Jack London

Mit 80 Originalphotographien. Nur 14 Jahre nach den Jack-the-Ripper-Morden verschlug es Jack London an den Schauplatz der damaligen Verbrechen - ins Londoner East End. In seiner Sozialstudie "Menschen am Abgrund" dokumentiert er seinen dortigen Undercover-Aufenthalt im Sommer 1902. Der junge Autor lebte unter dem gew hnlichen Volk im ber chtigten Elendsviertel, kam in Arbeitsh usern unter oder schlief auf der Stra e. Anschaulich schildert er die Armut und den zerm rbenden Lebensalltag der Bewohner und l sst den Leser am Schicksal der Hunderttausenden von Menschen teilnehmen, die unter den h rtesten Bedingungen im East End ihren t glichen berlebenskampf ausfochten. Erstmals vollst ndig ins Deutsche bersetzt von Maria Weber.

Dans ce roman autobiographique (connu galement sous le titre Le Cabaret de la Derni re Chance), Jack London confesse son pass d'ivrogne et sa lutte contre l'alcoolisme. Ma tre dans l'art de livrer les mis res du monde, London peint les d boires int rieurs de l'homme vaincu et pers cut par l'alcool. Avec L'Assommoir de Zola, John Barleycorn demeure le plus grand roman sur ce th me. En dition bilingue anglais/fran ais, avec lecture audio int gr e: Non seulement vous pouvez lire John Barleycorn en fran ais et en anglais, mais vous pouvez aussi couter la lecture de cet ouvrage dans la langue de Jack London, gr ce votre t l phone, tablette ou webcam. L'id al pour am liorer votre ma trise de l'anglais

The Willi-Waw lay in the passage between the shore-reef and the outer-reef. From the latter came the low murmur of a lazy surf, but the sheltered stretch of water, not more than a hundred yards across to the white beach of pounded coral sand, was of glass-like smoothness. Narrow as was the passage, and anchored as she was in the shoalest place that gave room to swing, the Willi-Waw's chain rode up-and-down a clean hundred feet. Its course could be traced over the bottom of living coral. Like some monstrous snake, the rusty chain's slack wandered over the ocean floor, crossing and recrossing itself several times and fetching up finally at the idle anchor. Big rock-cod, dun and mottled, played warily in and out of the coral. Other fish, grotesque of form and colour, were brazenly indifferent, even when a big fish-shark drifted sluggishly along and sent the rock-cod scuttling for their favourite crevices. On deck, for'ard, a dozen blacks pottered clumsily at scraping the teak rail. They were as inexpert at their work as so many monkeys. In fact they looked very much like monkeys of some enlarged and prehistoric type. Their eyes had in them the querulous plaintiveness of the monkey, their faces were even less symmetrical than the monkey's, and, hairless of body, they were far more ungarmented than any monkey, for clothes they had none. Decorated they were as no monkey ever was. In holes in their ears they carried short clay pipes, rings of turtle shell, huge plugs of wood, rusty wire nails, and empty rifle cartridges. The calibre of a Winchester rifle was the smallest hole an ear bore; some of the largest holes were inches in diameter, and any single ear averaged from three to half a dozen holes. Spikes and bodkins of polished bone or petrified shell were thrust through their noses. On the chest of one hung a white doorknob, on the chest of another the handle of a china cup, on the chest of a third the brass cogwheel of an alarm clock. They chattered in queer, falsetto voices, and, combined, did no more work than a single white sailor.

Burning Daylight takes place in the Yukon Territory in 1893. The main character, Elam Harnish, nicknamed "Burning Daylight" was the most successful entrepreneur of the Alaskan Gold Rush. The story of the main character was partially based upon the life of Oakland entrepreneur "Borax" Smith. Bringing his fortunes to the States he is cheated out of it by a crowd of money kings, and recovers it only at the muzzle of his gun. Embarking on a new life in California, he makes another fortune by underhanded means . . . only to find his corrupt life suddenly turned around by the love of a woman.

The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel by Jack London published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named Buck. The story opens at a ranch in Santa Clara Valley, California, when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska. He becomes progressively feral in the harsh environment, where he is forced to fight to survive and dominate other dogs. By the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization, and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild. London spent almost a year in the Yukon, and his observations form much of the material for the book. The story was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in the summer of 1903 and was published a month later in book form. The book's great popularity and success made a reputation for London. As early as 1923, the story was adapted to film, and it has since seen several more cinematic adaptations.

Darker Pacific tales, including "Mauki" and "The Terrible Solomans."