The Sea-Wolf (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

by Jack London (Author), John Sutherland (Editor) "I SCARCELY know where to begin, though I sometimes facetiously place the cause of it all to Charley Furuseth's credit..." (more)
Key Phrases: last lee boat, steerage companionway, primal melancholy, Wolf Larsen, Van Weyden, Thomas Mugridge (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"London's...is a vision of exceptional and crucial vitality."
--James Dickey -- Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"An extraordinarily useful edition. The supplementary and contextual materials are not only of scholarly significance themselves but also provide invaluable aids for the first-time reader of Jack London's novels."--David Holloway, Portland State University
"A fine, attractive, useful edition."--George F. Day, University of Northern Iowa
"A fine edition. I was especially impressed with the appendices and the notes section. Very helpful."--John Guzlowski, Eastern Illinois University
"Excellent edition--the comments by Sutherland illuminate the philosophical and personal underpinings of a deceptively complex work by a deceptively complex writer. Also the Explanatory Notes are quite good."--Jack Summers, Central Piedmont Community College
"Thank you."--James R. Hepworth, Lewis-Clark State College
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 430 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 24, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192829319
• ISBN-13: 978-0192829313
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,871,468 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A philosophical discourse wrapped around a sea adventure., July 3, 2002

By	Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Sea Wolf (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I have ever read., February 19, 2000

By	Tom Bruce (Brooklyn , NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sea Wolf (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Testing Human Values, November 12, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Sea Wolf (Mass Market Paperback)

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!