''Burning Daylight'' is a novel by

Jack London John Griffith London (; 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 t ...

, 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 ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. The second part of the novel takes place in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. "Burning Daylight", the main character, is partially based upon the life of Oakland entrepreneur

"Borax" Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Oakland, California. He was known nationally and internationally as " ...

, 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''. Hi ...

published the novel serially, later that year, Macmillan published the novel as a book.

Etymology

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 natio ...

uses "burning daylight" in ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' 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 ...

''. The phrase means "spending time uselessly", something that the main character was expressly against, and tried to live his life to the fullest.

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 ...

* Burning Daylight (1928 film)

Canadian film adaptation

* Burning Daylight (2010) The film, set in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, shot entirely in and around

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, 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'' ...

, 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.

USSR (Russia) film adaptation

* Time-does-not-wait (Russian) Time-does-not-wait (1975)

Reception

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

References

External links

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' * 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 Adventure novels adapted into films Klondike Gold Rush {{1910s-hist-novel-stub