illustration fo a man in winter clothes lying on the snow under a tree with a dog standing near him

To Build a Fire

by Jack London

Start Free Trial

Media Adaptations

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

‘‘To Build a Fire’’ was turned into a 56-minute film featuring actor-director Orson Welles as the narrator. This film is available on VHS and is distributed by Educational Video Network.

The story was also adapted into an audio recording, read by Robert Donly and distributed by Miller-Brody.

For Further Reference

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

Reesman, Jeanne Campbell. Jack London: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1999. This book contains a collection of essays on London's short stories and general criticism of his work.

Sherman, Joan. Jack London: A Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1977. An extensive bibliography that directs students to articles and books written about Jack London.

Watson, Bruce. "Jack London Followed His Muse into the Wild." Smithsonian (February, 1998): 104. An engaging brief biography of Jack London.

Watson, Charles N., Jr. The Novels of Jack London: A Reappraisal. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983. A solid introduction to the study of Jack London's novels.

Ghosts of the Gold Rush http://www.goldrush.org. April 12, 1995. This website offers valuable information about the Klondike gold rush.

"Jack London." Online Literature Library http://www.literature.org/authors/london-jack. June 29, 1999. Features online versions of more than twenty of Jack London's stories and books.

The Jack London Collection http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London. May 15, 2000. The site provides a biography, audio clips, photographs, documents, London's writings, a bibliography, research tools, resources for students and teachers, and links to other relevant websites.

Bibliography and Further Reading

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

Sources

Barker, James H. Always Getting Ready/Upterrlainarluta: Yup’ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993, pp. 13, 118.

Barltrop, Robert. ‘‘The Materials of Fame,’’ in his Jack London: The Man, the Writer, the Rebel, Pluto Press, 1976, pp. 179-91.

Komarnitsky, S. J. ‘‘Grandparents, Child Freeze to Death.’’ Anchorage Daily News, Vol. 51, January 19, 1996, A1, A12.

Labor, Earle, and King Hendricks. ‘‘Jack London’s Twice-Told Tale,’’ in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 4, Summer, 1967, pp. 334-41.

Labor, Earle, and Jeanne Campbell Reesman. ‘‘The Literary Frontiersman,’’ in Jack London, edited by Nancy A. Walker, rev. ed., New York: Twayne, 1994, pp. 18-48.

Lundquist, James. ‘‘Meditations on Man and Beast,’’ in his Jack London: Adventures, Ideas, and Fiction, The Ungar Publishing Company, 1987, pp. 77-113.

Perry, John. Jack London: An American Myth, Nelson-Hall, 1981.

Sinclair, Andrew. ‘‘The Beauty Ranch,’’ in his Jack: A Biography of Jack London, Harper and Row, 1977, pp. 159-69.

Stark, Peter. ‘‘Death by Degree,’’ We Alaskans: The Anchorage Daily News Magazine, February 2, 1997, G4-G11.

Walcutt, Charles Child. Jack London, University of Minnesota Press, 1966.

Further Reading

Barker, James H. Always Getting Ready/Upterrlainarluta: Yup’ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska, University of Washington Press, 1993. This book compiles modern interviews and photographs of Yup’ik Eskimos who live off the land in the Yukon and Kuskokwim river deltas. Jack London noted that the Yukon River was a central route for prospectors during the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush.

Barltrop, Robert. ‘‘The Materials of Fame,’’ in his Jack London: The Man, the Writer, the Rebel, Pluto Press, 1976, pp. 179-91. Barltrop acknowledges London's creation of numerous poorly written ‘‘pot-boilers,’’ yet he asserts that ‘‘To Build a Fire’’ stands out as one of his finest stories. Given the quality of such stories and London's reader popularity, Barltrop argues that literary critics cannot dismiss London's reputation as a significant writer.

Berton, Pierre. Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899, McClelland and Stewart Inc., rev. ed., 1987. Berton, writing from a Canadian perspective, chronicles the history of the Klondike Gold Rush, highlighting the differences between Canadian and American prospectors and their interactions with Canadian law enforcement.

Elliott, Emory, Linda K. Kerber, A. Walton Litz, and Terence Martin. ‘‘Expansion and National Redefinition: The Late 19th Century,’’ and ‘‘Jack London,’’ in their American Literature, Vol. 2, Prentice-Hall, 1990, pp. 1-9, 894. The authors frame nineteenth-century literature within the context of land acquisition and economic cycles of boom and bust, also including a brief biography of Jack London.

Hedin, Robert, and Gary Holthaus. Alaska: Reflections on the Land and Spirit, The University of Arizona Press, 1989. This collection of essays about Alaska features a piece by Pierre Berton on the Alaskan connection to the Klondike Gold Rush and another by Jack London on housekeeping in the Klondike.

Johnston, Carolyn. ‘‘Boy Socialist,’’ in her Jack London— An American Radical?, Greenwood Press, 1984, pp. 27-61. Johnston delves into London’s unique brand of socialism and explores how his experiences in the Klondike highlighted his racism, particularly in his interactions with Alaska’s indigenous people.

Kingman, Russ. A Pictorial Life of Jack London, Crown Publishers, Inc., 1979. Kingman provides a visual biography of London, featuring photographs of London, his family, and friends, along with maps of his travels, relevant cartoons, and period newspaper clippings.

Komarnitsky, S. J. ‘‘Grandparents, Child Freeze to Death,’’ in Anchorage Daily News, Vol. 51, January 19, 1996, A1, A12. This newspaper article recounts the tragic deaths from hypothermia of a Yup’ik Eskimo couple and their grandchild after their car got stuck in the snow on a remote Alaskan road.

Labor, Earle, and King Hendricks. ‘‘Jack London’s Twice-Told Tale,’’ in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 4, Summer, 1967, pp. 334-41. Labor and Hendricks reprint London’s 1902 version of ‘‘To Build a Fire’’ aimed at a young audience and compare it to his 1908 version, demonstrating that the later, adult story showcases London’s true talent for serious fiction.

Labor, Earle, and Jeanne Campbell Reesman. ‘‘The Literary Frontiersman,’’ in Jack London, edited by Nancy A. Walker, rev. ed., New York: Twayne, 1994, pp. 18-48. Labor and Reesman analyze the tragic imagery and symbolism in ‘‘To Build a Fire,’’ arguing that London’s harsh winter setting serves as an antagonistic and mythical character in the narrative.

London, Joan. ‘‘Introduction,’’ in her Jack London and His Times: An Unconventional Biography, University of Washington Press, 1968, pp. xi-xvii. In this new introduction to her 1939 biography of her father, Joan London evaluates the evolving critical perspectives on Jack London’s writings.

Lundquist, James. ‘‘Meditations on Man and Beast,’’ in his Jack London: Adventures, Ideas, and Fiction, The Ungar Publishing Company, 1987, pp. 77-113. Lundquist examines the mood and setting of ‘‘To Build a Fire,’’ describing the story as ‘‘starkly elegant.’’

O’Connor, Richard. ‘‘Self-Discovery in the Klondike,’’ in his Jack London: A Biography, Little, Brown, and Company, 1964, pp. 80-103. O’Connor discusses the phenomenon of ‘‘Klondicitis,’’ or America’s gold rush of 1897, detailing London’s journey into the Klondike and his perspectives on the people he encountered.

Perry, John. Jack London: An American Myth, Nelson-Hall, 1981. In this biography, Perry dedicates several chapters to London’s Klondike fiction, noting that ‘‘To Build a Fire’’ evokes ‘‘moods of impotence and loneliness through images of cold.’’

Pizer, Donald. ‘‘Historical and Geographical Note,’’ in Jack London: Novels and Stories, The Library of America, 1982, pp. 1001-04. Pizer includes maps and a historical overview of the ‘‘Klondike stampede’’ to Dawson, Canada’s main mining town, in this collection of London’s novels and stories.

Sinclair, Andrew. ‘‘The Beauty Ranch’’ in his book Jack: A Biography of Jack London, Harper and Row, 1977, pp. 159-69. In this chapter, Sinclair notes that London struggled to differentiate between his well-crafted stories, such as ‘‘To Build a Fire,’’ and his less successful ones, leading him to include both in his collections Lost Face and When God Laughs.

Stark, Peter. ‘‘Death by Degree’’ in We Alaskans: The Anchorage Daily News Magazine, February 2, 1997, G4-G11. Stark employs scientific research and personal stories to explain hypothermia.

Walcutt, Charles Child. Jack London, University of Minnesota Press, 1966. In this comprehensive review of London’s works, Walcutt mentions that early critics received London’s stories favorably.

Bibliography

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

Auerbach, Jonathan. Male Call: Becoming Jack London. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996.

Cassuto, Leonard, and Jeanne Campbell Reesman, eds. Rereading Jack London. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1996.

Hedrick, Joan D. Solitary Comrade: Jack London and His Work. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982.

Kershaw, Alex. Jack London: A Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

Labor, Earle, and Jeanne Campbell Reesman. Jack London. Rev. ed. New York: Twayne, 1994.

Reesman, Jeanne Campbell. Jack London: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1999.

Sinclair, Andrew. Jack: A Biography of Jack London. New York: Washington Square Press, 1979.

Stefoff, Rebecca. Jack London: An American Original. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Watson, Charles N. The Novels of Jack London: A Reappraisal. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Previous

Historical and Social Context