The Letters of Jack London: Vol. 1: 1896-1905; Vol. 2: 1906-1912; Vol. 3: 1913-1916, Deluxe set, in slip case

by Jack London, Earle G. Labor (Editor), I. Milo Shepard (Editor)

Jack London has long been recognized as one of the most colorful figures in American literature. From his birth in San Francisco in 1876 until his death in 1916, he lived a life rich with experiences and emotional intensity. Factory worker at 14; able-bodied seaman at 17; hobo and convict at 18; “Boy Socialist” of Oakland at 19; Klondike argonaut at 21; the “American Kipling” at 24, renowned author, social crusader, journalist, and war correspondent at 28; world traveler and adventurer at 31; prize-winning stock-breeder and scientific farmer at 35; self-made millionaire by the time of his death at 40: the facts became a legend in London's own lifetime.

In less than 20 years, London produced some 500 non-fiction pieces, 200 short stories, and 19 novels (over 50 books in all). Of these books, at least three (The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf) have become world classics. London is America's most widely translated authors (into more than 80 languages), and although his works have been neglected until recently by academic critics, he is finally winning recognition as a major figure in American literary history.

Comprising 1,554 carefully annotated letters, this three-volume work is the first full-scale, comprehensive collection of London’t correspondence. The image that emerges from London's letters is of an unpretentious, often sensitive human being, extraordinarily open and sometimes brutally candid. He was capable of writing deeply moving, poetic love letters, but he was also capable, when writing to or about those he considered enemies, of a dark bitterness and vicious invective. Like most of his published
work, many of his letters ware simply good reading, written with his characteristic verve and blunt wit.

This edition is lavishly illustrated, including 112 photographs, most of them from the London Family albums and many published for the first time.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

1768 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam.

His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen".

Reviews

[Luís]

The book lived the extreme adventures narrated by the American writer Jack London (1876-1916), mainly in his great forty years of existence.
An alcoholic and quarrelsome teenager, London was a pirate in the California rivers. He was arrested after traveling the United States and Canada by hitchhiking on trains. In addition, he was a laborer, miner, socialist militant, sailor, and seal hunter in the Pacific Ocean.
At the turn of the century, he ran for gold in the Alaskan snow. His life and experiences are described in about fifty books, including novels, biographies, short stories, and science fiction. In these works, he mixed his life with fantasy and vice versa.
London, based mainly on the vast correspondence, gives a different course to the writer's life. Nevertheless, his wandering and different trajectories have elevated him to a myth of American literature.
Reading this book, we discover the secret behind the vast production of London in a short time of work, amid all the activity, drugs, and drunkenness. No matter what, Jack wrote a thousand words a day.
London's contradictions, influenced by Nietzsche, who wrote pamphlets that slipped into racism and eugenics, and even the accusations of plagiarism he suffered, are also present.

[Filipe Borges]

Um livro que me acompanhou na passagem de navio de 2024 para 2025. Apenas com O Apelo da Selva e a Peste Escarlate na bagagem parti pelas entrelinhas das cartas escritas em vida de Jack London. Não há nada melhor biograficamente que a correspondência do próprio autor, tanto em cartas mesquinhas e de assuntos técnico-financeiros como as mais íntimas provas de amor por Charmian e amigos próximos. Um darwinista socialista com uma visão filosófica muito apurada do Mundo e da Humanidade, com alguns traços racistas intrínsecos às teorias darwinistas. Mas a necessidade de escrever para respirar, comer e viver é o que dá a magnitude e a magnânima forma da sua prosa. Uma vida inspiradora para qualquer aspirante a escritor.

Teu,
Filipe Carvalho