MARTIN EDEN (Annotated)

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I'm not saying he failed at what he tried to do, but I will say that it didn't grasp my full attention the entire time. I found John Barleycorn: Alcoholic Memoirs to be more interesting; or maybe I was just in a different place when I read that one. Also autobiographical, that book focuses primarily on alcoholism and drinking. Martin Eden delves into that a teensy bit, but more on Eden's struggle to pull himself out of the working class world he has always known by gaining success and fame as a writer. This struggle came about because of the lovely Ruth, a young woman who was going to the university herself, and who encouraged Eden to be something more than he was.

He was open to the idea, he was a sponge, he wanted to know everything! But he found, in the end, that success isn't everything it's cracked up to be. What I did find interesting is that London wrote this character to be an individualist, whereas London himself was a socialist. Apparently London wanted this story to be an "attack on individualism", but it's easy to read it the other way - that he was a supporter of individualism. I'm not sure how that concept would come about since view spoiler [dude drowns himself in the end, making the reader realize that this Eden guy was perhaps barking up the wrong tree from the beginning hide spoiler ] , but whatevs.

Not horrible, but just didn't rock my world. Sometimes I really wish I could have read a particular book or author at a younger age. Jack London is such an author. He has a solid, workmanlike style with flashing moments of brilliance , despite sometimes bludgeoning the reader through repetition. Martin Eden is remarkably easy to read, with empathetic characters and a simple plot.

Budding writers of vision and determination where are they in this new decade? As a stylist, L Sometimes I really wish I could have read a particular book or author at a younger age. As a stylist, London is inspired at times, though his brilliance only makes itself apparent irregularly. However, it is London's ideals and values evident in his work which endear me most to his writing. As a realist he eschews an artificial, happy conclusion. My more impressionable mind at a younger age would have lapped this up like a dog at his waterbowl. For now, slightly older and perhaps a bit more cynical, count me as merely impressed.

Is Jack London a socialist or an elitist individualist? The idea of the worker intellectual striving to be accepted in the bourgeois world and becoming disillusioned with their literary sophistication is well written here and a somewhat enjoyable read. The thing is Eden, and I'm guessing London, doesn't seem to have much appreciation for the Oakland working class.

This comes from a man who ran for Mayor of Oakland on the socialist party ticket. He also seems to hate blue collar work itself, as w Is Jack London a socialist or an elitist individualist? He also seems to hate blue collar work itself, as we see in the laundry. That point is valid, the working conditions of the day definitely prevented intellectual development of workers.

Still, does London want the working class to rise or does he want to rise from it. I understand there is a point being made here about the futility of Eden's individualistic struggle, but to develop it I would like to have seen collective struggle as a counterpoint. When Eden passes by the socialist speakers in what is today Jack London Square, he isn't impressed by them exactly and seems to think they are cranks. Too long even if there were good concepts. The book is primarily about young, rough-hewed Martin Eden, back from years of sailing around the world, trying to obtain an education and make himself a writer.

The difficult road to publication, the numerous rejection letters, and the slow climb to making oneself a better writer will be familiar to anyone who has tried to make a living as a freelance writer. London was a Socialist and adherent to some extent of social Darwinism, a contradiction in political beliefs. He believed in individualism, but he made his character Martin Eden an extreme individualist who kills himself at the end of the book.

The reader sees Eden suddenly becoming depressed and subsequently jump into the Pacific to his death with little but a hint of why. London aims to primarily tell the story of a writer educating himself and overcoming rejection. He succeeds in developing his main character and his evolving views of the world.

But it would have made a better book if London had brought in more physical description. As it is, the book — with the exception of an occasional local allusion — could just as easily have taken place in Seattle, Long Beach, or Nantucket. One exception is this passage that begins Chapter Filmy purple mists, that were not vapors but fabrics woven of color, hid in the recesses of the hills. San Francisco lay like a blur of smoke upon her heights.

The intervening bay was a dull sheen of molten medal, whereon sailing craft lay motionless or drifted with the lazy tide.

Far Tamalpais, barely seen in the silver haze, bulked hugely by the Golden Gate, the latter a pale gold pathway under the westering sun. Beyond, the Pacific, dim and vast, was raising on its sky-line tumbled cloud-masses that swept landward, giving warning of the first blustering breath of winter. In these passages the physical and psychological impact of the title character's laundry job is described: Ceaselessly active, head and hand, an intelligent machine, all that constituted him a man was devoted to furnish [Some extracts I enjoyed followed by a political rant] Martin Eden is, in part, a novel about a working class man who escapes his class destiny by educating himself out of it.

Ceaselessly active, head and hand, an intelligent machine, all that constituted him a man was devoted to furnishing that intelligence. There was no room in his brain for the universe and its mighty problems. All the broad and spacious corridors of his mind were closed and hermetically sealed. The echoing chamber of his soul was a narrow room, a conning tower, whence were directed his arm and shoulder muscles, his ten nimble fingers, and the swift-moving iron along its steaming path in broad, sweeping strokes, just so many strokes and no more, just so far with each stroke and not a fraction of an inch farther, rushing along interminable sleeves, sides, backs, and tails, and tossing the finished shirts, without rumpling, upon the receiving frame.

And even as his hurrying soul tossed, it was reaching for another shirt.

Martin Eden (Annotated)

This went on, hour after hour, while outside all the world swooned under the overhead California sun. But there was no swooning in that superheated room. The cool guests on the verandas needed clean linen.

He slept in the shade of the trees, toiled aimlessly through the newspaper, and spent long hours lying on his back, doing nothing, thinking nothing. He was too dazed to think, though he was aware that he did not like himself. He was self-repelled, as though he had undergone some degradation or was intrinsically foul.

All that was god-like in him was blotted out. The spur of ambition was blunted; he had no vitality with which to feel the prod of it. His soul seemed dead. He was a beast, a work-beast. He saw no beauty in the sunshine sifting down through the green leaves, nor did the azure vault of the sky whisper as of old and hint of cosmic vastness and secrets trembling to disclosure. Life was intolerably dull and stupid, and its taste was bad in his mouth.

A black screen was drawn across his mirror of inner vision, and fancy lay in a darkened sick-room where entered no ray of light. He envied Joe, down in the village, rampant, tearing the slats off the bar, his brain gnawing with maggots, exulting in maudlin ways over maudlin things, fantastically and gloriously drunk and forgetful of Monday morning and the week of deadening toil to come. During that time I unloaded furniture from lorries that had been driving in the summer sun, and it was like working in a sauna.

If I was moving boxes from the top of the trailers, I could actually feel my eyes exploding from the heat. I had to work nonstop amid deafening machinery, manually shifting heavy boxes from A to B, while under constant verbal instruction from angry managers. My colleagues, who were mostly muscular and short-tempered, could only get through the day by channelling their rage into their work. Rotating shift patterns robbed us of routine, so that one week we'd work from early morning 'til early afternoon, and the next week from early afternoon to late evening.

On the late shift we'd see day turn into night. We were too tired to do anything when we got home, and we were paid pittance for the privilege. I had the benefit of a good education, and a family that could support me financially, which meant I didn't have to stay in the job for too long. My colleagues didn't have that luxury. Some had been working in the same warehouse for over fifteen years. I could hardly bear it after a month.

Conservatives see socialists like me as having a patronisingly paternalistic attitude towards working people. They say socialists idolise the working class, when really, in their view, workers should be shown tough love and encouraged to rise above their station through hard work. I accept that humans have an innate desire to do work, but the idea that all forms of work are somehow inherently ennobling needs to be shot down. There is precious little dignity to be found in harsh manual labour work, especially when you have to do it for five days a week for sod-all money.

Many of these workers made mistakes when they were young, or were denied decent opportunities, setting them up for a life of exhaustion and demoralisation.

See a Problem?

One guy I worked with had served ten years of jail time for dealing drugs and initiating road chases with the police. He was no angel in fact he was pretty terrifying , but there was a spark in him, and he was rueful about having been an absent father. I remember him telling me about a time he played videogames with his son: When it does arrive and he gets his work published Eden, has long since lost any sympathy for his audience and his working class of which he was formally a part.

Though there are obvious autobiographical elements in the novel, London's decision to make the central character an individualist rather than a socialist, points to his efforts to present a critique rather than just make the more general point about self-education and its results. Contemporary reviews suggested that he failed in this regards and subsequent interest focuses on the autobiographical elements, particular the final denouement. Read more Read less.

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Martin Eden : ( ANNOTATED ) by Jack London

Write a customer review. Showing of 1 reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Daha ilk sayfalarda diline hayran olarak okudum. Most of Jack London 's books are about nature and life in the wild. It is said to be a semi-autobiographical novel.

The setting is San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. The central protagonist, Martin Eden, first a working-class seaman, is at twenty now struggling to educate himself and become a writer. He has fallen head-over-heels in love with Ruth Morse. Martin has been invited to her home by her brother because Martin had saved his life. Martin and Ruth are of completely Most of Jack London 's books are about nature and life in the wild. Martin and Ruth are of completely different classes and backgrounds, but an attraction is there.

She begins tutoring him and from there their relationship develops. The conversations between the two are cute. They made me smile. He knows nothing of proper etiquette. She is naive, albeit three, four years his senior. His strength, vitality and richness of experiences have an undeniable attraction to her. He is drawn by her knowledge and a deep-seated physical attraction. He reasons he will educate himself and will in so doing make himself worthy of her. Her parents are of course not pleased.

We watch how their relationship develops and the changes that occur in each of them.

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The novel is more than a love story; it is a character study. Martin is very much of an individualist, and where this leads him is what you will think about. That London was a socialist and yet Martin Eden an individualist is not incongruous if one considers how the book ends.

I was caught up in the tale. After success is achieved, how does one feel then? Or does one feel deceived? The writing varies from being strong and direct to wordy and overblown. This can perhaps be explained by the transformation that takes place in Martin. I do feel the story should have been tightened. The audiobook I listened to was narrated by Andrew Garman. I think he did a truly fantastic job.

First of all, it is easy to follow and read at a perfect speed. The tone of an educated bourgeoise, a drunk, a laundry worker in a hotel, or an immigrant woman struggling to make ends meet are all perfectly captured. I am certainly glad I read this, and I do recommend it to others. One views Jack London with very different eyes knowing that he has written this book too, so very different from all his others. View all 4 comments. Aug 31, Monica.

Libro fortemente autobiografico che affronta temi quali l'integrazione, l'evoluzione sociale e culturale di un semplice marinario che, per amore di una donna, decide di migliorarsi e rendersi accettabile ai suoi occhi e a quelli della sua famiglia. Ruth, la giovane donna di cui si invaghisce, la sua prima insegnante, come una moderna Frankenstein sembra guardare impotente la sua creatura, plasmata a suo gusto, sfuggirle di mano ed ergersi libera al di sopra di tutti loro, colti e bigotti benestanti.

Privo di freni inibitori non esita ad esprimere il proprio pensiero, anche a rischio di denigrare coloro che prima ammirava. Leggendo il libro mi sono ritrovata ad augurargli la fine scelta come unica via di fuga, salvo poi rimanere scioccata nel leggere le ultime drammatiche e agghiaccianti pagine.

Onu seviyorum ve bu beni mutlu ediyor. View all 5 comments. Non anticipo nulla, solo che pochissimi libri mi hanno fatto tanto male come le ultime pagine di Martin Eden, altro che un pugno allo stomaco. Contro questo parlare e pensare in generale combatte Martin. La consapevolezza di non poter trovar pari, porta Martin a cercare nuovamente il mare. La meta vale il viaggio? E' la domanda che si pone Martin Eden, l'alter ego di London. La storia di un uomo, un piccolo eroe d La meta vale il viaggio? Rarely do I get to spend my time with a book that's read in just one breath.

Well this was the one. Inspiring and then tragic. This was the first book of Jack London that I've read, but, boy, am I amazed at his mastery. The plot is breathtaking, fast, contrasting, absorbent. What a character that Martin Eden! Such books teach us about life, about people's souls Rarely do I get to spend my time with a book that's read in just one breath. Such books teach us about life, about people's souls and differences. That's why I love reading - you learn the lives that you'll never get to live. This book didn't have to have such ending, I know the Edens are still able to find the meaning in life.

But now I know how such people feel, what mistakes they make. And oh, now I know what a man with a goal can do. But one should make sure which goal to choose. Mi sono presa un po' di tempo per scrivere qualche riga su questo libro.

Ci ho messo un mese per leggerlo cosa insolita per me, ma alla fine non ho potuto dire che non fosse un capolavoro. Martin Eden, by Jack London 1 17 Oct 09, Martin Eden - New Edition 3 32 Feb 02, Jack London was an American novelist, journalist, social-activist and short-story writer whose works deal romantically with elemental struggles for survival.

At his peak, he was the highest paid and the most popular of all living writers. Because of early financial difficulties, he was largely self educated past grammar school. London drew heavily on his life experiences in his writing. He spent ti Jack London was an American novelist, journalist, social-activist and short-story writer whose works deal romantically with elemental struggles for survival. He spent time in the Klondike during the Gold Rush and at various times was an oyster pirate, a seaman, a sealer, and a hobo.

His first work was published in Books by Jack London. Trivia About Martin Eden. Quotes from Martin Eden: He gazed at himself long and curiously. Where do you belong? You belong by rights to girls like Lizzie Connolly.

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