Martin Eden: Amazon.ca: Jack London: Books

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by Ray Bradbury

4.1 out of 5 stars (974) CDN$ 7.99

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Product Description

Martin Eden is the tale of a sailor who educates himself. Eden has a wicked crush on college-educated society girl Ruth Morse, and thinks that he can get her by becoming one of the literati . . . we all know what happens in that story, don't we? He loses his fiancée, of course (he's not well "established" enough for her). But Martin finds fame and fortune in the end -- and of course that gets the girl's attention -- as if he'd want it! Oh, complication. A classic London novel of social issues . . . which ends up, oddly, in the south seas. Maybe there's something of an autobiography here. . . .

Description

Martin Eden, le chef-d'oeuvre de Jack London passe pour son autobiographie romancée. Il s'en est défendu, disant que Martin n'était pas socialiste mais individualiste et que son histoire avait été écrite en protestation contre la philosophie de Nietzsche. Il y a plus d'une ressemblance entre l'auteur et le héros : ouvrier devenu romancier célèbre, invité dans les salons, amoureux d'une riche jeune fille qui ne le comprend pas, ex-prolétaire ne se reconnaissant pas dans le prolétariat et qui n'aura jamais sa place chez les bourgeois. Ressemblance poursuivie jusque dans leur échec et dans leur fin prématurée. Imitant Martin Eden, Jack London s'est suicidé en 1916. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

26 Reviews

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Undoubtedly my favorite Jack London's book, Jun 6 2004

By	Phi S. (los angeles, california United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martin Eden (Paperback)

I have read several of Jack London's works and I consider this as my favourite. The struggle of the main charater (Martin) to get an education and become a writer is narrated so well by the author that I really had a hard time putting this book down. The plot is very simple: Martin Eden is a sailor who lives in Oakland California at the end of the ninteenth century. When he meet Ruth through her brother, he falls in love with her at once, eventhough she is a rich university student while he is an uneducated orphan that lives with his step sister and her husband. Martin deciedes to get an education so that he can get closer to Ruth. He starts to study grammar and to read heaps of books. eventually he decides to become a writer. The story of Martin striving to make it as a writer is very similar to that of London himself. The book is superbly written and a must read for struggling artists and also for lovers of good literature.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A life altering read!, Dec 20 2003

By	Zena (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MARTIN EDEN (Paperback)

Perfection in its every breath!

Imagine a mind trapped in a body that was born to unfortunate social circumstance, but strives to rise with the masses for the sake of love, only to rise above and beyond it without being able to contain itself-that is the essence of Martin Eden. Then imagine again a mind obssessed with knowledge, a body hungry for love and a soul agonized from the vice of humanity-that is the plight and tragedy of Martin Eden.

Reading this book was a life altering read that I will always cherish, for every artistic mind will inherently and passionately understand every syllable uttered by Jack London's genuis-buy this book and read it and reread it indefinitely!

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3.0 out of 5 stars The Struggle for Book Learning, Oct 6 2003

By	S. Pactor "reader" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Martin Eden (Hardcover)

Read this shortly after reading "White Jacket" by Herman Melville. Certainly came away from reading this with the impression that Melville is the superior writer. I guess that's not really in question.

As an Oaklander, I take issue with the Amazon comment above that says this book takes place in San Francisco. Maybe one or two scenes take place in San Francisco, but the rest takes place in Oakland.

It is fun to read the action taking place on Telegraph Avenue or at Broadway and fourteenth street, locations that in some places still resemble the way they looked in London's day.

Plot of novel is best referred to as "semi-autobiographical", from what I can gather. Martin Eden struggles to teach himself to write, only to find that success leads to emptiness. Story mirrored a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne called "Ethan Brand". In that story, the main character becomes obsessed with finding "an unpardonable sin". After travelling around the world, he realizes that the only unpardonable sin is the uncontrolled thirst for knowledge.

Martin Eden is kind of like that... He thirsts to know everything, but when his knowledge is recognized by society, he is disappointed and left feeling empty inside.

Eden, the character, has a penchant for Herbert Spencer and Nietzche. I found the philosophizing involving these two hard to take, but I guess that's just par for the course with London.
Makes for a quick read, despite it's four hundred page plus length.

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Most recent customer reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars The most underrated book I've ever read
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I loved "sea wolf" but didn't really understand why until I read Martin Eden a few weeks later; then instantly, at the unwanted ending of Martin Eden, I saw the dying of Wolf... Read more

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