The Sea-Wolf (Hardcover)

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.

Larson is no simple brute. He is, rather, a complex brute. He is a master of men and a master of the seas- but that is ALL that he is. Larson is an intelligent, driven, ruthless master of industry (in this case, seal hunting.) He has succeeded through his own abilities, hard work, and talent- or so he would have you believe. Truth is, brutal backstabbing, deception, exploitation, and disregard for the law has played an equal measure in his rise and dominance. You see, Larson believes in the rule of the jungle. He believes in it so much that he is driven to prove that this is all there is to existence. He must always seek to degrade and destroy anyone who seeks to rise above this state. This is also why he must disregard the possibility of the existence of a human soul. Larson is an intelligent, hard-nosed materialist that simply cannot conceive of anything beyond a social Darwinist hell of survival of the fittest. And Wolf Larson must be the fittest of them all. As much as money means to Wolf, it is really power over other beings- men and animals that means the most to him. Without this power to sadistically degrade and dominate others, the money would have no meaning. Ultimately that explains why he has risen to command his own vessel at all costs- he is a control freak that MUST be in absolute, totalitarian command of his whole world. This is why he only mans his ship with the lowest, most bestial types of human being, and does everything in his power to make them worse- not unlike many modern corporations. This is also why the sudden presence of a higher sort of individual, with ideals that transcend mere survival and materialism are so totally threatening to him.

There are moments when one is almost tempted to sympathize with the Wolf as a champion of freedom- until you realize that in his sort of world, his "freedom" means that everyone else must be a slave.

Ultimately, the Wolf meets the inevitable fate in a world ruled like the jungle. When he loses his sight and strength, the monsters that he has surrounded himself with turn on him. In the last measure there is nothing great about Larson after all, for in facing death he proves to be a petty, murdering, weakling that would rather take all those around him down with him. It seems that despite his grand pretensions, he was no Lucifer at all, but merely a sick, pathetic, sociopath incapable of making the leap into being truly human.

I was hooked on the story within the first chapter thanks to chapter's build-up of events moments before the ferry boat Martinez collided with another boat on a dark and foggy San Francisco bay. London's action-packed description of the frenzy and commotion that eventually found Van Weyden dumped into the bay and floating alone in the open sea played in my mind like a thrilling modern-day Summer blockbuster movie sequence.

Watching Hump's character develop from a soft-handed, wussy-boy, puny human into a self-reliant, determined and courageous man was very satisfying to see. I personally think all guys need to go through some kind of hellish (or at least very uncomfortable and challenging) induction into 'manhood'. I also think all guys need to know the essentials of things like basic auto mechanics, home electrical and plumbing, carpentry, wilderness survival basics, and emergency first aid. It cracks me up seeing guys sitting on the side of the road in their BMW with the flat tire waiting for AAA (for at least 30 to 40 minutes) to replace the flat tire with the spare tire in their car's trunk (which takes at most 10 minutes). Dude, replace the tire yourself!! But hey, that's just me, and I digress..

I liked the introduction of Maud Brewster midway into the story because of how she helped to indirectly 'manlify' Van Weyden. Her transformation from a dainty and fragile lady to a woman capable of surviving days on the roughest seas and even finding interest in clubbing young male seals for food was great. She's the kind of woman I'm looking for. A well-read and educated woman who can talk about Shakespeare one minute and turn-around a build a comfy emergency mattress out of moss the next. Her never-quit and optimistic attitude was great. And from London's description of Maud's physical and facial features she was also nice to look at, a big plus in my book.

The loving feelings Van Weyden eventually developed for Maud and his struggle to keep those feelings to himself until the appropriate time was well crafted. Several times throughout the story I was thinking to myself about Van Weyden, "dude, kiss her or do something already." The wait helped maintain the sexual tension between them and even made them stronger to make it to their eventual happy ending. Early during Maud's introduction I was expecting her to experience sexual assault by Wolf Larsen. I was glad Wolf Larsen had other things occupying his mind.

I actually liked Wolf Larsen's winner-take-all kickbutt attitude. Although he wasn't a physically big guy (compared to the nearly six-foot seven inch dude from his brother Death Larsen's crew that he tackled and shackeled), his mere presence screamed "don't f_ck with me." Wolf's attitude of living life to its fullest is an attitude I think the majority of the people today (myself included) have failed at. Yes, Wolf was a mean and ruthless sunofabitch, but I actually enjoyed and found it funny watching in my mind the images of Mugridge sreaming for dear life as he got hoisted out of the ocean only to have one foot bitten off by a shark; and the image of Wolf gripping Van Weyden's throat while casually explaining to him the stages and feelings Van Weyden would feel leading to death, only to take it to the point of making Van Weyden pass out.

What I found to be the most interesting side of Wolf Larsen was his interest in classic literature, his library of books, and his seeming desire to improve his mental wits. His combination of brute strength and above-ordinary intelligence (at least compared to his crew) was what I thought made him an almost unstoppable force among his crew and the sailing circles. It would have been interesting to see Wolf interact with his older, bigger and more brutal brother Death Larsen. Had I been Wolf Larsen looking and the puny and stuck-up Van Weyden for the first time, I too would have kept him on my ship and slapped him around until he could stand on his own two feet for his own sake. I'm glad Van Weyden eventually acknowledged the "favor" Wolf Larsen did for him by keeping Van Weyden on the schooner.

As much of an a_shole that Wolf Larsen was to everyone, I did feel a bit sorry for him towards the end of the novel. I'd tell you more but don't want to spoil it for you. What I can say is that the last rite statement Wolf gives to his dead first-mate at the beginning of the story has some significance.

A great novel that is highly recommended.