The thirty-year-old, internationally acclaimed Jack London cobbled together

in 1906 to meet his mounting expenses, especially the building of his – unseaworthy – sailboat

. The only gem in this uneven short-story collection is “All Gold Canyon”, an environment-minded tale of prospecting that contains some of his “best lyrical description and dramatic narrative” (Labor, “Introduction”, xvii). Alongside it are seven potboilers noteworthy only for their autobiographical traces and superficial treatment of issues of lifelong interest to London, such as the evils of capitalism, Darwinian evolutionary theory, or writing for the newspapers.

“All Gold Canyon” opens with the description of an Edenic Sierra canyon pervaded by a “spirit of the

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Citation: Fachard, Alexandre. "Moon-Face and Other Stories". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 June 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35827, accessed 23 November 2024.]