Jack London’s “Love of Life”

According to the textbook, Jack London (1876–1916) was born in San Francisco into a farmer family; in his youth he worked many trades and met hardships; he studied at the University of California and had to leave his studies. His literary activity began in 1893; he wrote about twenty novels and over 150 stories. “Bo‘ri bolasi” and “Izg‘irin bolalari” are about the northern lands; the novels “Dengiz bo‘risi”, “Martin Iden” and “Uch qalb” are counted among rare examples of world literature. His heroes strive for freedom and do not betray humanity. The story “Hayotga muhabbat”: two gold seekers are returning across the northern wilderness. Bill abandons his companion, whose foot is injured. The nameless “man” tries to find Bill and reach the hidden stores; hungry, he wanders the wilderness: he eats swamp berries and small fish and struggles with fear and delirium; one by one he throws away his reserve gold. A sick wolf follows him on the way; the weak man and the sick wolf watch each other, and in the end the man overcomes it. Then members of a scientific expedition on the whaling ship “Bedford” find him on the shore and rescue him. On the ship he later becomes obsessed with hoarding food, but this condition passes before San Francisco.