On August 28, 2007, Adam Kampe of the National Endowment for the Arts interviewed Jack London scholar Sara S. Hodson, curator of literary manuscripts at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. An excerpt from their conversation follows.
AK: Why is The Call of the Wild still considered a worldwide classic?
SH: The Call of the Wild is a timeless book in that it’s appropriate, useful, and enjoyable to read for anyone at any age at any time. It is a book about survival, and survival is an issue for everyone no matter whether we’re surviving a day in the office, a hard day of manual labor, a bad relationship, or the Klondike without fire or food. A story of survival speaks to all of us, because it makes us look within. Would I have what it takes to survive in that kind of environment? What would happen to me? It lets you imagine yourself in that circumstance.
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Why The Call of the Wild is classified by some and dismissed by others as a “young adult” book is a mystery to me. Sara Hodson seems to have it right in calling London’s classic “enjoyable to read for anyone at any age at any time.”
What do you think?
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