"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper fuction of man is to live, not exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them, I shall use my time." Jack London was a man of adventure, a man of action, and only he could have truly conceived such a dynamic and challenging credo as the above. And only he, with his great physical strength, his intense intellect, and his turbulent spirit, could have successfully lived up to it. "The House of Maphui" reflects all of this.