Critical Response to Jack London

This volume contains the key pieces of criticism on London's major works arranged chronologically to reconstruct the literary debate on London's work from earliest reviews to recent analyses. The essays contained here show how the perception of London's ideas and concerns have evolved throughout the 20th century to reflect the changes in American ethos itself. Jack London continues to be one of America's most popular writers. While most critics have ignored him or underestimated his contribution to American letters for that reason, this anthology shows that some of the best minds of the 20th century have regarded London's work highly. This volume contains the key pieces of criticism on London's major works arranged chronologically to reconstruct the literary debate on London's work from earliest reviews to recent analyses. The essays contained here show how the perception of London's ideas and concerns has evolved throughout the 20th century to reflect the changes in the American ethos itself. London represents the American spirit which views life as dynamic rather than static, changing rather than stable. His philosophy of life was broad to the extent of including contradictions, not narrow and harmonious with the selective ideas of an ideology. He has been the best-selling American writer throughout the world, and has been translated more extensively than any other American or English novelist of the 20th century.

SUSAN M. NUERNBERG is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.