"Born in San Francisco as John Griffith Chaney on January 12, 1876, Jack London lived a life even more dramatic than those portrayed in many of his novels. His biological father never acknowledged paternity, shunning his mother while she was still pregnant. She would later marry Civil War veteran John London, who took him in as his stepson and gave him his surname. London grew up in severe financial hardship."
"From an early age, he left school and took up multiple jobs to help support his family. He earned money as a paper boy and worked in saloons and factories. As a teenager, he illegally harvested oysters in the San Francisco Bay before jumping sides to join the San Francisco Bay fishery patrol, where he pursued illegal oyster harvesters such as himself. At age 17, he worked on a seal hunting ship that sailed around Japan and the South Pacific."
"London began writing about what he knew and had lived through. An early piece about his time aboard a sealing ship won first prize from the "San Francisco Call" newspaper. London kept pursuing adventure, joining unemployed workers as they marched across the United States toward Washington. He lived as a drifter, spent 30 days in jail, and at age 20 finally enrolled in college. After just one semester, he quit."
John Griffith Chaney, born January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, was raised by a stepfather who gave him the surname London after his biological father denied paternity. Extreme childhood poverty forced him to leave school and take jobs as a paperboy, in saloons and factories, and as an illegal oyster harvester before joining the fishery patrol. He sailed on a seal hunting ship around Japan and the South Pacific at 17 and later composed stories drawn from those experiences. He lived as a drifter, spent time in jail, briefly attended college, shoveled coal, and developed political consciousness influenced by Karl Marx and Charles Darwin, which informed his socially aware fiction and public advocacy.
Read at www.dw.com
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