Showing results for "To Build a Fire" in Literature & Fiction

"He travels fastest who travels alone...but not after the frost has dropped below zero 50 degrees or more." (Yukon Code) Jack London’s best short story.

"To Build a Fire," the best-known of Jack London's many short stories, tells the tale of a solitary traveler on the Yukon Trail accompanied only by his dog as they endure the extreme cold. A classic narrative of a battle for survival against the forces of nature, "To Build a Fire" is London at his best. Also included here are "The Red One," "All Gold Canyon," "A Piece of Steak," "The Love of Life," "Flush of Gold," "The Story of Keesh," and "The Wisdom of the Trail."

John Griffith Chaney was born on January 12th, 1876, in San Francisco. In late 1876 his mother married John London and the young child was brought to live with them as they moved around the Bay area, eventually settling in Oakland where now, calling himself Jack, he completed grade school. In the Klondike Jack began to gather material for his writing. During the late 1890s Jack was regularly publishing short stories and by the turn of the century full-blown novels.

In the frozen wilderness of the Yukon, the line between survival and surrender is razor-thin. Jack London's To Build a Fire is more than a story; it is a stark, unforgettable confrontation with the raw power of nature and the frailty of human pride. Here, the biting cold isn't just a setting—it's an unyielding adversary, testing the limits of determination and the cost of hubris. The tale whispers of isolation so profound that silence becomes deafening, and of choices so crucial that a single misstep can spell the difference between life and death.

With his immense talent for weaving together deep philosophical themes and profound reflections on 19th century society, Jack London was a literary titan who left a lasting impact on American literature. Now, this gripping collection shares some of his greatest works, compiling the sweeping narratives and compelling characters that earned London his place as a writer to be remembered.

"To Build a Fire" is the best known of all London's stories. It tells the story of a new arrival to the Klondike who stubbornly ignores warnings about the folly of traveling alone. He falls through the ice into a creek in 70-below weather, and his survival depends on being able to build a fire and dry his clothes - which he is unable to do. The famous version of this story was published in 1908.

A man treks through the frigid Yukon with his dog. When night falls, the temperature drops to negative 75, and they struggle to keep warm.

Experience first-hand the dramatic ebb and flow of emotion as classic literature is transformed into the world of your imagination like never before. In To Build a Fire, the listener journeys alongside a hungry man and his loyal dog through the vast, bleak tundra of Alaska's Yukon Trail...a landscape so cold, time itself appears to have frozen in place.

At fifty degrees below zero, your spit freezes instantly upon hitting the ground. At seventy-five below zero, it freezes in mid-air. If you get wet at that temperature you need to know one thing, and know it very well - how to build a fire.

The classic short story "To Build a Fire", by American author Jack London, is brought to life in ways he probably never imagined when it was first published in 1908. The subtle blending of narration and music create a vivid image of the "Man" and his "Wolf Dog" as they set out on foot along the Yukon in temperatures colder than negative 50 degrees F. With plans to meet his friends at a logging camp by 6:00pm, the Man finds himself pitted in a life-or-death struggle with nature.

To Build a Fire is regarded by many as an American classic, one of London's most highly regarded works. We never know the name of the protagonist as he makes his way towards his destination, trekking across the Yukon at 70° below zero. Nature is unforgiving to those who challenge her.

I don't know if Jack London intended for this to be a didactic tale, but it certainly is. When the Yukon experts say don't go out when it's 50 degrees below zero it's best to pay attention. The man, he is never given a name, Sally's forth when it is actually 75 degrees below zero. London takes us into the mind of the man and the dog as the man heads to his doom. Read by award-winning audiobook narrator and producer Mike Vendetti, make sure you are in a warm room when you listen to this tale of the North because at 75 degrees below zero, it is cold.

A man with no name follows a wandering path into the frozen Klondike. And here, deep in the heart of God's country, he is forced to pit his will, mind, and spirit against the forces of Mother Nature herself.

A man travels through the frozen wasteland bordering the Yukon River, accompanied by his best friend - a large husky dog. The dog tries to dissuade the man from walking farther into the frozen land, but the man pushes on. At some point the man decides to stop and build a fire. Unfortunately, snow falls from one of the trees and extinguishes the fire. This is the moment where the problems truly begin.

The greatest short story writers strive to achieve a single, dramatic effect, a feature which the early masters of this genre perfected. Although the short story came from Europe, it was reborn in America and reached a pinnacle of superb form on these shores by the turn of the 20th century. In so many of our best writers, we hear echoes of a pioneer ethos that sustains the heart of a great literature. Here are 12 of America's best.

Publicada en 1908, “Hacer un fuego” (“To Build a Fire”) está considerada la mejor historia corta de Jack London. Cuenta una historia engañosamente simple. Un hombre decide salir a caminar solo en un día en el que la temperatura es de - 45 ºC. Es un buscador de oro inexperto, recién llegado al Yukón. El hombre decide salir solo aunque los viejos pobladores le advirtieron de que la primera y única ley del invierno en el Yukón es que nunca se sale sin un compañero.