THE CALL OF THE WILD
Jack London
eBook
(Dove Cornerstone Classics, Aug. 31, 2011)
First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London's masterpiece. Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike. Buck, a physically impressive dog, is living the good life in California when he gets stolen and put into dog slavery. For him, this means pulling a ridiculously heavy sled through miles and miles of frozen ice with little or nothing to eat and frequent beatings. As the definition of a domestic dog suggests, Buck is out of his element until he begins to adapt to his surroundings, and learn from the other dogs. Buck also starts having strange dreams about the primitive days of dogs and men, before the advent of cities or houses or culture. There are no rules or morality here (interesting, since Buck’s first owner was a judge), save for what is called "the law of club and fang," a kill-or-be-killed, ruthless way of thinking. Jack London (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), was an Americanauthor who wrote The Call of the Wild and other books. A pioneer in thethen-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one ofthe first Americans to make a huge financial success from writing.
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