The Night-Born

by Jack London

Includes:

- The Night-Born
- The Madness of John Harned
- When the World Was Young
- The Benefit of the Doubt
- Winged Blackmail
- Bunches of Knuckles
- War
- Under the deck awnings
- To Kill a Man
- The Mexican

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, American, Historical Fiction, Adventure

188 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam.

His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen".

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of ten early London stories.

Various topics and themes, from boxing to the fury of women to the struggle on Man against his more basic natures. Social commentary was included in such stories as Benefit Of The Doubt , where a crooked judge gets a lesson in justice.

War and To Kill A Man all had me thinking one way until the last paragraphs, when London made his points. Sneakily done, but his endings were more appropriate than the ones I was expecting would have been.

When The World Was Young made me think of Before Adam, which I read not long ago. London explored the idea of Primitive Man and Civilized Man sharing the same body/mind at the same moment, only this one was much more intense than the longer Before Adam.

The Madness Of John Harnod was another dramatic story. John follows a senorita to Ecuador and attends a bullfight. He and the lady had been debating which sport was more cruel: boxing or bullfighting. Each had their opinions, of course, but everyone was surprised when the madness came over John and he turned into a berserker and showed himself to be more cruel than anyone in either sport. And why? Well, that you must read for yourself.

This title was part of a personal short list I made to explore London's writing that dealt with themes besides the Klondike. I was impressed by how much the man could say in his stories. There is a great deal to ponder in each one, and I know I will have them in my mind for some time.

[Kent Mickelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle-of-the-road in terms of quality, but it’s just good enough that I think it’s worth a 6/10. I would’ve preferred that it took place in the protagonist’s POV rather than a second-hand source, but I guess it works.

She’s #notliketheothergirls

[Mariangel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story collection containing:

THE NIGHT-BORN
THE MADNESS OF JOHN HARNED
WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG
THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT
WINGED BLACKMAIL
BUNCHES OF KNUCKLES
WAR
UNDER THE DECK AWNINGS
TO KILL A MAN
THE MEXICAN

My favorites were When the world was young and Winged Blackmail.

[Jerimy Stoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed reading this collection of short stories. Jack London has a way of showing the reader what happens. I believe he is good at this because of the viewpoint he often takes from an animal's perspective. He did not write from an animal's perspective during these stories, but the dialog moved the story along very nicely. I would recommend this book to people who like short stories, adventure, and historical fiction.

[La Cucaracha · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Córa nocy" zdecydowanie najbardziej mnie zachwyciła. Lucy jest, niezwykłej urody, córką biednych osadników, która nosi w sobie pragnienie wolności, chęć obcowania z naturą, tęsknotę za dzikością. Pewnego dnia czyta w gazecie fragment z książki Thoreau. To wydarzenie staje się impulsem do zmian.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A better than adequate collection of short stories - the best ones seem to feature boxing, though To Kill a Man was a standout here. I've seen enough of London's writing to encourage me to go further.

[Arionna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack London Satisfies

As always, the master of the human condition doles out thunder strikes on the black-hearted humans that people this short story collection. Jack London: as undervalued as always... because some folks don't cotton to the truth.

[Leslie Benvenuti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Series of short stories. Not my favorite of his works.

[Cindy DeLong · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish this. A strange story about a man describing a lady he met who divorced her husband because she read a poem about night born people and she swears she's night born.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the idea of nightborn.

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tall-tale which makes a woman out to be a nut-brown Amazon. The homoerotic implications are obvious.

[gwen-]

[read for my english composition ii class]

[Brian Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection. Not London's most imaginative work or his best writing, but still far more than adequate.

[Robert Beringer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The master of the short story. I can never get enough of his excellent prose and bizarre circumstances.

[Neeti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old ranconteur style prose, vivid and captivating.