Showing results for "To Build a Fire" in Anthologies

"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."

"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.

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.