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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
A philosophical discourse wrapped around a sea adventure., July 3, 2002
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.
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
Testing Human Values, November 12, 2001
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!
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
Best book I have ever read., February 19, 2000
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.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Uneasy mix of great uebermensch story and bad love story., June 1, 1999
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.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
A gripping tale set on the high seas, and in a man's heart, June 30, 2001
By A Customer
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.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Starts off strong, but becomes lackluster by the end., December 19, 2004
Humphrey van Weyden is a gentleman. He has never had to work for his living, or do a single task for himself. All that changes when the ferry-steamer Martinez, running across the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, is wrecked after a collision with another boat in the fog. Van Weyden is tossed into the sea, and eventually picked up by another boat. But this is no ordinary boat. It is the Ghost, a seal-hunting schooner captained by Wolf Larsen, who is far from being an ordinary man. He snickers at Van Weyden's offers of money in exchange for taking him to shore, and instead conscripts the unfortunate man to replace a recently-deceased member of the Ghost's crew. Van Weyden's trials encompass far more than merely learning how to work on a ship. He must also find his place in the strange web of heirarchy among the men. More precarious yet is his relationship with the captain.
We soon find out that Wolf Larsen is a monster of a man, possessing superhuman strength and a complete lack of deference to any idea of morals. He is certainly one of the most fascinating characters I've come across in my reading. You fear him, you hate him, and yet there is still something to admire about him. He commands respect. He can kill a man with the strength of his hands alone, but he is also something of a self-educated philosopher. He has clearly studied Darwin, and continually likens life to a ferment of yeast, in which the natural way of things is for the stronger to consume the weaker. And yet, despite Larsen's superhuman image, London manages to keep him plausible for the reader by giving him his own Achilles's heel, which becomes more and more apparent as the story progresses. "The Sea-Wolf" is worth reading for a character study of this man alone. Unfortunately, however, the second half of the book shifts its focus, losing sight of the Van Weyden-Larsen relationship and simultaneously losing much of the driving force behind the story.
Almost as soon as Maud Brewster entered the story, I began to lose interest. Shipwrecked and adrift in a small boat, she is picked up by the Ghost much as Van Weyden was. She, too, is refused passage to land. And inevitably, a romance develops between Brewster and Van Weyden. The story makes an abrupt change in course from one of survival and complex relationships between the ship's men, to that of a love story. But what a silly and unconvincing love story it is! London just doesn't write women well, nor does he make the relationship between Van Weyden and Brewster in any way believable. Maud is a flat character, and just doesn't seem real. She is also full of ridiculous contradictions. She is alternately described as a frail lily and a cavewoman. She bestows the name of Lucifer on Wolf Larsen, but turns all to pity and mush the moment he is struck by one of his headaches. The story would have been much better with romance left out and the focus kept on Van Weyden's personal struggle with Larsen.
The strength of this book definitely lies in its first half. London's writing is strong and vivid, and he does a superb job of capturing the nuances of each relationship between crew members. I only wish he had stuck to that. Every writer has his niche, and London's is not in the romance genre. The second part of the book is contrived, predictable, and does little to hold one's interest. The ending is dissatisfying. It is, however, worth finishing in order to discover what end comes to the aforementioned Wolf Larsen. This is the only element of the latter part of the book that really intrigued me. So read "The Sea-Wolf" for its adventure component, found in the first half, and read it for the wonderfully crafted character of Captain Larsen. But don't expect too much out of the latter half and its conclusion.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Superb Sea Drama., May 25, 2001
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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Unique Classic, October 8, 2006
Jack London was one of the greatest authors America has ever known. It's ironic that because of his dog-centric books that he is often written off as a children's author. I once made the mistake of taking a collection of his short stories on a vacation. Great stories, but among the most depressing, violent, cruel concepts ever put to paper. A poor fit with frozen drinks and palm trees.
The Sea Wolf is one of my favorite books largely on the basis of the villian, Wolf Larsen. He stands unique among villians in that he is huge, powerful, intelligent, ambitious, aggressive, with no muzzle of a conscience. He is omnipotent. Absolute power corupting absolutely. He is not a dumb brute that our intellectual hero outwits or outworks. Were it not for the peripheral factors of his even more destructive brother, or his failing health, he would have remained the master of his domain. I would expect that this Alpha male nature of Larsen that led London to name him Wolf.
One of the biggest casting crimes ever committed by Hollywood was the casting of E.G. Robinson as Wolf and then remaking it with Bronson many years later (apparently based on having watched the original movie without really understanding the book).
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Cherchez la Femme, July 16, 2004
I first read THE SEA WOLF at age 12, 40 years ago, and thought it was terrific, for all the reasons mentioned in other reviews: the exciting sea story, the juxtaposition of the values of western civilization with those of the refined thug Wolf Larson, the growth of Hump Van Weyden into a strong and self-reliant man who can hold his own with both Larson and brute nature.When I reread it recently, I still found the basic situation on the Ghost compelling and primal. However, my reservations became stronger and stronger from the time Maud Brewster appeared until the end of the book. Jack London, the great recorder of basic conflicts between man and man, and man and nature, writes VERY unconvincingly about the relationships between men and women. Maud seems a completely artificial character constructed more as a literary symbol of refinement and whimsicality than as a human being. Some of it is ludicrous. In their escape from the Ghost, for instance, Maud and Van Weyden spend several weeks in an open boat, fighting for survival and never once performing an excretory function. They're too delicate for that. When they finally make it to a North Pacific desert island, Hump builds Maud a stone hut as shelter then, exhausted and facing the possibility of dying of exposure, sleeps outside himself. In sum, Jack London, one of the all-time greatest naturalistic writers, perpetrates a great deal of Victorian self-censorship. The symbolic scheme plays out when Larson shows up too, wrecked on the very same island somewhere in the wide, wide, wide reaches of the world's largest ocean, so Maud and Hump can witness his physical disintegration at first hand. I'm a great fan of London's shorter works, the stories of both the far north and the south seas. He is a terrific storyteller, and it's borne out in the first half or two-thirds of THE SEA WOLF. But the concluding portion of this book is a disappointment.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Not just another sea adventure, July 25, 2001
Parts of the book reminded me of Conrad and others, Milton. London creates an ugly force and sets it on a fishing boat as Captain. This Captain a sailing, fishing, toruring and ing, while defying the odds to live on and torment even after his targets thought they were in safe harbor. The captain is too smart for his own good and his men are very stupid for his own good. Within this sea of "evility" stumbles a neutral force that evolves as "good" as it fights the "evil" captain using brains rather than braun. He saves a damsel in distress along the way filling the romance narative (which seems a tad clumsy in parts). Well developed characters facing their nightmares on a ship with a Tin Angel at the helm. No, this isn't just another sea adventure like "ThePerfect Storm" with more deveolped ships than characters. Read this when you have time to ponder human nature, the battle of good and bad on seas that can be placid and flat as glass or whipped up by a whirlwind into 30 foot swells.
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