The Works of Jack London Quiz | Authors

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. One of the first and most famous of London's novels, it tells of Buck, the offspring of a St. Bernard and a Scotch Shepherd dog, who is dognapped and impressed into labor on the Klondike snow fields.

Answer: The Call of the Wild

Serialized in the "Saturday Evening Post" over the course of a month in the summer of 1903, 'The Call of the Wild' is based on London's own experiences as a gold prospector in the rush of 1898. London had no idea that the novel would do so well, and in fact sold the rights to it for only $2000.

2. Which 1908 novel of London's is presented as the story of the "First Revolt" against the capitalist ruling class, told from the point of view of 700 years in the future?

Answer: The Iron Heel

As may be inferred from the plot description, London was a socialist. He twice ran for mayor of Oakland, and once for a seat on the school board (seemingly a strange position for politics, but remember that this is the same board that decides what version of history is taught in our schools).

The revolt described by London was the first of many, and his foreword claimed it took 300 years afterward before the capitalists were overthrown. When George Orwell published his much more famous '1984' some years later, he acknowledged his debt to London for paving the way with works such as this one.

3. In what 1906 novel does London tell the story of the gradual rise into civility of the mixed offspring of a wolf and a half wolf, half husky?

Answer: White Fang

'White Fang' was intended as a sequel and companion to 'The Call of the Wild', which had described the descent into savagery of a formerly tame dog. White Fang begins his life as a member of a pack of wolves (where Buck ends his) and ends it in the home of a powerful and important man in California (where Buck begins his).

4. What 1906 work of London's tells of a man who lives a normal life by day, only to spend nights in the dream life of a hunter in prehistoric times?

Answer: Before Adam

The dream sequence was a technique London liked to use often, and for good reason. It enabled him to have the trappings of prehistoric life described in a modern fashion, without having to put words in the cavemen's mouths that they could never have possibly said.
Although London was wrong about several things (most notably his belief that memory was stored in DNA, whose structure had not been discovered yet), he did accurately predict that humans would not evolve all at once but in several interacting hominid species.

5. Not all of London's work was fiction. His 'The Story of an Eyewitness' was an account of his experiences with the aftermath of what natural disaster?

Answer: An earthquake in San Francisco

London lived 40 miles out of San Francisco at the time, and was asked by Collier's magazine to rush to the city after the earthquake of 1906. Much of the city survived the quake, only to be ravaged by the fires started soon afterward. As London wrote, "Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone".

6. Several of London's novels are (at least somewhat) autobiographical. In what novel does he describe the rise to high society of a poor seaman who decides to become self-educated and learn to write to become respected by a society girl named Ruth?

Answer: Martin Eden

His work is initially spurned both by Ruth's family and publishers. As soon as he writes a lesser work which becomes popular, however, they come back begging for the same works they rejected before. Martin, a poor man by this point, can find no true satisfaction in society's love for him, since by that point he realizes the hypocrisy of that love. Perhaps this too comes from London's own life.

7. In another of London's autobiographical works, subtitled "Alcoholic Memoirs", he describes (not suprisingly) his encounters with alcohol. What is this work?

Answer: John Barleycorn

The personal feelings described by London towards alcohol in these memoirs are mixed, and London opens by saying that "He [John Barleycorn, a pseudonym for Alcohol] is the king of liars. He is the frankest truthsayer... His way leads to truth naked, and to death.

He gives clear vision, and muddy dreams." Nevertheless, London claimed that he voted for women's suffrage that year only because he felt it would be the women who would finally implement prohibition.

8. In one of London's novels, Humphrey Van Weyden is rescued by a mysterious Captain Larsen of the Ghost. By what other name is Larsen known?

Answer: The Sea Wolf

Wolf Larsen of 1904's 'The Sea Wolf' was a ruthless autocratic industrialist compared by some to the Nietzschean superman...in other words, everything that London hated. Sure enough, he suffers a fitting demise at the end of the novel, with Humphrey and the poet Maude Brewster escaping together without Larsen with them.

9. What 1915 novel of London's relates the story of Darrel Standing, a man who lives dozens of lives in dozens of times and places, all while bodily spending his final days in San Quentin Prison?

Answer: Star Rover

In this later work one can see many of the themes which had been woven together in London's other works in the past. The dream sequence was one he had used in the past, particularly in "Before Adam", while his concern for the working class showed itself in his indictment of the conditions of San Quentin prison (London himself had been imprisoned for vagrancy as a youth, but not at San Quentin).

10. First published in "The Youth's Companion", what short story tells of a man who, after falling into a cold spring at teperatures of 75 below zero, must perform the title action if he is to survive?

Answer: To Build a Fire

The final version of the story was over 7000 words long, while the version published in "The Youth's Companion" was cut to a mere 2700. It is no wonder then that London referred to the published version as "For Boys Only".

I hope you enjoyed this quiz! If you're interested in finding more information on London, the Berkeley Digital Library ( http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Writings/ ) is a good place to start. It also contains the full text of all 10 works in this quiz (and many others!)

Source: Author kevinatilusa

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bullymom before going online.
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The Works of Jack London Trivia Quiz

John Griffith London, better known to us as Jack, was an oyster pirate, gold prospector, and rancher who somehow found time in between to write a few books here and there, and not just "dog stories" either.

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