Jack London’s 1903 novel, The Call of the Wild, occupies a unique position in literary culture. Widely translated, this best-selling work resists easy classification. Best known as a robust adventure story featuring a once-pampered dog impressed into hard labor as a Klondike sled-dog, The Call of the Wild can be variously categorized as naturalism, social protest, historic saga, captivity tale, animal story and action-packed realism. The novel, strongly influenced by London’s reading of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer as well as his alignment with socialist thought, showcases three significant facets of literary production: awareness of social, political and economic realities; artistic representation of a discrete landscape during a particular historic moment; and grasp of the demands and desires of literary consumers. As a young gold-seeker who had himself survived grueling conditions in the Yukon during...
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Citation: Gatti, Susan. "The Call of the Wild". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 January 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1335, accessed 09 June 2026.]
