The novel "Martin Eden" by Jack London, reviews of which you will find in this article, is one of the most famous works of the author. Critics and readers rated it differently. In this article we will describe what it is about, what is its significance in the work of the author and literature of that time.
History of creation
A separate part of this article will be devoted to the reviews of Martin Eden by Jack London. In the meantime, you will learn how this novel appeared. London began to write this work during his trip on the yacht "Snark", which he went to in April 1907. He began to write the first pages of the novel that summer while parking in the Hawaiian Islands; by February, the book was finished. She went out in parts in Pacific Mansley for a year. For the first time, Jack London's Martin Eden in English came out in a separate edition in the fall of 1909.
According to the author, this was supposed to be an attack on the bourgeoisie, he was interested in the success story of a young man who is trying to succeed in modern America. At that time, the writer was already carried away by socialist ideas, which he strove to promote in his own works. With his novel Martin Eden, Jack London entered into controversy with the then-popular business romance, whose heroes easily and naturally became real millionaires in the United States, and the idea that any cleaner could become a prosperous rich man was widespread.
In the ranking of popularity, "Martin Eden" D. London is one of his most famous works, after which he was recognized as a great writer around the world.
Author
Jack London himself by that time was already quite a successful and successful author. He was born in San Francisco in 1876. His creative debut was the essay "Typhoon off the coast of Japan", written under the impression of the work of a sailor on a schooner, who was engaged in catching seals. The essay received an award from a San Francisco newspaper and was published in 1893.
After the campaign of the unemployed to Washington, he spent a year in prison for vagrancy, during his wanderings he came to the conclusion that in the modern world physical labor is not at all appreciated, one can live with dignity only by earning one’s own mind, then decided to become a writer. At the same time, he got acquainted with the works of Marx, joined the Socialist Labor Party of America, from which he left after the party refused the revolutionary transformation of society.
He studied at the University of California for several years, who dropped out due to lack of funds. In 1897, succumbing to the "gold rush", sent to seek gold in Alaska. There was no gold on the site, which the writer staked out with his comrades, in addition he suffered scurvy. But he found a large number of heroes for his future works. In 1900, his first book, “The Son of the Wolf,” was published, followed by collections of short stories “The God of His Fathers,” “Children of the Frost,” “Faith in Man,” “Moon Face,” and the novels “Daughter of Snows,” and “Sea Wolf”. He was extremely able-bodied, wrote 15-17 hours a day.
The peculiarity of the creative method of London was the desire to portray a person in a difficult life situation, the realism of his works is almost always combined with the spirit of adventure and romance, London himself defined the genre of his works:
Inspirational realism, imbued with faith in a person and his aspirations.
He is characterized by a very special poetic language, which includes the principles of symmetry of the narrative, the quick introduction of the reader to the course of events, and the characteristics of the characters are given through their thoughts and dialogues.
He proved to everyone that the writer is capable of writing not only adventure stories after the release of his science fiction works “Enemy of the World”, “Goliath”, “Scarlet Plague”, which attract the reader with the author’s rich imagination, original style and unexpected plot moves.
In 1905, the already famous writer London buys a ranch in California, where he enjoys farming. He is trying to create an ideal farm based on his utopian socialist ideals. The idea crashes, everything turns into huge debts. To settle accounts with creditors, he is forced to write base novels such as “Smoke Bellew” or “Adventure”. As a result, the writer's work causes him a frank disgust.
In 1914 he traveled to Mexico as a war correspondent, from where he writes articles justifying US interference in the internal affairs of other states, which causes outrage among his colleagues and party comrades.
In the last years of his life he is faced with a deep creative crisis, which is why he is addicted to alcohol. He is even forced to buy a plot for a new novel, since he himself does not generate any fresh ideas. The idea is sold to him by a novice American writer Sinclair Lewis. London manages to give its last name "Bureau of Murders", but does not have time to finish. The book was published only in 1963, when it was completed by Robert Fish.
In November 1916, the writer died of an overdose of morphine on his ranch at 41 years old. He has been taking this drug for the last time as an anesthetic, as he suffered from uremia. According to one version, he committed suicide, this is indicated by the fact that he had such thoughts before, the proof is the finale of Jack London's Martin Eden, which was largely autobiographical. However, it has still not been reliably able to establish whether it was accidental poisoning during the next attack of pain or whether this was intentional suicide. It is interesting that London discusses the likelihood of committing suicide in another of his works - the autobiographical novel John Barley Grain.
Summary of the novel
The description of "Martin Eden" by Jack London will help you remember the main events of this work in order to prepare for the exam or standings. The novel begins with a description of the protagonist, who works as a simple sailor. His life changes abruptly when at the age of 23 he rescues his peer Arthur Morse, who belongs to wealthy and educated people, from a gang of hooligans.
He decides to thank him, and at the same time amuse his family with the eccentric friend he seems to him. Arthur invites Eden to visit for dinner. The main character of Jack London, Martin Eden, is in an unusual environment - paintings hang on the walls of his new acquaintance’s house, many books are everywhere, and his new acquaintances play the piano before eating. All this fascinates Martin.
Acquaintance with Ruth
The greatest impression on the main character in Jack London’s novel "Martin Eden", the description of which allows you to get acquainted with the plot without having to read the whole book, is made by Arthur's sister named Ruth. She seems to Martin a classic example of spirituality, purity and divinity. He is fond of her, decides to do everything possible to become her worthy. To do this, he goes to the library, because he understands that Ruth will not communicate with a poorly educated young man. He wants to join the world of knowledge of Ruth and Arthur, who are studying at the university at this time.
The protagonist of Jack London’s book , Martin Eden, turns out to be a deep and gifted person. He studies the features of the language, literature, rules of versification. On this basis, he agrees with Ruth, young people often meet, the girl supports his craving for knowledge, helps in studies. At the same time, in the London novel "Martin Eden" (a summary of this work should be known to every educated person), Ruth is described as a girl with conservative and narrow views. He decides to redraw Martin in the image of the people of his circle, but in this she fails.
At the same time, Martin spends on self-education all the money that he earned in his last voyage, after which he goes on a new expedition, hiring a simple sailor. In the raid, he spends eight months, during which he enriches his vocabulary, mental baggage, understands his own essence, which is extremely important for the future writer, whom he is going to become.
Martin's writing career
Having returned, he feels the strength and desire to write in himself, he wants to give Ruth and all those around him the opportunity to enjoy the beauties of this world. In Auckland, the protagonist of Jack London’s novel "Martin Eden" (we briefly talk about the contents of the work in this article) writes his first essay on treasure hunters; he sends the manuscript to the San Francisco Browser. Then begins to write a story about whalers for a teenage audience.
During his next meeting with Ruth, he tells her about his plans and intentions, but the girl is skeptical of his hopes, and he cannot but admit that she is pleased with the changes taking place in Martin. He correctly expresses his thoughts, does not make speech errors in conversation, decently dresses. Ruth realizes that he is falling in love with him. In London's Martin Eden novel, there is a place for a romantic line. At the same time, the girl can not realize her own feelings, this is hindered by her ideas about life. Representations of love in the bourgeois world are quite accurately formulated in a quote from Jack Eden's Martin Eden.
Love in the bourgeois world is possible only within the framework of bourgeois morality.
Ruth convinces Martin that he needs to be educated in order to have the moral right to become a writer, to tell people about something. He passes entrance exams to high school, but fails in all subjects, having successfully passed only a grammar test. At the same time, the main character is not too upset because of his failure, but Ruth is disappointed. In addition, none of his works, which he sends to newspapers and magazines, no one agrees to publish. His essays and stories are returned without explanation.
Martin has a version that the fact is that they are written by hand. He rents a typewriter to master typing. He works almost round the clock, not counting it as work, for him it is an opportunity to prove himself, to prove to the world his need and usefulness. This is how Jack London describes the state of his hero in a quote from Martin Eden:
He just found the gift of speech, and all the dreams, all thoughts of beauty that had been living in him for many years, surged outward in an unstoppable, powerful, ringing stream.
At this time, the hero of the novel discovers the work of Herbert Spencer, which allows him to see the world around him in a new way. At the same time, Ruth does not share his hobbies with this author, and when Martin reads her stories to her, she draws attention to formal errors and shortcomings in them, but because of her limitations, she cannot realize the full power of his writing talent. Martin’s figure simply does not fit into the established framework of bourgeois culture, which is so understandable and familiar to the girl.
Engagement
When the money earned in the next voyage runs out, Jack London hero Martin Eden takes a job in the laundry room. He ironed his clothes, it is hard and hard work that takes him a lot of time and incredibly exhausts him. He quits reading, and gets drunk on one of his rare days off to relax, as he did before meeting Arthur and Ruth. After that, he clearly understands that such work not only exhausts, but also dulls him. The very next day, Martin quits the laundry.
He is preparing to go on his next voyage to earn money for further education, in addition, the hero of Jack London, Martin Eden, is not going to give up his hopes of becoming a writer.
The remaining weeks before departure on a flight become a real vacation of love. He regularly meets with Ruth, together they read each other's favorite books, go on bike rides until one day the girl is in his arms. They sincerely explain their feelings. The pure and innocent Ruth does not know anything about the physical side of love, but she feels the carnal appeal of a novice writer. Martin himself is afraid to violate and insult her purity. They announce the engagement to Ruth's parents, this message is expected to not cause them any delight.
Instead of going on a regular voyage and parting with his beloved for a long time, the main character of Jack London’s novel "Martin Eden" (the content will help you better understand the author’s intent) decides to write for a living. He rents a small room near Portuguese Maria Silva. Thanks to the mighty health hardened in sea voyages, he is able to work 17 hours a day, and spend the rest of the time sleeping. This episode, like many others, turns out to be autobiographical, which is exactly how Jack London himself worked at the very beginning of his writing career.
During the day, all the time left from sleep, he devotes to self-education and writes. Martin teaches foreign languages, analyzes and studies the literary techniques that other writers used, trying to understand the fundamental principles of literary skill. The fact that not a single work of his has been published so far does not bother him at all, since he is sure of the ultimate success.
However, at this time, the black stripe in his creative biography is delayed. The money that he managed to save up runs out, he hands over to the pawnshop all the valuable that he has. This is a watch, a coat, the last one is a bicycle. At this time, he is starving, eating only one potato; rare dinners at Ruth or his sister are when he can eat enough.
Suddenly, he hopes when a letter comes from a thick literary magazine informing him that he is ready to publish his manuscript. True, they agree to pay unforgivably little - only five dollars. Although, even according to the most conservative estimates, the author should have at least a hundred dollars. Sorry Martin gets a severe flu. But then, finally, luck turns to face him. Magazines, one by one, agree to print it, sending check by check.
Success and failure
A series of successes soon ends when all editions, without exception, seek to deceive a young and inexperienced writer, to pay less for his works than they actually cost. It turns out that obtaining the money they promised for publication is not so simple.
Ruth no longer likes his writing career, since there is no stability in her, she convinces him to get a job with her father. She simply does not believe in the fact that Martin will once become great and in demand.
Everything changes when Morzov, the protagonist of the novel, meets Ress Brissenden, they begin to be friends, communicate a lot with each other. Ress is sick with consumption, but is not afraid of an imminent death, continuing to love life passionately and wholeheartedly in all its manifestations. He introduces Martin to creative youth, obsessed with philosophy and literature, he calls them "real people." Together they attend socialist rallies, Martin argues with a speaker, but because of an absent-minded reporter who did not go into the details of what is happening, Eden finds himself on the pages of newspapers as an opponent of the existing government and adherent of the ideas of socialism. A printed article leads to fatal consequences. The novice writer receives a letter from Ruth in which the girl informs him of the engagement break. Then Martin lives by inertia, he is no longer pleased with checks constantly coming from magazines, now everything that he writes, is published, Martin turns into a popular writer.
Another blow awaits him - a friend of Brissenden commits suicide, and the poem Ephemerides, which was completed shortly before his death, is criticized for vulgarity, so Martin is glad his comrade does not see this.
He becomes a truly famous and respected writer, but he is not happy with the fame and success, the wealth in which he now lives is completely indifferent to him. Those people who made fun of him yesterday, considering him a loafer and a loser, now consider it an honor for him to respond to their invitation to dinner. He himself dreams of leaving for the Marquesas Islands in order to start living there in a hut made of ordinary reed. The money that he now receives in excess, Martin gives out to close people, but nothing touches him already. His heart cannot be melted either by the young Lizzy Connolly, who is in love with him, who is delighted with his talent, or Ruth, who now claims to be ready to stay with Martin, regardless of what the surrounding society will say.
Eden sets sail for the Marquesas on the ship Mariposa. The ship reaches the Pacific Ocean, but he does not feel that he is feeling better. He realizes that he has driven himself into a dead end, from which there can be no way out. After several more days spent in swimming, he decides to slip into the open sea through the porthole. Martin gains full lungs of air, plunging to maximum depth. When the air ends, it is no longer able to float to the surface, white light is visible in front of it, and it feels as if it is flying into the abyss. At this moment, consciousness forever leaves him.
Adaptations
For the first time, a film based on this work is released in America in 1914. In 1918, Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote a script based on Jack London’s novel "Martin Eden" for the film adaptation of "Not Born for Money". Nikander Turkin becomes the director of this picture, and the main roles are played by Mayakovsky himself, David Burliuk, Margarita Kibalchich, Yanina Mirato, Vasily Kamensky.
Among other well-known films based on this work, we also need to recall the 1942 painting entitled "The Adventures of Martin Eden," starring Glenn Ford.
In 1976, a television play by Sergei Yevlakhishvili was released in the USSR, which restores in detail the events of the novel. The image of Martin Eden on the screen is created by Yuri Bogatyrev, Ruth - Irina Pechernikova, Arthur - Vladimir Vikhrov, Brissenden - Leonid Filatov, Lizzy Connolly - Olga Ostroumova, parents Ruth and Arthur - Michaela Drozdovskaya and Nikolai Timofeev.
Analysis of the novel
Jack London’s novel "Martin Eden" in English was very mixed by the reading public. Socialist ideas at that time in America were not popular, their supporters were condemned by most of society, sometimes they were even considered supporters of the overthrow of the existing state system.
At the very beginning of the work, the protagonist of Jack London’s novel "Martin Eden", an analysis of which is presented in this article, has a typical goal - he wants to realize the notorious "American dream", although at that time this concept still did not exist. Martin dreams of becoming rich and famous, overcomes incredible difficulties for the sake of implementing his plan, but still achieves his goal. True, during this time he wastes all his desires and strengths, and the world itself, which he constantly dreamed of getting into, turns out to be empty and thoroughly false, it does not have that aesthetic value, which is much more in the reclusive life of the hero himself. As a result, he breaks away from his native environment, but cannot find a “new paradise,” disappointed and devastated, commits suicide.
In the analysis of "Martin Eden" by Jack London, it should be noted that one of the main themes of the work is the fate of a simple artist from the people in the capitalist world. In his novel, the author sought to reflect the difficult conditions in which a talented person in America finds himself.
When analyzing the Martin Eden of London, it is important to understand that this is a social novel, which becomes a kind of study of the surrounding heroes of society. At the same time, it is a novel about love, human strength and spirit. It is love that inspires and pushes the protagonist to fight social conventions. As a result, through his fate, we can observe how the bourgeois mass media, democracy, publishing policy, and the education system are exposed. All elements of such a society strive to turn a person into an animal.
Martin does not like the arrogance of literature, which rules the ball in his time. Unlike most writers, he knows the truth of life, but, in the end, material dependence literally makes him adjust to the low literary tastes of his environment. The soul of a novice writer is deformed in front of readers under the influence of social conditions, so, according to London, literary America does not allow the development of bright and original literary talents, distorting the lives and souls of the main characters.
After exhausting work in the laundry room, Martin clearly understands the essence of capitalist society with all the horror of its exploitation of man by man. This situation makes him think about his fate. Such labor sucks energy out of a person, taking away the ability to think clearly.
When he goes from a laborer to a famous writer, he understands the true value of those in power. Spiritually impoverished people face him, and all their phrases about freedom, equality and fraternity are empty words that are worthless.
Having achieved popularity, Martin stops writing, as he becomes an irresistible aversion to creativity, literature becomes disgusting for him, he abandons it. In him, an artist dies, who was deceived in his best hopes, and Martin dies physically, simply losing his taste for life.
However, he does not forget about the people around him, while he was poor. He helps with money a large Portuguese woman, who once rented a room, sister, old friend Joe.
It is interesting that London itself, choosing a name for its novel, was inclined to the option “Success” in order to ironically once again emphasize the collapse of all the illusions that owned the hero, but the publishers settled on a more neutral version, under which the book appeared in print. Another version of the title of the novel was Stardust.
Reviews
In reviews of Jack Eden's “Martin Eden,” many readers noted that the book is a powerful motivator, it is addictive, captivating, forcing to follow the plot with pleasure. Many critics and fans of the writer emphasized that this is a strong story that clearly demonstrates the true abilities of a person.
In reviews of Jack Eden's Martin Eden, most readers emphasized that the novel made a strong impression on them, while not everyone could find the strength to agree to such a sad ending. Apparently, the fact is that London presented his hero so strong and energetic that it became simply impossible to believe in his readiness to say goodbye to life on his own. He had to go all the way in every situation and not stop fighting, many who are convinced who left feedback on Jack London's Martin Eden book are convinced.
In the Western world, this work was perceived as a means of socialist propaganda. Largely because in it, unlike most other works of this author, there are no colorful characters, wildlife, pioneering heroes, but the concept of the "American dream" is criticized, the hero begins a rebellion against the existing bourgeois society, and the book ends in real tragic ending. This has been noted in many critics of Jack London's Martin Eden.
So this is the most atypical novel for the writer, as his protagonist is atypical as well. In reviews of Jack Eden's Martin Eden, readers, especially in America, criticized his socialism based on original philosophy, which is a mixture of the philosophical ideas of Marx and Engels with the materialistic concept of the world by Herbert Spencer. As a result, a dangerous contradiction creeps into the essence of the protagonist, which for many years has confused most literary critics. On the one hand, as the author himself intended, the book was to be proof that a creative person is not able to exist in bourgeois society. Hence, a way out for him could only be in the socialist structure of the world. At the same time, the protagonist himself so convincingly criticizes socialism that even the most ardent reader began to listen to him.
As a result, in reviews of Martin Eden of London, the majority came to the conclusion that the book, understood as an accusation of socialism, was in fact an accusation of individualism, and the protagonist himself would never die if he were a socialist.
As a result, Martin dies due to huge disappointment. He spends a lot of energy to get upstairs. And as a result, he discovers that the world of wealthy people in which he strove so much is filled with intolerance for everything new, stupidity and bad tastes. The reader concludes that everything that a truly strong personality is able to achieve, as a result, loses value for it. Ruth is a dummy, writer's fame is not happy, and money is ordinary paper. For people of Martin level, any feasible task is too shallow.