Customer Reviews

The Sea-Wolf (Puffin Classics)

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Having a Kindle helps one to discover books which otherwise would certainly have been missed. This is one of them.

It's the tale of a rather bookish "gentleman" who is virtually press-ganged to work on a sailing ship. Through vicious hardship he is faced with the choice of survival (and in the process compromising his morality) or almost certain death. The main villain, if you will, is the Captain of the ship, who's physical strength and presence is overwhelming.

Some of the language is a little archaic, but the Kindle dictionary didn't let me down.

It's well worth the read. Get past the first ten pages, and you may find it hard to put down.

It has been many years since I've read any Jack London and it was good to get back in the adventure story groove. He does paint a good visual in one's mind of the settings even with the 19th century language. The story moves along pretty well although some of the flowery romantic speech seem to drag for me. The conclusion was sufficiently satisfying and it is suitable reading for young readers.

Great book! I had never read Jack London before but after visiting his burnt down estate in Northern California I became interested in his writing. This book is excellent, entertaining and fast paced. The kindle edition seems not to be missing any pages. Great Free Download.

Caution: The Sea Wolf is full of examples of man's inhumanity to man. If you are easily upset by callous disregard of the health and safety of others, you will not enjoy this book. Further, the book describes many of the worst abuses of the ways that seals were hunted for their fur.

On the surface, The Sea Wolf is a story about seal hunting expeditions to the Bering Sea. Beneath the surface, this book is an allegory about the nature of a human's life.

The Sea Wolf is one of those novels that explores philosophy as its primary purpose. The idea is to take abstract philosophical ideas, and make the philosophies come to life by putting them into interesting circumstances. So while there's an adventure tale on the surface of The Sea Wolf, that story is there merely to provide examples of the philosophical points. So don't be surprised if the adventure falters from time to time in favor of developing the philosophical examples. In the Sea Wolf, action is included primarily for character development rather than the reader's visceral entertainment.

In this book, Jack London was obviously fascinated by the new theories of Social Darwinism that grew out of Darwin's Origin of Species, indicating that the most capable people survived and prospered while the least capable fell by the wayside. Another influence was Nietzsche's concept of the amoral superman. A third influence was Milton's poem, Paradise Lost, and the role that Lucifer played in that story. To explore these points, Mr. London developed Captain Wolf Larsen, owner of the seal hunting schooner, Ghost. Captain Larsen is as amoral and strong in body and mind as you can imagine. Think of him as 100 percent traditional masculinity.

For a counterpoint, Mr. London looked to the traditional concepts of the Christian gentleman. Such a man is concerned with matters of the soul, helping others, ideas, and pursuing perfection. Taken to its extreme, such a man becomes almost like a woman. To develop this contrast, Mr. London uses the character of Humphrey van Weydon (known as "sissy" van Weydon to his friends while growing up) who is a literary critic.

The story evolves through putting Humphrey van Weydon into Larsen's world. The book's key theme is that a true man combines the virtues of a Christian gentleman with the masculine strength and independence of his sex's superior qualities over many women (like a successful jousting knight), but this true man can only be completed by the company and spiritual connection to a good woman (much like the medieval knight had to have his lady as a source of platonic love). As you can imagine, this theme will not inspire those looking for a nonstop, heart-pounding adventure tale.

The power of the story comes in the book's first half, when you will not know what to expect next from Wolf Larsen. If you are like me, you will feel a little involuntary discomfort every time Larsen comes near van Weydon . . . or anyone else, for that matter. The book's second half will be less appealing to most male readers, but will be the more appealing part for many female readers.

Many readers will find the coincidences that bring the characters together when they do to be more than a stretch, and draw away from the story. I suggest that you look upon these circumstances as being intended to portray the hand of Providence, in Mr. London's way of thinking.

The book's strength is the way that the van Weydon character develops. You will come to appreciate his trials and the ways he handles them. If you find that you don't like that character after 75 pages, I suggest that you read no further unless you are otherwise enjoying the book.

May all your endeavors be worthy of your highest ideals and potential!

When I first dipped into THE SEA WOLF, I was struck by its similarity to CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS. Humphrey van Weydon's ferry-steamer, The Martinez, is rammed by another ship in San Francisco Bay in a heavy fog. Van Weydon is rescued by Wolf Larsen, captain of the seal-hunter, The Ghost. Larsen refuses to take Van Weydon ashore, laughing at his offer of money. Once again, I am reminded of another famous book, MOBY DICK, and Larsen is Captain Ahab. Ruthless and single-minded, Larsen decides to make Van Weydon his cabin boy on this four month trip to provide seal pelts for fashionable American women. Van Weydon resists until Larsen catches hold of his arm and squeezes. A man of letters who freely admits never working a day in his life, Van Weydon does everything he's told from that point on, including aiding and abetting the Captain as he mistreats his crew.
Early on we learn some of Larsen's motivation when he and Van Weydon have a literary discussion. We discover that Larsen is a literary bully. He's never spent a day in school, but he reads Shakespeare, Robert Browning and John Milton. London's theme becomes clear and Larsen and van Weydon argue about immortality, van Weydon declaring that man has a soul; Larsen retorting with a Scrooge-like "Bah!" And suddenly we have the first gleanings of an existentialist novel. If there were no God, how should man behave? Larsen, seeing evil everywhere he looks, decides he will do whatever is best for him personally.
The conflict is not precisely good versus evil. Van Weydon is a weakling, a pampered rich man, a coward. There is also much to admire about Wolf Larsen. He outduels seven men during a mutiny. He's constantly reading, constantly trying to understand. When Van Weydon's story arc begins to ascend--he learns seamanship, rebuilds the ship when its masts are destroyed--we can't help but give Larsen a bit of credit. Larsen never took no for an answer, no task was too difficult.
Another interesting element in the book is London's fledgling steps toward women's liberation. Van Weydon falls in love with another castaway, Maud Brewster, and together they overcome storms, isolation on a small seal rookery, and sabotage.
I guess I knew London was a better writer than the man who wrote CALL OF THE WILD (His short story "To Build a Fire" is one of my favorites), but I wasn't expecting a philosophical discourse wrapped around a sea adventure.

Jack London's stated intention in writing this book was to place a man and a woman, both intellectual, well-to-do, yet socially soft (physically and psychologically). into the very challenging world of a seal hunting boat and watch them strive for survival. In this context, he has created one of the most fascinating characters of all literature, Wolf Larson, the inhuman captain of the "Ghost." Larson takes great delight in the suffering he brings to Humphrey Van Weyden and Maud Brewster, but they steadily grow to meet the challenge. This book can be read and enjoyed on two levels: As a rousing sea adventure, or as a discourse on society and sociology. Jack London is my favorite author -- I am in the process of collecting first editions of all fifty of his books -- and yet I find Sea Wolf ranks head and shoulders above all his other works. It could explain why this story has been turned into a film seven times, more than any of his his other stories, including The Call of the Wild. Two of cinema's great Wolf Larsons have been Edward G. Robinson and Charles Bronson.

It's a real shame that Jack London coupled one of his most fascinating and full-blooded characters with a stinker of a love story which carries no conviction.

Maud Brewster, like many of London's female characters (from Skeet, Curly and Mercedes in The Call of the Wild to Beth, Alice and Collie in White Fang), is underdeveloped, a mite hysterical, and completely dependent on the male characters. Without much in terms of psychological complexity, Maud provides a poor, poor reason for Humphrey Van Weyden to rebel against Wolf Larsen.

The first half of this book and its final few chapters are superb because London's male characters and their struggles are vividly portrayed. The knife-whetting contest between Mugridge and Hump; the homoerotic segment where Hump tends to a naked and wounded Larsen; Johnson and Leach's struggle against Larsen's iron fist -- London obviously loves these characters and gives them the light of day. Maud is another story.

In any event, the first half of this book is the top-notch tale of a Miltonic hero's slow slide from power, and the ending a moving fulfillment of this character's destiny (life, in the end, *is* yeast...but a savagely active and beautiful yeast, at that). Another one of London's terrible worlds unfolding its brutal majesty before us -- and, of course, another book inexplicably relegated to the children's section of many a book store.

Humphrey Van Weydon is an affluent gentleman living in San Francisco during the early 1900's. Because of his inherited father's wealth, he hasn't had to work a day in his life, has gotten a first class education, and spends most of his time reading and discussing the latest novels. One foggy day as he travels across the bay to visit a friend there is a collision, and he is cast into the sea. After being rescued, he discovers that he is aboard a seal-hunting ship bound for Japan with a cold-hearted captain. This captain, known as the Sea Wolf, has no respect for Humphrey's money and decides to keep him aboard to be used for work in the galley. The Sea Wolf also has no respect for life, viewing it as fermenting yeast with the most brutal aspects of natural selection in play. He is a self-educated man and talks with Humphrey about life, philosophy, literature, et cetera. London describes their situation as "relations...between king and jester." A gripping tale set on the high seas, this book will keep your eyes locked on Humphrey's changing life, and the Sea Wolf's deadly ways.

I recommend this book because many things are taken for granted in today's rich American society, not least of which being the ability to stand on your own two legs. Most of the modern population depends on others for survival, and this dependence has made us weak. When Humphrey Van Weydon begins to stand on his own he goes through a considerable change, as most people do when faced with a crisis. This change can make or break someone, but like the old adage goes, "whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." While this story is filled with suspense and amazement, the intriguing philosophical concepts arouse your mind and keep the gears turning. The Sea Wolf is an excellent novel, a classic in every sense of the word, and one that teaches much about the human struggle for survival and self-improvement.

More readable and entertaining than Moby Dick, The Sea Wolf is the ultimate sea-faring fiction.

When his ferry collides with another ship in the fog and sinks, bookish dandy Humphrey Van Weyden finds himself alone and adrift off the coast of San Francisco. He is saved from drowning by a passing sailing vessel, the Ghost, captained by Wolf Larsen, on its way to the seal hunting grounds in the far Pacific. To his dismay, "Hump's" request to be put ashore are ignored. Instead he is held captive, put to hard labor, and made to suffer greatly under the brutal leadership of the fearsome Wolf.

Wolf Larson is one of literature's most unique characters, and the mystery of what motivates him and what atrocities he'll commit next compel the reader on. He is not the stereotypical pirate ogre, but rather a well-read, deep-thinking intellectual whose best thoughts justify--in his mind--his callous behavior. He is a firm believer in natural selection and survival of the fittest. On the Ghost, he is at the top of the food chain.

As the months pass, Hump is changed by the sea and physical exertion, earning 1st mate status. After plenty of excitement and drama, the plot twists when Maud Brewster, a beautiful young writer, is rescued from a lifeboat adrift a following a storm. Hump is smitten, but so is Wolf. The story plays out well to climax, with classy prose and the best description of sailing I've ever read. A good choice for all adventurers and anyone who loves the sea. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.

I found myself surprised by how much I enjoyed this story out of a Jack London collection that I recently picked up. Not being familiar with this novel before, having only read THE CALL OF THE WILD and WHITE FANG previously, I didn't really know what to expect with this one. An adventure story was what I was looking for, but I got much more than that. Rather than providing the simple pleasure of following one of London's wonderfully imagined characters through a life-threatening and horizon-expanding adventure, this book provided an intensely thought inspiring look into the human psyche that I won't soon forgot.

Published at a time when 'social Darwinism' was just beginning to be thoughtfully and rationally spelled out as far as how it affects and guides our lives and those around us, THE SEA WOLF uses its characters to explore the ramifications of that school of thought. Humphrey van Weydon is the protagonist of this book and presents a less-than-appealing hero in his weakness, dependency, and fear. The antagonist, Wolf Larson, is the unyielding, strong, rational, and brutal sea captain whose brutality simply cannot have a place in a civilized world. As these two drastically different characters clash over everything from human rights to self appreciation to the existence of an afterlife, the reader is treated to a wonderful exposition of what it means to live and what our social positions/obligations should be. Most likely, you'll find yourself sometimes agreeing with both characters' viewpoints from time to time, making this book fun to read for more than just an adventure tale.

While it is undeniable that Wolf Larson represents much of what is abhorrent and violent about primal man, most readers will find themselves very attracted to him throughout this book. Something about the self-reliant, individualist, materialist, survival-of-the-fittest attitude and way of life is pleasing to the 'self-made' man. While we cringe at the thought of needless cruelty to others, much of the Wolf's philosophical rantings ring true. Whether London wished to show that the unsympathetic pure materialist has no place in modern civilization or that bringing good ideas (like Individualism) to their extremes can be disastrously evil, he succeeded in creating one of the most intriguing and memorable characters I've ever come across.

On the other extreme is the narrator of the story, Humphrey. Here we have a weakling intellectual that has 'stood on his father's legs' his whole life and apparently couldn't look out for himself if his life depended on it. To both his surprise and the reader's, it turns out that when it really comes down to it, he can. Brutally encouraged by Wolf to 'man-up', 'Hump' finds a strength (and eventually a self respect) that he never knew he had. Here we have the civilized and progressive literary critic (ouch!) being cast into an extremely uncivilized environment and learning that what he understood about the human condition doesn't exactly hold true. More familiar, and thus less intriguing, his character eventually comes to represent the triumph of civilization and moral superiority over dog-eat-dog barbarism.

Anyway, in my mind, this work actually surpasses THE CALL OF THE WILD and WHITE FANG as far as intellectual stimulation, and I am surprised that it is not more popular. Very highly recommended for all readers!!