Jack London’s Wolves, Dogs, and Humans

This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine Jack London’s representations of animal evolution, heredity, and behavior in his famous Klondike novels, The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906). A colorful adventurer himself, London wrote best-selling adventure stories; he was also a student of evolutionary theory and its many variants in 19th century European/American scientific, political, and social thought. In these two wolf/dog novels he illustrated vividly his ideas about evolution while exploring human tensions and pathways between the wild and the tame, the natural and the social, the primordial and the modern. 

Recommended Reading: Jack London, The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and other Stories (Penguin Classics), ISBN 978-0140186514. Both novels are in the public domain; any edition is suitable for the course. Other short readings, including basic readings in evolution and animal behavior and some of London’s non-fiction writing, will be posted on the course website. 

Cheryl Swift is Professor Emerita of Biology and Environmental Science at Whittier College; John Swift is Professor Emeritus of English at Occidental College. They have collaborated for many years on projects at the intersections of biology and literary studies. Cheryl Swift is also an amateur dog breeder and trainer, and an AKC-certified judge for hunt tests.