The Jacket (the Star-Rover)

Jack London was one of the first writers to earn a living in part from his writings in commercial fiction magazines. London became a socialist and his writings reflect this change in his political views. He is best known for his novels The Call of the Wild and White fang. Star Rover was published in the United Kingdom as The Jacket. It is a series of short stories loosely joined together. This story of reincarnation centers on Darrell Standing who is a university professor serving a life sentence in San Quentin for murder. Prison officials use the jacket (a torture device) a try and break his spirit. Standing uses a trance state in which he wonders around the stats experiencing past lives as a means to withstand the torture. This novel is unlike any other written by Jack London.