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The Sea-Wolf (Modern Library Classics)
written by Jack London
Studio : Modern Library
by Modern Library
Release Date : 2000-11-14
Publisher : Modern Library
Released : 2000-11-14
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780679783374
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 88 reviews)
List Price : $10.95
Our Price : $1.40
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Product Description |
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A thrilling epic of a sea voyage and a complex novel of ideas, The Sea-Wolf is a standard-bearer of its genre. It is the vivid story of a gentleman scholar, Humphrey Van Weyden, who is rescued by a seal-hunting schooner after a ferryboat accident in San Francisco Bay. London uses Van Weyden's ordeal at the hands of a schooner's devious crew to explore powerful themes of ambition, courage, and the innate will to survive. The Sea-Wolf also introduces Jack London's most memorable, fully realized character, Wolf Larsen, the schooner's brutal captain, who ruthlessly crushes anyone standing in his way. As Gary Kinder states in his Introduction, "Wolf Larsen is one of the most carefully carved characters in American literature....London, himself, seems as fascinated as the reader with his own creation." |
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Two-Thirds awesome and the rest not bad |
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This is a really good book. Jack London was one of the greatest writers in history. The story if you don't know is about a refined man who is on a ship and it goes down only for him to be "rescued" by another one. I put rescue in quotes because the ship he gets on (the Ghost) is ruled over by the legendary Sea Wolf Wolf Larsen. Larsen does not believe in any sort of moral code and also thinks that might makes right. As such, he commands his ship with a system of fear and intimidation and refuses to take Humphrey(the rescued man) back ashore. Instead, Hump, as he is referred to by the other sailors, is forced to stay aboard and goes from being a meek rich-boy whose never worked to a hardened man of the seas. The story is basically a brutal and savage one with London showing all of the ways Larsen can punish his crew and how Hump responds. Larsen is no mere man. He is extremely intelligent and well-read and that's why he keeps Hump on. The other men are not intellectual in the slightest but brutes. The only way Larsen is able to keep control is because he is also strong, nearly inhumanly so. In fact, in one scene, the mean attempt to throw him overboard after knocking him out. He climbs back on the ship and then goes down into the sleeping quarters where he is heavily outnumbered. There the men enact their plan to take over the ship. He fights off like a dozen men and survives, torturing his crew afterwords. Along the way, they meet up with his brother Death Larsen, but he isn't ever more than a faceless phantom. It is here that the book loses steam. They take on a woman who is a writer. Hump naturally develops feelings for her. They escape eventually to an island and, without giving away the ending, have a few problems there also. All in all, this is a really good, kept from true greatness perhaps by the inclusion of the woman at the end and the island. Except for that it's practically perfect. I highly recommend it. |
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A comming of age tale on the high seas |
The Sea Wolf is Jack London's classic tale of one man's personal journey. Enter Humphrey Van Weyden a self-proclaimed "softie" who is rescued on the high seas by a ruthless Schooner Captain named Wolf Larsen. Larsen lives up to his first name by putting Van Weyden-or "Hump" as Larsen calls him -through a series of trials and hardships on his ship the GHOST, which serve to mold the previously docile Van Weyden into an independent man. Along the way "Hump" witnesses the cruely and inhuman nature Larsen demonstrates towards his crew.
I wont ruin the end for you but this is one adventure on the high seas that deserves to be read as its message still rings true even to this day. |
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excellent read! |
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The Seawolf is a great story, definitely written in the early 1900s style, similar to Jules Verne, etc. In a way, it makes you want to be out on the open sea! |
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One of my favorites |
The Sea Wolf contains familiar themes of other Jack London books. Man (or animal) from a comfortable background thrown into in a life and death struggle with the forces of nature due to a bad twist of fate.
Also the Wolf Larsen characters philosophizing in this book led many to believe that the book Might is Right (which Anton Lavey later plaigarized and renamed The Satanic Bible) was ghostwritten by Jack London. I dont believe London wrote Might is Right because after doing the math he would have had to have been a teenager when he wrote it however I do think its possible that he read it and the rants in it may have influenced him and his creation of Wolf Larsen. I saw a documentary on Lavey where he talked about what a profound influence the Wolf Larsen character in the Sea Wolf was on his own personal outlook.
Overall this is one of my favorite books. Anybody that appreciates Jack Londons other work should read this. |
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Seawolf |
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My son needed this book for assigned reading at school. The book quality itself is as with any new book, perfect. As for the story line, like I said, it was assigned reading. Jack London has written some classic stories, but I can't say they are considered to be among the books that your child "just can't put down" while reading.. (except for the fact that we won't let them put it down until they are done with the assignment) My son is in 6th grade, but I believe this book is most likely for 8th grade or higher when given as assigned reading for school, since he goes to a gifted school. They typically read books 2 - 3 grade years ahead in his classes. It will go on the book shelf in our home library among the classics, though not among the most cherished for enjoyment. |
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