American · 1876–1916
American novelist who lived as adventurously as he wrote. Born in San Francisco to uncertain parentage, he worked in canneries, sailed as an oyster pirate, joined the Gold Rush, and traveled the world before dying at forty. The Call of the Wild and White Fang made him famous; Martin Eden drew on his own self-education and socialism. He was the most popular American author of his generation, wrote over fifty books, and earned enormous sums that he spent as fast as they came. The prose moves with physical energy.