A life devoted to Jack London

Almost two dozen books have been written about Jack London in the century since his death.

And yet, "No American writer has been subjected to more misleading commentaries," according to Earle Labor, a professor emeritus at Centenary College in Shreveport, La.

The man regarded as the world's leading Jack London scholar attempts to set the record straight with an honest portrait of the real man behind the sensational persona in his new biography, "Jack London: An American Life" (Farrar, Straus - Giroux).

He made London the subject of his doctoral dissertation in 1961, back when the writer was dismissed by academics as "a popular hack." He taught the first college course on London and collaborated with London's late grand-nephew Milo Shepard of Glen Ellen to publish "The Letters of Jack London" in 1988. Milo also donated memorabilia and archival material for The Jack London Museum and Research Center at Centenary.

What has fueled your pursuit of Jack London?

I can imagine few major writers who not only lived but also survived such an incredible number of dangerous escapades... London's life as well as his works represent exceptionally well the main currents of his time in America.

Beyond his spectacular adventures as a writer is his extraordinary talent -#8212; in fact, genius -#8212; something most of the literary critics ignored during his lifetime and for nearly a half-century after his death.

He was a professional craftsman of the highest order and a consummate literary artist.

Which work best exemplifies London's genius?

Although this may sound like a clich? I must name "The Call of the Wild." I think he wrote far better than he knew when he said, "I thought I was just writing a good story about a dog."

Several full-length books have been published about this masterpiece... translated into nearly 100 different languages worldwide.

My favorite story was told by a participant in one of the Summer Seminars for Teachers that I directed under the sponsorship of The National Endowment for the Humanities. This young man came to our seminar from The Congo.

"I was born in a jungle village," he told us. "My father was killed when I was a boy, and I migrated into Brazzaville. There I learned to read French and read 'The Call of the Wild.' That book inspired me to survive."

London's work should be placed... among the elite in not only the Western canon but the World canon.

What revelations in your book would most surprise readers familiar with London?

My account provides more confirmation than revelation. For example, I substantiate the fact that London was a true genius and a literary artist of the highest order, with special emphasis upon what Carl Jung calls the "primordial vision."

I also provide definitive evidence concerning the nature of London's medical problems and cause of death. Having made that disclaimer, I'll admit that I'm the first London biographer to explain what neuroscientists have recently identified as the "seeking drive" and how that drive related to his daring exploits. I'm also the first London biographer to mention his meeting with Wyatt Earp, even though several Earp biographers have done so. A revelation to me, which I was able to include in my biography at almost the last minute, was the discovery that London's putative biological father, William Henry Chaney, had fathered three other children before Jack.

What do you conclude about Jack's death at 40 in 1916?

London's health had been deteriorating for several years due to a number of factors: major dental problems, poor diet, alcohol, lack of vigorous exercise and -#8212; most significantly -#8212; excessive smoking, as many as four packs of cigarettes for more than two decades.

The ailments he contracted on his cruise in the South Seas, and his treatment of yaws (a tropical infection) with mercury-based ointment, were also contributive factors. He may also have suffered from lupus.

All these factors led to a death by natural causes. There is no substantial evidence whatever of an intentional overdose of morphine. In fact, he was evidently in denial of his imminent death, planning a trip to new York and writing to his daughter Joan about visiting her and her sister, Becky, in Oakland, before leaving the next week.

Milo Shepard let you read wife Charmian's diaries. How helpful were they?

Charmian called them her "one disloyalty,' meaning that she openly reveals the most intimate and personal information about her "Mate." This kind of unedited information is invaluable for the serious biographer.

I was fortunate to draw upon several other sources which hadn't made their way into previous London biographies. I was able to acquire some of Jack's passionate love letters to Charmian during the first two years of their affair. I also was fortunate to draw upon my friendships with London's two daughters as well as with Irving Shepard, (Jack's nephew), who had known Jack personally, and his son Milo, who had known and admired Charmian.

Especially worth mentioning is my interview with Anna Walling Hamburger, the vivacious daughter of Anna Strunsky, Jack's first truly great loves. Mrs. Hamburger was quite open in telling me about her mother's lifelong adoration of London.

Although you have said you refrained from psychoanalyzing London, you suggest he may have suffered from bipolar disorder. Based on what evidence?

He suffered chronic bouts of depression -#8212; the worst he called the "long sickness" prior to his move to the Valley of the Moon in 1905.

Charmian discusses his mood swings, which were exacerbated by his drinking. I also mention that his failing health during his last years clearly affected his emotions and his relationships with family and friends.

What of London's character and social views?

He was indeed a complex man of contradictions. I'm not sure that those contradictions can all be reconciled... I quote Charmian, who said that "an attempt to set down his kaleidoscopic personality can result only in seeming paradox. He is so many, infinitely many, different things."

I think it's a mistake to pigeonhole or reduce to formula any human being. We're all infinitely complex creatures. As I've already said, London was a true genius and perhaps more complicated than most of us.

I try to sum up his character as succinctly as possible when I say he was a natural-born seeker: an extraordinarily gifted artist with exceptional intelligence, sensitivity, and personal charisma, driven by immense willpower to succeed not only in his authorial career but in all his manifold callings, regardless of obstacles both internal and external.