The Call of the Wild was enormously popular from the moment it was published. H. L. Mencken wrote of London's story: "No other popular writer of his time did any better writing than you will find in The Call of the Wild."[4] A reviewer for The New York Times wrote of it in 1903: "If nothing else makes Mr. London's book popular, it ought to be rendered so by the complete way in which it will satisfy the love of dog fights apparently inherent in every man."[42] The reviewer for The Atlantic Monthly wrote that it was a book: "untouched by bookishness...The making and the achievement of such a hero [Buck] constitute, not a pretty story at all, but a very powerful one."[43]
The book secured London a place in the canon of American literature.[36] The first printing of 10,000 copies sold out immediately; it is still one of the best-known stories written by an American author and continues to be read and taught in schools.[27][44] It has been published in 47 languages.[45] London's first success, the book secured his prospects as a writer and gained him a readership that stayed with him throughout his career.[27][36]
After the success of The Call of the Wild, London wrote to Macmillan in 1904 proposing a second book (White Fang) in which he wanted to describe the opposite of Buck: a dog that transforms from wild to tame: "I'm going to reverse the process...Instead of devolution of decivilization ... I'm going to give the evolution, the civilization of a dog."[46]
Adaptations
- The 1923 adaptation a silent film written and directed by Fred Jackman and produced by Hal Roach[47]
- The 1935 version, starring Clark Gable and Loretta Young, expanded John Thornton's role and was the first "talkie" to feature the story.
- The 1972 movie The Call of the Wild, starring Charlton Heston as John Thornton, was filmed in Finland.[48]
- The 1976 television film The Call of the Wild, starring John Beck.
- The 1980 unabridged audiobook adaptation by Recorded Books LLC (#80110) (3 audio-cassettes, 4.5 hours playing time), narrated by Frank Muller.[49]
- The 1981 anime film Call of the Wild: Howl Buck, starring Mike Reynolds and Bryan Cranston. [50]
- The 1983–1984 comic book adaptation by Hungarian comics artist Imre Sebök, which was also translated into German. [51]
- The 1997 adaptation called The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon, starring Rutger Hauer and narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.[52]
- The 1998 comic adaptation for Boys' Life magazine. Out of cultural sensitivities, the Yeehat Native Americans are omitted, and John Thornton's killers are now white criminals who, as before, are also killed by Buck.
- The 2000 television adaptation released on Animal Planet. It ran for a single season of 13 episodes and was released on DVD in 2010 as a feature film.
- The 2020 film The Call of the Wild, a film starring Harrison Ford. Terry Notary provided the motion-capture performance for Buck the dog.[53]
