Jack London was arguably America’s first celebrity author. His life, though short, was one of adventure and often controversy. He was a poacher, a failed gold miner, worked in a cannery, spun jute, and rode the rails as a hobo, all before reaching the age of eighteen. He became a world-famous writer, an outspoken advocate for animal rights, workers’ rights, eugenics, socialism, and atheism. His work as a writer made him fabulously rich, and he flaunted his wealth shamelessly.

A lifelong unashamed love of drinking led to his admitted addiction to alcohol, and a frank discussion of alcoholism in his memoir/novel John Barleycorn. London wrote of the titular character, a euphemism for whiskey, “He gives clear vision, and muddy dreams. He is the enemy of life, and the teacher of wisdom beyond life’s wisdom”. In his book, he gave a new term to the English lexicon, describing the drunkard, whom, stupid with drink, “…falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants”. Seeing pink elephants has been a metaphor for drunkenness ever since.

London’s work was marked with a realism the reader often sensed and the writer had often experienced. His most evil character, the sadistic sea captain Wolf Larsen in The Sea Witch, was based on a seafarer he had known in his youth. The Yukon characters of White Fang and The Call of the Wild were based on people he knew during his own adventures in the north. Though he exuded a hale and hearty appearance, his health was often frail, and he was subject to several illnesses, most of them aggravated by his chronic drinking. He rose from rags to riches, though he never lost sight of the rags.

→ Subscribe for new videos at least twice a week!
https://www.youtube.com/c/biographics...

Love content? Check out Simon's other YouTube Channels:

Geographics:    / @geographicstravel  
TopTenz:    / toptenznet  

Check out Eric's Stuff:

Storytelling Deep Dive Channel:    / @storyrant   Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/EricMalikyte

Karl's Socials:
Fact Fiend: https://www.youtube.com/ @FactFiend
Wiki Weekends: https://www.youtube.com/ @wikiweekends
Untitled Side Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ @untitledsidechannel

Twitter:   / karlsmallwood  

Further Reading:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/318/3...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/h...
https://www.nps.gov/klgo/learn/goldru...
http://exhibits.lib.usu.edu/exhibits/...
https://www.americanheritage.com/tr-a...
https://americanliterature.com/author...
https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darw...
https://www.who.int/health-topics/yaw...
https://jacklondonpark.com/wp-content...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...