siberia (as correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War); took a sampan to Korea; bought and sailed the Spray; designed, built, and sailed the Snark [named after the humoresque Lewis Carroll story] to Hawaii and the South Seas; returned from Tahiti to San Francisco on the SS Mariposa; sailed on the ketch Minota near Tahiti; sailed from Australia to Ecuador on the Tymeric; cruised on the San Francisco Bay and environs in the Roamer; sailed from Seattle to California on the City of Pueblo; sailed on the Dirigo from New York to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn; took the US Army transport Kilpatrick to Mexico (to write about the Mexican Revolution); sailed on fishing boats; stayed on a houseboat; visited the hospital ship USS Solace, the repair ship USS Vestal, and the battleships New York, Arkansas, and Mississippi; returned to Galveston on the transport Ossabow; sailed to Hawaii on the Matsonia; and returned to California on the SS Sonoma.
Jack London . . . The Gold Prospector
Overcome with “Klondike fever,” Jack departed from San Francisco on the SS Umatilla on July 25, 1897, accompanied and bankrolled by his much older brother-in-law, Captain Shepard, who returned home after only two days on the rugged Alaska trails. With nearly 2,000 pounds of required equipment — including warm garments, food, mining implements, tents, blankets, Klondike stoves, and a copy of Miner Bruce’s Alaska, Jack entered the Yukon Territory by way of the Dyea River and the notorious Chilkoot Pass.
Jack moved into a cabin and staked a claim on Henderson Creek in early November of 1897, after a month of prospecting. During the long winter which followed, he became well-known to his fellow prospectors for his storytelling ability.
In May 1898, he developed a severe case of scurvy from lack of fresh fruit and vegetables; he could no longer work his claim. Desperately needing immediate medical attention, he anxiously awaited the melting of the ice blocking the Yukon River. He eventually did receive some medical help but was advised to return home. On June 28, he arrived in St. Michael, after making his way in a small boat down 1,500 miles of the Yukon River. From St. Michael, he sailed home.
Jack London gained a tremendous amount of insight and perspective while in Alaska and the Klondike [in Canada]. Although he had not discovered much gold, he had uncovered a Mother Lode of experience from which he would draw material for his future novels and stories.
Upon his return to Oakland, California, he discovered that his stepfather, John London, had died. At the age of 22, he now shouldered the responsibility of supporting his mother and his stepnephew. Despite tackling every job opening possible, he could not find steady work. In desperation, he sold many of his belongings and dove into writing. He was talented and prolific, yet at first all of his manuscripts were rejected. In early December 1898, he sold his first short story, an Alaskan tale entitled, “To The Man On Trail”. His writing career was launched.
Jack London . . . the Rancher
“I ride over my beautiful ranch. Betwen my legs is a beautiful horse.
The air is wine. The grapes on a score of rolling hills are red with autumn flame.
Across Sonoma Mountain, wisps of sea fog are stealing.
The afternoon sun smolders in the drowsy sky.
I have everything to make me glad I am alive.”
In 1905, while living with Charmian at Wake Robin Lodge in Glen Ellen, California, Jack London decided to settle permanently in the Valley of the Moon. In June, he purchased his first piece of real estate — the Hill Ranch — 130 beautiful acres of trees, fields, springs, streams, canyons, hills, and abundant wildl
ife. After six additional land purchases, Jack London’s “Beauty Ranch” eventually totaled 1,400 acres and consisted of seven parcels of land bought between 1905 and 1913.
Jack loved ranch life. At Beauty Ranch, he raised many animals such as prize bulls, horses, and pigs. He cultivated a wide variety of crops, including forty acres of wine grapes which were formerly part of the Kohler-Frohling Winery. By damming a stream that crossed the property, Jack built a lake for irrigation and recreation. He introduced terracing and green water mulching. He produced record yields of oat hay on acreage that had been considered overfarmed. He experimented with innovative ideas such as growing spineless cactus, which was developed by his friend, the “Plant Wizard”, Luther Burbank (who lived in nearby Santa Rosa), for use as a cattle feed in arid regions; unfortunately, the cactus was not completely spineless and could not be used for feed. He imported thousands of Australian eucalyptus trees hoping the wood could be used for hardwood lumber and pier pilings, but the wood was found to be too soft. Jack’s “Pig Palace” was the showplace of the county. It allowed one man to feed up to two hundred hogs. And, his ranch’s concrete silos were the first in California.
The ranch was also the building site for the majestic Wolf House. Constructed completely with native redwood trees, locally-quarried boulders, volcanic rock and blue slate, Wolf House took more than two years to build. Only a few days before Jack and Charmian were to move in, the house tragically burned due to spontaneous combustion caused by a careless oversight by a workman; only the walls were left standing.
You can visit and enjoy Jack London’s Beauty Ranch today. It is now a California State Historic Park which includes the House of Happy Walls museum, the Pig Palace, Jack London’s grave, the Lake, the Wolf House ruins, and more.
A Chronology of Jack London’s Life
1876
John Griffith Chaney is born “south of the slot” on January 12 in San Francisco, California. His mother, Flora Wellman, claims the father is astrologer William H. Chaney, who denies his paternity and abandons her. Baby John is given to a wet nurse, Daphna Virginia [“Jennie”] Prentiss. Jack London’s mother marries a widower, John London, on September 7. Baby John, then eight months old, acquires his stepfather’s surname, “London” and returns to the family household.
1877
Eliza and Ida, John London's daughters from a previous marriage, are removed from the Protestant Orphan Asylum (on Haight between Laguna and Buchanan) in San Francisco to join the London family household (February 19).
1878
Jack and his stepsister Eliza both suffer near-fatal attacks of diphtheria. To escape the growing epidemic, the London family moves from San Francisco to Oakland.
1881
Family moves to a farm in Alameda.
1882
“Johnny” attends West End (elementary) school in Alameda.
1883
The family moves to a farm in San Mateo County.
1885
The family moves to the Livermore valley. Johnny discovers the world of books after reading Ouida’s Signa and Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra.
1886
The family moves to Oakland, the first of several moves within the city limits of Oakland. Johnny works as a newsboy and other odd jobs; he also learns to fight. He discovers the Oakland Free Library [a public library]. Its librarian, Ina Coolbrith (later named the first Poet Laureate of the state of California), guides him as he becomes an avid reader. He is known to visit Johnny Heinold at his First and Last Chance Saloon on the waterfront.
1887
In the fall, Johnny enrolls in Cole Grammar School in West Oakland and becomes friends with Frank Atherton. He continues to be a newboy and do other odd jobs (load ice wagons, set up pins in a bowling alley, sweep out saloons). Changes first name from “Johnny” to “Jack”.
1888
By the time he is 12, he is competently sailing a skiff around San Francisco Bay.
1889
A carefree summer. Jack visits Frank’s family, which had moved to Auburn.
1891
Graduates as an 8th grader from Cole Grammar School. Works in Hickmott’s Cannery. Buys the sloop Razzle Dazzle with $300 borrowed from “Mammy” Jennie Prentiss. Becomes known as the “Prince of the Oyster Pirates” as he raids oyster beds in the San Francisco Bay.
1892
Joins the California Fish Patrol in Benicia as a deputy patrolman. First tramping experiences as he (“Sailor Kid”) hops a train over the Sierra Nevada mountains to Reno, Nevada.
1893
In January, Jack signs on as an able-bodied seaman on the 156-ton, three-masted schooner, Sophia Sutherland, for a seven-month sealing voyage along the coast of Hawaii, the Bonin Islands, Japan, and the Bering Sea. Upon his return in late August, works ten-hour days in a jute mill for ten cents an hour. In November, he wins the $25 first prize in the San Francisco Morning Call contest for “best descriptive article” for “Story of a Typhoon off the Coast of Japan”; the Morning Call publishes the article.
1894
Works shoveling coal for an electric railway power plant; he quits when he discovers he has been exploited, having performed the work of two men. In April, Jack leaves Oakland to join General Kelly’s Army, the western contingent which is marching to Washington, D.C. to join Coxey’s “Industrial Army” to protest unemployment. In late May, Jack leaves the group in Hannibal, Missouri, then continues traveling as a tramp (moniker: “Frisco Kid”) visiting the “White City” from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and relatives in Michigan. He is arrested (June 29) for vagrancy in Buffalo, New York, and spends thirty days in the Erie County Penitentiary. In August, Jack meets Frank Strawn-Hamilton in Baltimore at Druid Hill Park.
1895
Attends Oakland High School and works as its janitor; completes high school in eighteen months. He is published in the student magazine, The High School Aegis. Participates in the Henry Clay Club (a debating society). He meets and falls in love with Mabel Applegarth. He befriends Herman “Jim” Whitaker, who teaches him the art of boxing and fencing.
1896
Jack is already known as the “Boy Socialist” of Oakland (see articles in the December 25, 1895 San Francisco Examiner and in articles in the San Francisco Chronicle in early 1896). Jack joins the Socialist Labor Party (April). Crams for university entrance examinations. Attends the University of California at Berkeley for the fall semester; disillusioned, he drops out after only one semester.
1897
His letters to the editor are regularly published in local San Francisco Bay Area papers. He is arrested for speaking in public without the mayor’s permission (February) but only one juror finds him guilty, so the city drops the case. As a Socialist, he runs for a seat on the Oakland Board of Education (March). He works at the Belmont Academy laundry. Travels to the Alaska and the Yukon to join the Klondike Gold Rush and to seek his fortune. He is accompanied by his brother-in-law, Eliza’s husband, Capt. James H. Shepard, who has helped to finance the trip by mortgaging his home. “Two Gold Bricks” is published in The Owl (September); Jack is in the Klondike and unaware of it. His stepfather, John London, dies on October 14.
1898
Suffering from scurvy and having found very little gold, he leaves the Klondike and returns to Oakland (in July). Pawns his Rambler bicycle and other personal belongings to raise some money. Joins a stampede (which was based on false news of a strike) to the California gold country (August). He undertakes writing as a profession, working intensely to develop his writing skills.
1899
“To The Man on Trail” is published in the January issue of Overland Monthly. Turns down job offer as a mail carrier at the U.S. Post Office. Begins correspondence with Cloudesley Johns (February) and meets Anna Strunsky (in December). Receives hundreds of rejections but does publish essays, jokes, poems, and stories (24 in all).
1900
Jack meets Charmian Kittredge while her aunt Ninetta Eames interviews him (January). On April 7, Jack breaks a luncheon date with Charmian to marry his former tutor and friend, Elizabeth (“Bessie”) Mae Maddern. Their honeymoon — a bicycle trip to Santa Cruz. Publication of his first book, The Son of the Wolf, a collection of short stories about the Klondike (on April 7).
1901
Daughter Joan London born on January 15. Jack runs unsuccessfully as Socialist Labor Party mayoral candidate in Oakland (receives 245 votes). Meets George Sterling. First journalism assignment to cover the Third National Bundes Shooting Festival for the Hearst syndicate [July]. Publishes: The God of His Fathers.
1902
Travels to England to investigate slum conditions in the East End of London (August-September); he uses this collected information for writing The People of the Abyss. Travels in Europe for three weeks. Daughter Bess (Becky) born on October 20. The Daughter of the Snows, Jack’s first novel, is published. Also published: Cruise of the Dazzler and Children of the Frost.
1903
Jack falls in love with Charmian Kittredge. Jack and Bessie separate. Jack's first visit to Glen Ellen. Bought the sloop Spray. The Call of the Wild brings Jack worldwide acclaim; People of the Abyss and The Kempton-Wace Letters also published.
1904
Jack sails for Yokohama and Korea to report on the Russo-Japanese War for the Hearst syndicate (January through June). On June 28, Bessie files for divorce on grounds of desertion [Bessie erroneously names Anna Strunsky as the “other woman”]; Interlocutory Decree is granted November 11. The Sea-Wolf and The Faith of Men are published.
1905
Sails on the Sacramento River on the Spray with Cloudesley Johns [February-March]. Spends summer at Wake Robin Lodge in Glen Ellen and begins to purchase land parcels for his “Beauty Ranch”. Again runs unsuccessfully as Socialist candidate for Mayor of Oakland [receives 981 votes]. Begins lecture tour on socialism through the eastern and midwestern United States (October). Jack and Charmian marry in Chicago on November 19, the day after his divorce from Bessie is final. In late December, he interrupts his lecture tour to honeymoon in Jamaica and Cuba. Published: War of the Classes, The Game, Tales of the Fish Patrol.
1906
Jack resumes his lecture tour; speaks at Yale University, Carnegie Hall, and in the Midwest, but cancels lecture tour after becoming ill. Back in Glen Ellen (mid-Feb.). Begins building the Snark. First building on the Ranch (the barn) is completed. Flora (Jack’s mother) visits the Ranch with Johnny Miller (Ida’s son); it is her first and last visit. Jack gets a custom set of teeth. Reports on the April 18th San Francisco earthquake and fire for Collier’s. Published: White Fang, Moon-Face and Other Stories, and Scorn of Women.
1907
The Snark sets sail from Oakland (April 23), bound for the Hawaiian Islands and eventually Tahiti, the start of a proposed seven-year, around-the-world voyage. Accused of “nature faking” by President Theodore Roosevelt. Published: The Road, Before Adam, Love of Life and Other Stories.
1908
Briefly returns home in mid-January to straighten out financial affairs. Resumes Snark voyage in April. In late November, Jack is hospitalized in Sydney, Australia, for a double fistula operation; he is also suffering from multiple tropical ailments. Announces publicly (December 8) that the Snark voyage must be abandoned. Published: The Iron Heel.
1909
After recovering in Sydney, Jack returns home (in July) via Ecuador, Panama, New Orleans, and the Grand Canyon. Sails the San Joaquin and Sacramento River deltas aboard the Phyllis. Published: Martin Eden.
1910
In June, daughter “Joy” dies 36 hours after birth (June 19). Construction of the Wolf House begins. Hires stepsister Eliza Shepard as ranch superintendent and business manager. Reports the Johnson-Jeffries world championship fight in Reno, Nevada. Sailed aboard the Roamer in the San Joaquin River delta. Visits friends at the artists’ colony in Carmel. Published: Burning Daylight, Lost Face, Revolution and Other Essays, Theft: A Play in Four Acts.
1911
Visits Los Angeles (January-February). Sails aboard the Roamer in the San Francisco Bay (April-May). Four-horse wagon vacation to Northern California and Oregon with Charmian and Nakata, his valet. Meets with architect Albert Farr to discuss plans for the Wolf House. Moved into the Ranch House. Travels by rail to New York City (December). Published: The Cruise of the Snark, Adventure, South Sea Tales, When God Laughs and Other Stories.
1912
Spends two months in New York City. In March, sets sail from Baltimore and sails around Cape Horn on the Dirigo to Seattle. Charmian miscarries on August 12 and is informed she will not be able to bear children. Sails the San Joaquin and Sacramento River deltas aboard the Roamer. Publishes: The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaii, A Son of the Sun, and Smoke Bellew.
1913
Neuadd Hillside, prize-winning Shire stallion, arrives at the Ranch. Jack has an appendectomy (July 8). He is warned that his kidneys are deteriorating. Wolf House is destroyed by fire (cause — spontaneous combustion) on August 22. Cruises Sacramento and San Joaquin River deltas aboard the Roamer during the fall. Copyright trial with Balboa Amusement Producing Co. Published: John Barleycorn and The Valley of the Moon. Also published: The Night-Born, The Abysmal Brute.
1914
In January, travels to New York. In April, Jack travels to Vera Cruz to report on the Mexican Revolution. Contacts severe dysentery complicated by pleurisy. Returns to Glen Ellen in June. Published: The Strength of the Strong and The Mutiny of the Elsinore.
1915
Attends Winter Carnival in Truckee (January). Suffering from acute rheumatism in February. Visits the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco (February 22). Spends five months in Hawaii in an effort to improve his health. Published: The Star Rover and The Scarlet Plague.
1916
Jack is in Hawaii from January through late July. Attends California State Fair in Sacramento (September). Neuadd Hillside dies. Water rights trial. Resigns from the Socialist Party. Suffers severe bouts of rheumatism and uremia. Complains of insomnia. Dies on November 22 at 7:45 p.m.; his death certificate states the cause of death as “uraemia following renal colic” and “contributory [for three years]: Chronic Interstitial Nephritis” [more probably stroke and/or heart failure, plus Jack was a heavy smoker for years]. Published: The Acorn-Planter: A California Forest Play, The Little Lady of the Big House, and The Turtles of Tasman.
Books published posthumously:
1917
The Human Drift, Jerry of the Islands, Michael, Brother of Jerry, The Red One, On the Makaloa Mat
1920
Hearts of Three
1922
Dutch Courage and Other Stories
1963
The Assassination Bureau (completed by Robert L. Fish)
Editor’s Note: This Chronology does not include all of the work (poems, books, jokes, essays, etc.) written by Jack London.
It is meant to serve as an overview.