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The Call of the Wild is a novel by Jack London published in 1903. The story is set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush—a period when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel's central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in the Santa Clara valley of California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into the brutal existence of an Alaskan sled dog, he reverts to atavistic traits. Buck is forced to adjust to, and survive, cruel treatments and fight to dominate other dogs in a harsh climate. Eventually he sheds the veneer of civilization, relying on primordial instincts and lessons he learns, to emerge as a leader in the wild. London lived for most of a year in the Yukon collecting material for the book. The story was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in the summer of 1903; a month later it was released in book form. The novel’s great popularity and success made a reputation for London. Much of its appeal derives from the simplicity with which London presents the themes in an almost mythical form. As early as 1908 the story was adapted to film and it has since seen several more cinematic adaptations.
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Review:
William Roberts gives a gruff backwoods urgency to the tale of Buck, a kidnapped St Bernard/collie cross who becomes the toughest sled dog in the Yukton - yet awards his final loyalty not to fickle men but to the wolf pack. --Christina Hardyment, The Times
In the great tradition of classic animal stories, Jack London's CALL OF THE WILD, read by William Roberts, is a wrenching story. From the peril Buck the sled dog faces in the Arctic to the suffering he endures under brutal masters, listening to his adventure is no tame experience. Roberts has a voice that could have belonged to one of this era's gold panners. He sounds like a grizzled man who would never display overt emotion but who, nonetheless, can tell a captivating yarn. While Roberts doesn t use great character range, he lets London s writing especially the passages about the mysterious, enchanting call of the wild ring with its startling beauty. --AudioFile
Jack London's deceptively simple direct way of writing combined with one of best dog stories ever, is why this book is such an enduring classic. And TV, film and stage actor William Roberts's reading is perfect. His robust voice, his ability to keep listeners glued, and the fond care with which he reads is spellbinding. When gold is found in the Klondike, there is a great need for sled dogs. Buck, part St. Bernard and part Scotch shepherd is stolen and moves from his happy life as king of the Santa Clara ranch where he lives a life of adventure, peril, though also often cruelty, to Alaska. There is a string of tales from his taming to the ways of sled pulling, to the inept trio who are doomed, dog fighting, survival, and finally to meeting John Thornton and their mutual love and understanding for one another. The longer he lives in Alaska, the more in tune with the ancestral ways of his dog ancestors Buck becomes, dreaming of old half clad masters and shades of all manner of dogs, half-wolves and wild wolves until he is drawn deep into the wilderness. This listener found this to be one of the best recordings I've listened to in a long time; I had to be careful while driving and listening because I got caught up in being in one of my favorite places and living the life of a dog. Any parent or librarian looking for something short and exciting for a child, young adult or family listening can't go wrong with Roberts's performance and Call of the Wild, a guaranteed hit! --Mary Purucker, SoundCommentary.com
This was the story first published in 1903 that made the struggling writer Jack London famous. Listen to William Roberts's majestic reading and you will understand why. Set in the 1890s Klondike gold rush, it tells how Buck, a huge wolfhound, is stolen from his pampered Californian home and becomes a sled dog in the arctic wastes of the Yukon. As brutal as his successive masters are, the pack of dogs he is harnessed alongside is even deadlier. How Buck survives the rule of club and fang is a classic, once misguidedly described as a children's book because it is narrated by a dog. Of course it is an allegory civilisation versus the old primordial instinct for survival at any price but for pure excitement and adventure it has no equal. --Sue Arnold, The Guardian
Any parent or librarian looking for something short and exciting for a child, young adult or family listening can't go wrong with Roberts s performance of Call of the Wild, a guaranteed hit! --Mary I. Purucker
Book Description:
In the great tradition of classic animal stories, Jack London's CALL OF THE WILD, read by William Roberts, is a wrenching story. From the peril Buck the sled dog faces in the Arctic to the suffering he endures under brutal masters, listening to his adventure is no tame experience. Roberts has a voice that could have belonged to one of this era's gold panners. He sounds like a grizzled man who would never display overt emotion but who, nonetheless, can tell a captivating yarn. While Roberts doesn t use great character range, he lets London s writing especially the passages about the mysterious, enchanting call of the wild ring with its startling beauty. --AudioFile
Jack London's deceptively simple direct way of writing combined with one of best dog stories ever, is why this book is such an enduring classic. And TV, film and stage actor William Roberts's reading is perfect. His robust voice, his ability to keep listeners glued, and the fond care with which he reads is spellbinding. When gold is found in the Klondike, there is a great need for sled dogs. Buck, part St. Bernard and part Scotch shepherd is stolen and moves from his happy life as king of the Santa Clara ranch where he lives a life of adventure, peril, though also often cruelty, to Alaska. There is a string of tales from his taming to the ways of sled pulling, to the inept trio who are doomed, dog fighting, survival, and finally to meeting John Thornton and their mutual love and understanding for one another. The longer he lives in Alaska, the more in tune with the ancestral ways of his dog ancestors Buck becomes, dreaming of old half clad masters and shades of all manner of dogs, half-wolves and wild wolves until he is drawn deep into the wilderness. This listener found this to be one of the best recordings I've listened to in a long time; I had to be careful while driving and listening because I got caught up in being in one of my favorite places and living the life of a dog. Any parent or librarian looking for something short and exciting for a child, young adult or family listening can't go wrong with Roberts's performance and Call of the Wild, a guaranteed hit! --Mary Purucker, SoundCommentary.com
This was the story first published in 1903 that made the struggling writer Jack London famous. Listen to William Roberts's majestic reading and you will understand why. Set in the 1890s Klondike gold rush, it tells how Buck, a huge wolfhound, is stolen from his pampered Californian home and becomes a sled dog in the arctic wastes of the Yukon. As brutal as his successive masters are, the pack of dogs he is harnessed alongside is even deadlier. How Buck survives the rule of club and fang is a classic, once misguidedly described as a children's book because it is narrated by a dog. Of course it is an allegory civilisation versus the old primordial instinct for survival at any price but for pure excitement and adventure it has no equal. --Sue Arnold, The Guardian
Any parent or librarian looking for something short and exciting for a child, young adult or family listening can't go wrong with Roberts s performance of Call of the Wild, a guaranteed hit! --Mary I. Purucker
A new edition of this exciting tale of the sledge dog, Buck, and his heroic adventures
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- PublisherLittlehampton Book Services Ltd
- Publication date1977
- ISBN 10 0460027522
- ISBN 13 9780460027526
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages120
- Rating
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The call of the Wild
Published by
J.M. Dent/E.P. Dutton, London/New York
(1974)
ISBN 10: 0460027522
ISBN 13: 9780460027526
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Soft cover
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Book Description Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Charles Pickard (illustrator). Repr. Part of the Children's Illustrated Classics Paperbacks series. Larger format paperback, edges lightly rubbed, spine a bit faded, corners a little bumped, 2 colour double-page plates, many b/w ills by CHARLES PICKARD, some light foredge foxing, vg. 8vo, 113pp. The story of Buck, a dog of mixed parentage (St Bernard and Scotch shepherd dog), who encounters the cruelty of man and finds his destiny with a roving pack of wolves. Seller Inventory # 08E187
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