''Burning Daylight'' is a novel by

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

, published in 1910, one of the best-selling books of that year and London's best-selling book in his lifetime. The novel has been adapted for film.

Plot

The first part of the novel takes place in the Yukon Territory in 1893 and in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. The second part of the novel takes place in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. "Burning Daylight", the main character, is partially based upon the life of Oakland entrepreneur "Borax" Smith, but named for Elam Harnish (1866-1941).

Distribution

In 1910, the

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...

published the novel serially, later that year,

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

published the novel as a book.

Etymology

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

uses "burning daylight" in ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'' and ''

The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

''.

American film adaptations

* Burning Daylight: The Adventures of 'Burning Daylight' in Alaska (1914) * Burning Daylight: The Adventures of 'Burning Daylight' in Civilization (1914) *

Burning Daylight (1920 film) ''Burning Daylight'' is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Edward Sloman with Mitchell Lewis, Helen Ferguson, and William V. Mong starring. It was distributed by Metro Pictures. It is based on the 1910 Jack London novel of the same n ...

Burning Daylight (1928 film) ''Burning Daylight'' is a 1928 silent dramatic action adventure film directed by Charles Brabin and starring Milton Sills and Doris Kenyon, a real-life married couple. It was produced and distributed by First National Pictures and based on the 19 ...

Canadian film adaptation

* Burning Daylight (2010) The film, set in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, shot entirely in and around

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, starring

Robert Knepper Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959) is an American actor best known for his role as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox drama series '' Prison Break'' (2005–2009, 2017), Samuel Sullivan in the final season of the NBC series ''Heroes'' (2 ...

, was produced and directed by Kazakhstani-Canadian

Sanzhar Sultanov Sanzhar Sultan (born December 7, 1988, as ''Sanzhar Sultanov'') is a Canadian film director, producer and screenwriter. Early life Sultan was born in the small village of Korday, Kazakhstan. He grew up and studied in at Downside School in Englan ...

. This version, based on two short stories and the novel, concentrated on the second half of the book, " in Civilization". The film had a Jack London Foundation benefit preview screening on August 9, 2010 at the Sebastiani Theater in

's late-life hometown of Sonoma, California.

Reception

Some critics see ''Burning Daylight'' not a novel but a series of short stories.

References

External links

.
Burning Daylight
' *

.
Burning Daylight
'
Jack London

Burning Daylight
'
Jack London

Burning Daylight
'
Jack London

Burning Daylight
'
Jack London

Burning Daylight
' * 1910 American novels Novels by Jack London American adventure novels American historical novels Novels set in Yukon Novels set in the 19th century Fiction set in 1893 American novels adapted into films Klondike Gold Rush {{1910s-hist-novel-stub