Martin Eden Jack London Books
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Martin Eden
Martin Eden Jack London Books
Jack London captured my heart as young boy with White Fang. Martin Eden was a good departure from London's traditional adventure and survive at all cost narrative. His most autobiographical novel Martin Eden was also an insightful and terrifying look into the mind of the young London.London's Martin is a self obsessed, workaholic, fame seeking kid. The fact that London wrote about the futility of hard work at the turn of the century is remarkable. America's mantra at the time was pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and work hard to get your dream. With this culture prevalent at the time of Martin Eden's publication it's no surprise the book was creamed by critics and universally dismissed by the public.
But looking back from the 21st century it is clear that London was far ahead of his time. He saw the many weaknesses in the deeply human obsession to achieve and to be seen.
For me personally this book was chalk full of phrases that bounced around in my head as a young man. The obsession with work to be recognized, the belief that getting the girl will change everything, the strong desire to be rich and the need to be liked. At times London's language for Martin's internal dialogue was so spot on with my younger self's it was scary.
The biggest challenge for the novel is that Martin never redeems himself. The ending seems driven by London's own contemplation of suicide (which he later followed through on) and less by what the structure of the novel and the character needed.
Martin Eden is a dark, compelling and well written novel. I hope it finds a broader readership soon.
Hat Tip to Ryan Halloway for pointing me to it.
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Tags : Amazon.com: Martin Eden (9781519483355): Jack London: Books,Jack London,Martin Eden,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,151948335X,Fiction - General,General,Literary Collections,Literary Collections General,Literature: Classics
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Martin Eden Jack London Books Reviews
A tragic story of an aspiring author's struggles to achieve success and recognition from the woman he loves. Martin Eden is also inspired to overcome the limitations of his lower class, violent background and a become a sophisticated member of society. His challenge is to achieve recognition and success before he is physically and mentally destroyed.
I suspect that this story is to some degree autobiographical for the author (Jack London) and would be especially interesting to aspiring writers and authors.
Say Jack London and most literate persons would ring up "Snow, Dog Stories and nature tooth and nail set in the context of gold rush Alaska of the 1890s. Ironically, Jack London was a San Francisco native in which he sets his 1909 novel "Martin Eden" which is his fictional autobiography.
Martin Eden is a young, virile bright sailor who resuces a middle class man from thugs. He is invited to the man's home where he meets his sister Ruth. Martin and Ruth fall in love. Ruth and her family seek to help Martin obtain a good job but he insists on becoming a published author. Years pass and his work is rejected. Martin takes such jobs as working in a laundry and going to sea as he ekes out a living on a near starvation diet. Martin is a voracious reader of fiction, essays and novels. He is influenced by Darwinian social evolutionsim and becomes a disciple of Herbert Spencer. Martin also subscribes to the Nietzchian concept of a superman who is above the herd of ordinary people. Martin is a lonely soul who is befriended by the moribund poet Brissende an alcoholic. Both of these writers have soured on life. Martin has moved from Eden to Hell in his thinking and prospects for the future.
Martin eventually becomes rich through his writings but it is too late for him to have a good life. He grows to despise Ruth and her smug suburban middle class family. He hates businessmen and philistinism and pretence in society and the literary community. He befriends a former girlfriend but his autodidadic education and fame have separated him forever from his working class pals.
Martin rejects a plea for love from Ruth and sails away from the dull life of middle class respectability and conformity.
The novel is bitter and brutal in its depiction of the American dream turned into a nightmarish vision of a man sickened with life. The Horatio Alger rags to riches tale is given a wry twist by Jack London. The novel failed to win applause upon its publication. Since then the novel has grown in readership and literary stature. It is a fine book but not one to peruse if you want to be cheered up! London's survival of the fittest
is not a philosophy this reviewer finds appealing,
This book seems to be pirated!
The only information about the copy of the book sent to me from is that it was printed in California on November 26 2017.
No publisher, no introduction--nothing. The type size is about a 5 on MS Word. Much too small for comfortable reading!
Seems pirated/illegal to me. No way of telling how accurate this copy is, how true to the original. And, who get the money?!
There is very likely a problem here.
These days there are no trustworthy publishers except for Prometheus Books and one or two others, but this copy of this book is blatant.
Simply put, the most important autobiographical novel ever written by any author. Set your arguments aside; in terms of laying out the blueprint for authorial success, there is no more accurate tome on the planet. The formula is there, in all its completeness and simplicity. Massive amounts of hard work, a terrific struggle, many failures, and a supreme work ethic and high tolerance for rejection sum up Martin's approach to success. They are identical for the author, who sets the high water mark for achieving both financial and critical success in a very crowded field. Jack London's estate is easily valued today at over 300 million dollars, not including any royalties (his work is all now in the public domain, by design, and his substantial properties were also donated to the public in the form of a California State Park). Several of his books are American and World classics and will remain so.
Be prepared, also, for an attack on the petite bourgeoisie, the philosophy of Nietzsche, and armchair philosophers and literary dilettantes in general.
Jack London captured my heart as young boy with White Fang. Martin Eden was a good departure from London's traditional adventure and survive at all cost narrative. His most autobiographical novel Martin Eden was also an insightful and terrifying look into the mind of the young London.
London's Martin is a self obsessed, workaholic, fame seeking kid. The fact that London wrote about the futility of hard work at the turn of the century is remarkable. America's mantra at the time was pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and work hard to get your dream. With this culture prevalent at the time of Martin Eden's publication it's no surprise the book was creamed by critics and universally dismissed by the public.
But looking back from the 21st century it is clear that London was far ahead of his time. He saw the many weaknesses in the deeply human obsession to achieve and to be seen.
For me personally this book was chalk full of phrases that bounced around in my head as a young man. The obsession with work to be recognized, the belief that getting the girl will change everything, the strong desire to be rich and the need to be liked. At times London's language for Martin's internal dialogue was so spot on with my younger self's it was scary.
The biggest challenge for the novel is that Martin never redeems himself. The ending seems driven by London's own contemplation of suicide (which he later followed through on) and less by what the structure of the novel and the character needed.
Martin Eden is a dark, compelling and well written novel. I hope it finds a broader readership soon.
Hat Tip to Ryan Halloway for pointing me to it.
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