SOURCE: Wilcox, Earl J. “Overtures of Literary Naturalism in The Son of the Wolf and The God of His Fathers.” In Critical Essays on Jack London, edited by Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin, pp. 105-13. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1983.

In the following essay, Wilcox assesses the extent of Jack London's literary naturalism through an examination of his The Son of the Wolf and The God of His Fathers.

Two problems arise from the assertion that Jack London was a literary naturalist: lack of common agreement on a definition of the term “literary naturalism” and the need to demonstrate the precise ways in which London's fiction can be called “naturalistic.” Resolution of these two issues has been attempted, with but limited success, during the past fifty years. Research during the past decade owes an enormous debt to Donald Pizer, Larzer Ziff, Warner Berthoff, and others.¹ Unfortunately, these critics and literary historians...