jack london, adventure author

SILC Talks: Adventure Author Series: Jack LondonBy Antonio Graceffo, PhD, China MBA

Discover reading. Discover adventure. Discover Jack London. Antonio Graceffo ( 安东尼 )

In his life, Jack London worked as a gold prospector, boxer, war correspondent, sailor, freight train hobo, and seal hunter. At age 25 he was the highest paid writer in the world. At age 40, he was dead.

Antonio Graceffo ( 安东尼 )

Reading is an adventure which can take you anywhere in time and place.

Jack London lived his life like a burning candle, and his light can still be seen today.


From 1899 until his death in 1916, Jack London wrote 50 books and over 1,000 articles.


Jack London (1876 –1916) was born poor in San Francisco, California. He had very little formal education. Luckily, he met a kind librarian, named Ina Coolbrith, at the Oakland library who encouraged him to read, and he became self-educated.


At age 16, he left home and pursued a series of adventures which would greatly influence his writing, working as a: oyster pirate, fisheries patrolman, seal hunter in the North Pacific, rail-riding hobo, and hard-drinking dockhand. In 1894, he hopped on trains and rode all of the way across the United States.

The Quest StorySince ancient times, the quest story has inspired adventurers and writers.



He worked 12 hours a day at difficult, physical jobs in factories and canneries but decided that it was impossible to earn a living through hard physical labor, therefore he determined to make a living with his brain.


In 1893, when he was just 17 he worked on a seal hunting ship to Japan. When he returned, he wrote his first published story “Typhoon” for which he was paid $25.

In 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region of Northwestern Canada. When London was 21, in 1897, he signed on to work with his sister's husband Captain Shepard who sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush. Working in the goldfields, London suffered physically, with cold and malnutrition, eventually developing scurvy, bleeding gums. This experience lead to his writing some of his greatest works "To Build a Fire", The Call of the Wild, and White Fang



Jack spent a lot of time at a port bar, Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon, the bar owner, John Heinold convinced London to attend University of California and loaned him money for his tuition. Jack studied in an intensive course where he completed his high school and gained admission to the university, but he had to drop out, in 1897, because his family had no money.


Jack later wrote about Heinold’s in his book, John Barleycorn. At the bar he also met a cruel sea captain named Alexander McLean, who became the main character, Wolf Larsen, in Jack's novel, The Sea-Wolf, on McLean.


In 1900, he made $2,500 in writing ($71,000 in today's money). In 1903, The Saturday Evening Post bought The Call of the Wild for $750, and Macmillan's publishing purchased the rights to the book for $2,000.

In 1904, Jack went as a war correspondent to cover the Russo-Japanese war. He traveled to Yokohama Japan, then Korea and Manchuria, and North Korea, where he observed the Battle of the Yalu. He was arrested three times in four months, and finally was only released because of the intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt.


He travelled extensively, writing about Alaska, the Klondike, Australia, Hawaii, China, Japan, Europe, and the South Pacific. By the time he died, Jack London had amassed a personal library of 1500 books.



During his life of adventure, Jack London had suffered a number of diseases, such as Scurvy (坏血病 Huài xiě bìng), tropical diseases, and dysentery. Possibly because of the intensity of his life and pain from disease, he was addicted to both alcohol and morphine. He also smoked 80 cigarettes per day. A cure used for parasites he developed in the Pacific was mercury ( 水银 Shuǐyín) which he took every day for years, until it finally caused his kidneys to fail ( 肾功能衰竭 Shèn gōngnéng shuāijié). In 1916, he died. Some historians believe he committed suicide. Others believe his body just finally gave out, after years of intense living, disease, and substance abuse.


The title, Burning Daylight, is typical of how he thought and how he lived. He used every second of his day. In addition to living an exciting life, he found time to write 50 books in 16 years. Jack London never burned daylight.


My favorite Jack London books

Tales of the Fish Patrol – Set in the San Francisco Bay area, Jack worked as a privateer, a pirate, employed by the government to prevent poaching. In this book he also gives an eyewitness account of the 1906 fire and earthquake which destroyed San Francisco.


My favorite Jack London books

Martin Eden is an autobiographical work of fiction. In the book, London describes his development as a writer and how he went from poverty to extreme wealth. The book also discusses his alcoholism.

“He was a man without a past, whose future was the imminent grave and whose present was a bitter fever of living.” ― Jack London, Martin Eden

“Every book was a peep-hole into the realm of knowledge. His hunger fed upon what he read, and increased.” ― Jack London, Martin Eden

“Life that did not yearn toward life was in fair way toward ceasing.” ― Jack London, Martin Eden

Martin Eden suggests that, although Jack London was rich and successful, he was unhappy with his life.



By far, my favorite London books are books about his life. What qualifies Jack London as an adventure writer is that he went into the world and sought adventure with the intention of writing about it. His own life and his personal struggles are as interesting as his fiction.

London Biographies

Jack London and me Literature has inspired me since I was a child. Thanks to my grandmother, I read great adventure authors and I dreamed of following in their footsteps.


London only lived 40 years, but he used every minute of his short life, working as a sailor, privateer, seal hunter, boxer, and gold prospector. He wrote 1,000 words per day, and 24 of his books are still in print today.

Jack London (1876-1916

Antonio Graceffo (安东尼 )

Jack London and me:How I remember Jack London

Jack London was a sailor in Hawaii. And I was a sailor in Hawaii.


Jack London was a boxer. And I was a boxer.



Jack London was a war correspondent. And I was a war correspondent.


Jack London travelled to many countries and wrote about them. And so did I.


Jack London read extensively and wrote nearly 1,000 words per day. I have read at least one book per week since I was a child. And I have written 7 books and hundreds of articles and papers.


Jack London lived his life of literature and adventure. And so have I. Now, it’s your turn. Pick up a book today, and let your mind soar.

Antonio Graceffo, PhD, China MBA (安东尼博士 )Shanghai University, SILCContact: [email protected]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniograceffo

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jack london, adventure author

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