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  • Published: 30 July 2009
  • ISBN: 9781598530582
  • Imprint: Library of America
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 120
  • RRP: $16.99

The Call of the Wild




Twenty new titles in the much-loved and hugely successful Penguin English Library series

Revisit one of the great adventure novels and classics of animal literature—now with a foreword by E.L. Doctorow

One of the greatest American storytellers, Jack London enjoyed phenomenal popularity in his own time and remains widely read throughout the world. His work is characterized by thrilling action, an intuitive feeling for animal life, and a sense of justice that often manifests itself through violence. The Call of the Wild, perhaps the best novel ever written about animals, traces a dog’s sudden entry into the wild and his education in survival among the wolves.

Library of America Paperback Classics feature authoritative texts drawn from the acclaimed Library of America series and introduced by today’s most distinguished scholars and writers. Each book features a detailed chronology of the author’s life and career, and essay on the choice of the text, and notes.

The contents of this Paperback Classic are drawn from Jack London: Novels and Stories, volume number 6 in The Library of America series. It is joined in the series by a companion volume, number 7, Jack London: Novels and Social Writings.

  • Published: 30 July 2009
  • ISBN: 9781598530582
  • Imprint: Library of America
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 120
  • RRP: $16.99

About the author

Jack London

Jack London was born into poverty in San Francisco in 1876. Before his success as a novelist, London spent a lot of time avoiding a life as a manual worker and, in the process, experienced many things that became central to his plots. He ran away from home, bought a sailing boat and became an oyster pirate - a story recounted in John Barleycorn. His best-known novel, The Call of the Wild, was drawn from his own experience of the Klondike Gold Rush, a time that would inspire many of London's short stories as well. London became addicted to writing after winning a short story competition in the San Francisco Morning Call in 1893. It earned London $25, the equivalent of a month's wages. Dozens of books followed - including John Barleycorn (1913), The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906). He published an average of three or four books a year. He died in 1916.

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