Star Rover (Literary Classics) [Paperback]

Jack London (Author), Sol Gordon (Editor), Leslie Fiedler (Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1573926957 | ISBN-13: 978-1573926959 | Publication Date: May 1999

Novelist and short story writer Jack London (1876-1916) contemplated the strange theory of astral travel, penning "The Star Rover" in 1914. The last of London's fifty books, which include "White Fang" and "The Call of the Wild", "The Star Rover" centres on San Quentin prison inmate Darrell Standing, a former university professor who is serving a life sentence for murdering a colleague. To escape the tortures of his confinement, he withdraws into dreams of past lives in which he experiences what he calls his "eternal recurrence on earth." Thus the fantastic becomes a vehicle for exposing the social injustices of the U.S. prison system.One of America's great turn-of-the-century writers, London lived as a sailor, waterfront loafer, and hobo, embarking on a successful literary career based on his travels, observations of nature, and his outspoken position in the Socialist Party. Internationally recognised literary critic and essayist Leslie Fiedler, the former Samuel Clemens Professor at SUNY Buffalo, provides an insightful introduction to this lost classic.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A magnificent literary accomplishment. -- Irving Stone --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

This book is in Electronic Paperback Format. If you view this book on any of the computer systems below, it will look like a book. Simple to run, no program to install. Just put the CD in your CDROM drive and start reading. The simple easy to use interface is child tested at pre-school levels.

Windows 3.11, Windows/95, Windows/98, OS/2 and MacIntosh and Linux with Windows Emulation.

Includes Quiet Vision's Dynamic Index. the abilty to build a index for any set of characters or words. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 335 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573926957
• ISBN-13: 978-1573926959
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,462,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Indiana Jones meets HBO's Oz...., December 22, 2003

By 

JunkyardMessiah "jonkadane" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Rover (Literary Classics) (Paperback)

Jack London's Star Rover surprised me on every page. It's a riveting, action-packed adventure tale filled with gritty heroes and villains, and fascinating settings, both grim and glorious. The protagonist is a fabulous anti hero, a cross between Indiana Jones and a character straight out of HBO's prison drama Oz.

The characters are so well defined, from the sadistic warden to prisoners Ed and Jack, whom we never really see, and only know through intricate, faceless conversations. The lead character, Darrell Standing, is wily, handsome, intrincsically good, but hardened and made cruel by the warden's treatment. Charming and dangerous, he's just the sort of bad-boy we love to root for. Ed and Jack, his two fellow prisoners, are perfect foils, one believing and encouranging, the other skeptical but reluctanly fascinated nonetheless. The warden makes a formidable, multi-faceted villain, at turns weak and cruel, and inventive in his tortures. What a wonderful read!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars London's beliefs about dreaming, freedom and redemption, July 2, 1998

By 

Fernando Beirão (Santos, SP - BRAZIL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Star Rover (Paperback)

It makes me very sad that only a few people knows about this book. It tells the story of a man who finds himself in prison. He is trapped in a madman's shirt, in order to confess facts he knew nothing about. Obliged to pass days and nights without being able to move a single muscle, living in complete darkness inside special punishment cells, he manages to avoid getting nuts and yet bravely resists his tortures' will. Developing a way of traveling with his mind, he escapes from all human suffering and still has the chance to watch his actions of past lives, finally understanding how most of his present beliefs and flaws had been built.This is a tale about FREEDOM and REDEMPTION! It makes you firmly believe that free spirits are unbeatable and that we can dream no matter how life is. For anybody who is familiar with London's deep feelings about life and dreaming and freedom, I must say that this is his best book ever. A glimpse of the deepest beliefs of a great writer who left us so soon. A MUST!!!

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Star Rover, February 26, 2000

By 

Ondrej Simecek (Prague, Czech Republic (Europe)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Star Rover (Paperback)

An Excellent, yet not very well known book by Jack London. It's inspired by a real story of an innocently sentenced man, Ed Morrell, whom we find to participate in the book.The main character is Darrel Standing, university profesor sentenced for his life to San Quentin jail and is then sentenced to death for hitting a warden in nose. London describes the suffering and solitude of a criminal who finds his freedom in a world of dreams and memories of recent lives his soul went through. London shows the strength of a man's soul, which cannot be broken even by the worst tortures. An extraordinary book, really a must-read.