To Build a Fire

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To Build a Fire | Critical Overview

Since its first publication in 1908, Jack London’s short story ‘‘To Build a Fire’’ has been wellreceived. Today, it is regarded as a classic of American literature. In his literary biography, Jack London: The Man, The Writer, the Rebel (1976), Robert Barltrop asserts that ‘‘To Build a Fire’’ is one of a group of ‘‘outstanding stories’’ which distinguish London ‘‘as one of the masters of that form.’’ Similarly, James Lundquist (Jack London: Adventures, Ideas, and Fiction, 1987) describes the story as ‘‘starkly elegant, a masterpiece of...

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