Earle Labor

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Earle Gene Labor (March 3, 1928 – September 15, 2022)^[1] was an American writer. A George Wilson Professor (Emeritus) of American Literature at Centenary College of Louisiana, his research and teaching career was devoted to the study of the American author, Jack London. He taught the first undergraduate course devoted to London at Utah State University in 1966. Labor taught the first-ever graduate course on London in 1973-74 (University of Aarhus, Denmark) while on a Fulbright Scholarship.

Labor received his B.A. and M.A. from Southern Methodist University in 1949 and 1952, respectively. He received his Ph.D from the University of Wisconsin in 1961. He was the founder and curator of The Jack London Museum and Research Center at Centenary College. Classes he has taught include: a seminar on Jack London; a class on American gothic fiction 'The Power of Darkness'; a seminar on the American novel; a two-semester survey course on American literature; and several classes on Critical Approaches to Literature. Jack London: An American Life received the 2014 Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Nonfiction Biography.

In 1991, Labor received the "Humanist of the Year Award" from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

In 2016, the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University published Labor's memoir, The Far Music.

Labor died in Shreveport, Louisiana, on September 15, 2022, at the age of 94.^[1]