De roep van de wildernis (1903)

The Call of the Wild by Jack London. I read this when I was about 10 years old. A long time ago. This book is included in the book "1000 Books to Read Before You Die" by James Mustich published in 2019. I've got a long way to go to finish this list. Posted on Vintage Paperback FB page. 10/20/22 ( )

This short novel was another book I managed to avoid throughout junior high and high school, and now that I'm firmly ensconced in middle age, I decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did.

Buck is a half-St. Bernard, half-shepherd dog living the lazy life with a judge and his extended family. He is kidnapped and sold by one of the judge's employees, and is shipped off to the Klondike Gold Rush, where he is mercilessly beaten and broken, and turned into a work dog. London tells Buck's story from the dog's point of view, as different owners come and go, until Buck finds his ideal master in John Thornton. Buck learns to survive, then thrive, but he is often drawn by an (un?)imagined call to the wild to be as free as his wolf ancestors.

All my reading life, I was led to believe this was a mild, wishy-washy story about a man and his dog (*yawn*) and their adventures. Instead, "The Call of the Wild" is a harsh, often violent and gory, tale of Buck's survival. This might explain the failure of some recent film adaptations, which seem to be stuck in the "family-friendly" reputation of the book. I was captivated by Buck's situations and repulsed by the harsh realities. Reading as Buck "goes wild" is both exhilarating and melancholy. London's reputation has suffered over the past few years- he was an alcoholic, free-love-practicing Socialist who was terrible with money (oh, almost every Theater Arts major I met in college?) and held troublesome racial beliefs.

I happened upon this copy in a book lot I received a long time ago, and this edition was complete and unabridged. The foreword and afterword were written by Dwight Shain, but the afterword gets John Thornton's name wrong THREE different times on one page, which is just sloppy editing. I don't know if I'll happen on another London story, but color me pleasantly surprised at this; just don't get me started on the anti-septic film adaptation starring Harrison Ford. ( )

The Call of the Wild is the classic dog novella, the book to check out if you want to know how dogs were portrayed in classic literature. Nobody could deny Jack London's reputation in his genre, and thousands of readers seem to love his dog stories. He was certainly a good author, as it is almost impossible to think of any other author who might have been able to paint such a dark, realistic and captivating picture of the Alaskan landscape, of nature's rudeness and the frameworks of the laws of nature.

This is the story of Buck, a dog who has suffered through almost everything a dog could have to suffer through in his life. He is a dog born to luxury and kidnapped into wilderness, who has to learn to adapt himself to the rules of nature in order to survive, who has to realize that Charles Darwin's quote from Origin of Species is not merely a quote: "In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment."

The point of this novel completely forgot to make its presence felt to me, however. Maybe London wrote about how you have to accept the rules of nature, maybe he wrote about the strong connections between human beings and dogs, maybe he wrote about the cruelty of humans, maybe even about the cruelty of nature - all those are motifs certainly recognizable in this novel. To me, they appeared as if they were randomly interspersed into the book just for the sake of being included. However, that doesn't mean this book doesn't earn its classic status. It is a good book after all, I just didn't care about it as much as I did about [b:White Fang|43035|White Fang|Jack London|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348472847s/43035.jpg|2949952].

In my opinion, White Fang is way more intriguing than this novel, yet for some reason, The Call of the Wild is the more popular and beloved one, so I recommend reading this first and White Fang afterwards as it seems like I was let down by my high expectations after having read and loved White Fang years ago. ( )

Excellent writing but I can see why I didn't like this in junior high - the cruelty to animals is pretty difficult to take. I saw recently that this is on a "banned book" list - have no idea why. ( )

Uma comovente e emocionante história sobre ... um cachorro. Primeiro raptado, habituado e condicionado à sua nova condição de trabalhador da neve, depois aos dias de desventuras e desastre, à maturidade e liberação dos grilhões, à reintegração à amplidão verde, ligada à reconquista da liberdade, para então o desenvolvimento final do seu chamado, ideia interior, vertigem da liberdade do selvagem. Li quando estava com dengue, uma doença 5 em 1 de múltipla sintomatologia. Talvez pelo cansaço e sofrimento, fiquei profundamente emocionado ao ler. ( )