The Sea-Wolf And Selected Stories - Softcover

Jack London

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451523563 ISBN 13: 9780451523563

Publisher: Signet Classics, 1964

Synopsis

The Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American novelist Jack London. The book's protagonist, Humphrey van Weyden, is a literary critic who is a survivor of an ocean collision and who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues him. Its first printing of forty thousand copies was immediately sold out before publication on the strength of London's previous The Call of the Wild. Ambrose Bierce wrote, "The great thing-and it is among the greatest of things-is that tremendous creation, Wolf Larsen... the hewing out and setting up of such a figure is enough for a man to do in one lifetime... The love element, with its absurd suppressions, and impossible proprieties, is awful."

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Review

"An extraordinarily useful edition. The supplementary and contextual materials are not only of scholarly significance themselves but also provide invaluable aids for the first-time reader of Jack London's novels."--David Holloway, Portland State University"A fine, attractive, useful edition."--George F. Day, University of Northern Iowa"A fine edition. I was especially impressed with the appendices and the notes section. Very helpful."--John Guzlowski, Eastern Illinois University"Excellent edition--the comments by Sutherland illuminate the philosophical and personal underpinings of a deceptively complex work by a deceptively complex writer. Also the Explanatory Notes are quite good."--Jack Summers, Central Piedmont Community College"Thank you."--James R. Hepworth, Lewis-Clark State College

From the Back Cover

Hailed by critics as one of the greatest sea stories ever written, this rousing adventure offers a fascinating combination of gritty realism and sublime lyricism in its portrayal of an elemental conflict. Jack London began his career at sea, and his shipboard experiences imbue The Sea-Wolf with flavorful authenticity.
In the story, the gentleman narrator, Humphrey Van Weyden, is pitted against an amoral sea captain, Wolf Larsen, in a clash of idealism with materialism. The novel begins when Van Weyden is swept overboard into San Francisco Bay, and plucked from the sea by Larsen's seal-hunting vessel, the Ghost. Pressed into service as a cabin boy by the ruthless captain, Van Weyden becomes an unwilling participant in a brutal shipboard drama. Larsen's increasingly violent abuse of the crew fuels a mounting tension that ultimately boils into mutiny, shipwreck, and a desperate confrontation.

About this edition

• Publisher: Signet Classics
• Publication date: 1964
• ISBN 10: 0451523563
• ISBN 13: 9780451523563
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 352