A Case for Interdisciplinary Studies in Literary Analysis: The Scientific Influences in the Writing of Jack London

Abstract

For the purpose of this assignment, several of Jack London’s most famous novels, Call of the Wild, Sea Wolf, and White Fang will be critically analyzed through the lens of those scientific influences which strongly influenced London, and subsequently his writing. This analysis will clearly demonstrate how it is absolutely necessary to have a complete understanding of the author’s world, not just pieces of it, when conducting an analysis of this nature. A lack of understanding will not just result in missing out on parts of the story, but instead produce an entirely incorrect interpretation of the story as a whole. After a thorough analysis of these three novels, the case for interdisciplinary studies will no longer remain an argument of what “should” be done, but rather what “must” be done in the literary community.