Jack London: A Life
By (Author) Alex Kershaw
HarperCollins Publishers
Flamingo
28th October 1998
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900
813.52
Paperback
368
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 23mm
270g
A full-blooded, pacy biography of one of the most charismatic writers of the century, whose life and work were to inspire Hemingway, Steinbeck, Kerouac and Mailer. We cannot help but read on: TLS. The energy, dynamism and sheer bursting life-force of Jack London bowls you over: Scotsman.
Jack Londons life story (18761916) is as dramatic as any of the fiction he wrote. Born illegitimate in San Francisco, he was (in his teens) an oyster pirate, seal-hunter, hobo, Klondike goldminer and spectacular drinker.
On publication of The Call of the Wild in 1903, he became the most highly publicised writer in the world. Subsequent books, including Martin Eden, White Fang, The Iron Heel, The People of the Abyss, John Barleycorn, The Sea Wolf, continue in print as world classics in many languages.
Apart from writing 50 books, he lectured for the Socialist Party in America; was a war correspondent in Korea and Mexico; introduced surfing to the West Coast; sailed the seven seas in his yacht, the Snark
After graduating from Oxford University, Alex Kershaw worked as an advertising copywriter and then as a television researcher for Channel 4s Despatches before joining City Limits as a features writer. He has been a contributing editor of GQ Magazine and feature-writer for the Weekend Guardian and the Sunday Times. This is his first book.