A Dog's Life

On this day in 1876, author Jack London was born in San Francisco, California.

Jack London crafted tales of the far north and spun yarns about the sea in more than fifty books. His style in these novels and short stories was noted for its brutal realism.

London's most widely known work is The Call of the Wild, the great story of Buck, the pack dog, published 1903. Jack London's vivid prose makes it easy to imagine the rigors of Buck's life on his rough journey through the wilds of Alaska:

"The day had been long and arduous, and he slept soundly and comfortably, though he growled and barked and wrestled with bad dreams.

"Nor did he open his eyes till roused by the noises of the waking camp. At first he did not know where he was. It had snowed during the night and he was completely buried. The snow walls pressed him on every side, and a great surge of fear swept through him—the fear of the wild thing for the trap. It was a token that he was harking back through his own life to the lives of his forebears; for he was a civilized dog, an unduly civilized dog and of his own experience knew no trap and so could not of himself fear it. The muscles of his whole body contracted spasmodically and instinctively, the hair on his neck and shoulders stood on end, and with a ferocious snarl he bounded straight up into the blinding day, the snow flying about him in a flashing cloud."

Source: Jack London. Call of the Wild (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995).

Pictured: Albert Bierstadt, 1830 Germany–1902 USA, Alaskan Coast Range, about 1889, oil on paper, 13 7/8 x 29 3/8, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Orrin Wickersham June.