The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories

‘We need London’s mythical wolf almost as much as we need the wildernesses of the world, for without such ghost-animals from the depths of the human subconscious we are alone with ourselves’ – from the introduction. This volume of the best of Jack London’s famed stories of the North includes The Call of the Wild, London’s masterpiece about a dog learning to survive in the wilderness, along with ‘Bâtard’, ‘Love of Life’, and White Fang, the story of a wild dog’s acclimation to the world of men, generally considered the companion piece to The Call of the Wild. In his introduction, James Dickey probes London’s strong personal and literary identification with the wolf-dog symbol and totem. Andrew Sinclair, London’s official biographer and the volume’s editor, provides a brief account of London’s life as sailor, desperado, socialist, adventurer and acclaimed author.