Swift Lightning: A Story of Wildlife Adventure in the Frozen North

by James Oliver Curwood

This book was the basis of the 1938 movie Call of the Yukon. James Oliver Curwood lived most of his life in Owosso, Michigan, where he was born on June 12, 1878. His first novel was The Courage of Captain Plum (1908) and he published one or two novels each year thereafter, until his death on August 13, 1927. Owosso residents honor his name to this day, and Curwood Castle (built in 1922) is the town's main tourist attraction. During the 1920s Curwood became one of America's best selling and most highly paid authors. This was the decade of his lasting classics The Valley of Silent Men (1920) and The Flaming Forest (1921). He and his wife Ethel were outdoors fanatics and active conservationists.

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

Born in Owosso, Michigan he left high school without graduating but was able to pass the entrance exams to the University of Michigan where he studied journalism. In 1900, Curwood sold his first story while working for the Detroit News-Tribune. By 1909 he had saved enough money to travel to the Canadian northwest, a trip that provided the inspiration for his wilderness adventure stories. The success of his novels afforded him the opportunity to return to the Yukon and Alaska for several months each year that allowed him to write more than thirty such books.

By 1922, Curwood's writings had made him a very wealthy man and he fulfilled a childhood fantasy by building Curwood Castle in Owosso. Constructed in the style of an 18th century French chateau, the estate overlooked the Shiawassee River. In one of the home's two large turrets, Curwood set up his writing studio. Curwood also owned a camp in a remote area in Baraga County, Michigan, near the Huron Mountains.

An advocate of environmentalism, Curwood was appointed to the Michigan Conservation Commission in 1926. The following year, while on a Florida fishing trip, Curwood was bitten on the thigh by what was believed to have been a spider and had an immediate allergic reaction. Health problems related to the bite escalated over the next few months and infection set in that led to his death from blood poisoning.

Interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Owosso, his Curwood Castle is now a museum. During the first full weekend in June of each year, the city of Owosso holds the Curwood Festival to celebrate the city's heritage . Also in his honor, a mountain in L'Anse Township, Michigan was given the name Mount Curwood, and the L'Anse Township Park was renamed Curwood Park.

Reviews

[Philleas Phogg]

Escrita en la tradición de las novelas que tienen por protagonistas los animales del Canadá selvático —«Kazán, perro lobo; Barí, hijo de Kazán; El rey de los osos», etcétera— este libro nos presenta a «Centella», el formidable lobo en cuyas venas corre sangre de perro y que, por atavismo, se siente atraído hacia los seres humanos. En su obsesiva pasión que lo impele a acercarse al hombre, «Centella» ha de sostener terribles luchas con jaurías feroces de perros que sólo quieren ver en él un enemigo. Sus andanzas, sus pugnas, la conmovedora tenacidad con que intenta ganarse el afecto de quienes lo persiguen, forman una de las narraciones más celebradas de Curwood…

[Alex T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty basic xenofiction about a wolfdog finding his place.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Dad recently gave me a collection of vintage books, and this was one of them. It's not my usual jam as far as fiction is concerned, but I gave it a try anyway and found it light, and mostly enjoyable - with an air of authenticity from an author that apparently spent a lot of time in Alaska and Canada during the early 1900s.
In the early half of the Twentieth Century, animal adventure stories were all the rage. Books like Call of the Wild, Balto, Bambi, Where the Red Fern Grows, Black Beauty, etc. Many of these were later snatched up by the likes of Disney and made into films until the genre fell out of favor (along with the Western) in the 70s.
Swift Lightning is one such story about a wolf-dog mix surviving deep in the arctic. People familiar with the aforementioned books, particularly White Fang and Call of the Wild, will feel right at home with this one. The lush and vivid descriptions of the north country ring true - this was not written by someone who merely read about these locations.
For a 21st century reader, there are some rough spots - such as the automatic assumed superiority of "The White Man" and civilization over the "savagery" of nature. The various Eskimos and other Native Americans portrayed in the book are unflattering - and for the most part the indigenous peoples are painted as cowardly, scheming, cruel, and superstitious, particularly in sequences where they are interacting with "The White Man."
Fortunately, this doesn't dominate the book - and it is mostly a story about Swift Lightning the wolf dog, who is battling not only the elements and other wildlife, but also his dual dog/wolf nature.
Also, to the author's credit - there is a genuine sense of someone who respects the environment and the animals living there, something of a rarity for the time period. Further research on my part reveals that, espescially as he got older, Curwood was an environmentalist at heart.
This book is a quick and entertaining read, and something of a window on a past era.

[Lena Nawrot · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5