BY James m. Torres Greaux Jack London BY James m. Torres Greaux

Biography Jack London was born John Griffith Chaney on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco, California. Jack, as he came to call himself as a boy, was the son of Flora Wellman, an unwed mother, and William Chaney, an attorney, journalist and pioneering leader in the new field of American astrology. His father was never part of his life, and his mother ended up marrying John London, a Civil War veteran, who moved his new family around the Bay Area before settling in Oakland. Jack London died on November 22,1916 at the age of 40 in Glen Ellen, California. There are multiple beliefs as to the cause of his death. The cause listed on his death certificate is uremia, followed acute renal colic.

Professional Career Jack London was a novelist, journalist (war correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War), and social activist (treatment of circus animals). A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone, including science fiction. London went to Klondike during the gold rush with little luck. He also worked as a sailor and as a California Fish Patrolman.

Personal Life Jack London was married twice. His first marriage was to Elizabeth "Bessie" Maddern on April 7, 1900, the same day The Son of the Wolf was published. "Both acknowledged publicly that they were not marrying out of love, but from friendship and a belief that they would produce sturdy children”. "they were comfortable together... Jack had made it clear to Bessie that he did not love her, but that he liked her enough to make a successful marriage." They had 2 daughters: Joan and Bessie (later called Becky) London and Bess negotiated the terms of a divorce, and the decree was granted on November 11, 1904.

Personal Life After divorcing Maddern, London married Charmian Kittredge in 1905 In broad outline, London was restless in his first marriage, sought extramarital sexual affairs, and found, in Charmian Kittredge, not only a sexually active and adventurous partner, but his future life- companion. They attempted to have children; one child died at birth, and another pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. They would be together until his death.

Personal Life Jack London was an Atheist. He is quoted as saying, "I believe that when I am dead, I am dead. I believe that with my death I am just as much obliterated as the last mosquito you and I squashed. London wrote from a socialist viewpoint, which is evident in his novel The Iron Heel. Neither a theorist nor an intellectual socialist, London's socialism grew out of his life experience.  As London explained in his essay, "How I Became a Socialist", his views were influenced by his experience with people at the bottom of the social pit.

The Work Jack London is most known for his novels. London's true métier was the short story ... London's true genius lay in the short form, 7,500 words and under, where the flood of images in his teeming brain and the innate power of his narrative gift were at once constrained and freed. His stories that run longer than the magic 7,500 generally—but certainly not always— could have benefited from self-editing, according to writer and historian Dale L. Walker. London found fame and some fortune at the age of 27 with his novel The Call of the Wild (1903), which told the story of a dog that finds its place in the world as a sled dog in the Yukon A prolific writer, he published more than 50 books over the last 16 years of his life. The titles included The People of the Abyss (1903), which offered a scathing critique of capitalism; White Fang (1906), a popular tale about a wild wolf dog becoming domesticated; and John Barleycorn (1913), a memoir of sorts that detailed his lifelong battle with alcohol. London's most famous novels are The Call of the Wild, White Fang , The Sea- Wolf, The Iron Heel, and Martin Eden

The Law of Life (1901) This short story covers the last hours of the old Eskimo chief Koskoosh. His tribe needs to travel in search of food and shelter so he is left to die because of his age and inability to see properly. Even his son has to leave him because he has a new family to feed and take care of. However, the old Koskoosh is not dissatisfied as he knows the law of life. He accepts his fate peacefully and starts to visualize the events of his past. The images of both great famine and times of plenty vividly comes to his mind. As an experienced person he contemplates nature and ultimately accepts its superiority over an individual.

Sources http://london.sonoma.edu/jackbio.html https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL44633A/Jack_London https://librivox.org/author/143 Norton Anthology of American Literature