Jack London: A Life - Softcover

Kershaw, Alex

Softcover

ISBN 10: 031219904X ISBN 13: 9780312199043

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 1999

Synopsis

Raised in poverty as an illegitimate child, Jack London dropped out of school to support his mother, working in mind-deadening jobs that would foster a lifelong interest in socialism. Brilliant and self-taught, he haunted California's waterside bars, brawling with drunken sailors and learning about love from prostitutes. His lust for adventure took him from the beaches of Hawaii to the gold fields of Alaska, where he experienced firsthand the struggles for survival he would later immortalize in classics like White Fang and The Call of the Wild.

A hard-drinking womanizer with children to support, Jack London was no stranger to passion when he met and married Charmian Kittredge, the love of his life. Despite his adventurous past, London had never before met a woman like Charmian; she adored fornication and boxing, and willingly risked life and limb to sail and explore. She typed his manuscripts while he churned out novels, serving as his inspiration and his critic.

Lover, fighter, and onetime hobo, Jack London lived large and died before he was forty. This is a rare biography, from bestselling historian Alex Kershaw, that proves the truth can be more fascinating--and a far greater adventure--than a fiction.

About this title

Review

Alex Kershaw plunges readers into the world of Jack London by using lots of direct quotations and maintaining a fast-paced narrative--just right for dealing with an author who crammed as much action into his brief, 40-year existence (1876-1916) as can be found in his classic adventure fiction The Call of the Wild. Kershaw does justice to London's ardent socialism and pioneering efforts to protect the natural environment; his distasteful racism is acknowledged, but only briefly. This heartfelt tribute aims to kindle our admiration for "the passion and energy with which [London] lived, and which still sustains his best prose."

Review

"Kershaw brings to life this talented but self-destructive man." --The New York Times

" . . . Kershaw incisively reveals how the Oakland native's stint as a child laborer, Barbary Coast oyster pirate, boxcar hobo, and Alaska gold rusher would, by his mid-20s, inspire his most popular fiction." --Entertainment Weekly

"So incredible are some of London's escapades that only an equally talented biographer could capture the essence of the author's character. Alex Kershaw does just that in Jack London, a breathless new look at the rough-and-tumble writer, warts and all." --New York Post

"Kershaw's portrait is swift and sympathetic, and it makes you want to go back and read London's work again. You can't ask more of literary biography." --Men's Journal

"Kershaw tells the human--or, for London, 'superhuman'--story well. . . . the lively story of a vitalistic life should help us look at him again." --The Times of London

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 031219904X
• ISBN 13: 9780312199043
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360