owned boats, wrote of his travels, and lived life to its fullest. One of
my favorite quotes is this:
No wonder he was dead by the age of 40. He lived a hard, active,
wild life, and regretted none of it.
You can imagine my thrill when I went to the Jack London
Ranch outside San Francisco at the end of 2000. I went to San
Francisco to be interviewed on a new television show. While there,
I rented a car and headed out to Jack London country.
I went to his famous home, too, called Wolf Mansion. I walked
around what was left of it anyway. It had burned nearly completely
to the ground before London ever got to move into it.
And I went to London’s grave. He was cremated and put under
one of the giant volcanic red boulders on his property.
I also went inside a museum on the property, now part of the
California parks system, and saw an old movie with Jack London
in it. It was, of course, a black and white film, a silent one, but Jack
London’s smile lit up the frames. It was incredible to see this hero
of mine so obviously alive, to realize he had indeed once lived and
walked the earth, just like you or me.
What I learned from Jack London’s writing, and especially from
The Sea Wolf, was to keep readers hooked by not giving them an
ending to something you know they wanted to see resolved.
What I Learned from The Sea WolfI would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my ashes should burn out in a brilliant
blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in
magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The
proper function of a man is to live, not to exist. I shall not
waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
—Jack London