Captain Wolf Larsen. "The Sea Wolf" Jack London

The novel takes place in 1893 in the Pacific Ocean. Humphrey Van Weyden, a resident of San Francisco and a famous literary critic, goes on a ferry across Golden Gate Bay to visit his friend and on the way gets into a shipwreck. He is picked up from the water by the captain of the fishing schooner Ghost, whom everyone on board calls Wolf Larsen.

For the first time, having asked about the captain from the sailor who brought him to consciousness, Van Weyden learns that he is “mad.” When Van Weyden, who has just come to his senses, goes to the deck to talk with the captain, the captain’s assistant dies before his eyes. Then Wolf Larsen makes one of the sailors his assistant, and in the sailor’s place he puts the cabin boy George Leach, he does not agree with such a move and Wolf Larsen beats him. And Wolf Larsen makes the 35-year-old intellectual Van Weyden a cabin boy, giving him the cook Mugridge, a tramp from the London slums, a sycophant, an informer and a slob, as his immediate superior. Mugridge, who has just flattered the “gentleman” who got on board the ship, when he finds himself subordinate to him, begins to bully him.

Larsen, on a small schooner with a crew of 22 people, goes to harvest fur seal skins in the North Pacific Ocean and takes Van Weyden with him, despite his desperate protests.

The next day, Van Weyden discovers that the cook has robbed him. When Van Weyden tells the cook about this, the cook threatens him. Carrying out the duties of a cabin boy, Van Weyden cleans the captain's cabin and is surprised to find there books on astronomy and physics, the works of Darwin, the works of Shakespeare, Tennyson and Browning. Encouraged by this, Van Weyden complains to the captain about the cook. Wolf Larsen mockingly tells Van Weyden that he himself is to blame, having sinned and seduced the cook with money, and then seriously sets out his own philosophy, according to which life is meaningless and like leaven, and “the strong devour the weak.”

From the team, Van Weyden learns that Wolf Larsen is famous in the professional community for his reckless courage, but even more so for his terrible cruelty, because of which he even has problems recruiting a team; He also has murders on his conscience. Order on the ship rests entirely on the extraordinary physical strength and authority of Wolf Larsen. The captain immediately severely punishes the offender for any offense. Despite his extraordinary physical strength, Wolf Larsen experiences severe headaches.

After getting the cook drunk, Wolf Larsen wins money from him, finding out that besides this stolen money, the tramp cook does not have a penny. Van Weyden reminds that the money belongs to him, but Wolf Larsen takes it for himself: he believes that “weakness is always to blame, strength is always right,” and morality and any ideals are illusions.

Frustrated by the loss of money, the cook takes it out on Van Weyden and begins to threaten him with a knife. Having learned about this, Wolf Larsen mockingly declares to Van Weyden, who had previously told Wolf Larsen, that he believes in the immortality of the soul, that the cook cannot harm him, since he is immortal, and if he does not want to go to heaven, let him send the cook there by stabbing with his knife.

In desperation, Van Weyden gets an old cleaver and demonstratively sharpens it, but the cowardly cook does not take any action and even begins to grovel before him again.

An atmosphere of primitive fear reigns on the ship, as the captain acts in accordance with his conviction that human life is the cheapest of all cheap things. However, the captain favors Van Weyden. Moreover, having started his journey on the ship as an assistant cook, “Hump” (a hint of the stoop of people of mental work), as Larsen nicknamed him, makes a career to the position of senior mate, although at first he does not understand anything about maritime affairs. The reason is that Van Weyden and Larsen, who came from the bottom and at one time led a life where “kicks and beatings in the morning and at night to come replace words, and fear, hatred and pain are the only things that fed the soul” find common language in the field of literature and philosophy, which are not alien to the captain. It even has a small library on board, where Van Weyden discovered Browning and Swinburne. In his spare time, the captain enjoys mathematics and optimizing navigational instruments.

The cook, who had previously enjoyed the captain's favor, tries to win him back by denouncing one of the sailors, Johnson, who dared to express dissatisfaction with the uniform given to him. Johnson had previously been in bad standing with the captain, despite the fact that he worked regularly, as he had self-esteem. In the cabin, Larsen and the new mate brutally beat Johnson in front of Van Weyden, and then drag Johnson, unconscious from the beatings, onto the deck. Here, unexpectedly, Wolf Larsen is denounced in front of everyone by the former cabin boy Lich. The Lich then beats up Mugridge. But to the surprise of Van Weyden and the others, Wolf Larsen does not touch the Lich.

One night, Van Weyden sees Wolf Larsen crawling over the side of the ship, all wet and with a bloody head. Together with Van Weyden, who poorly understands what is happening, Wolf Larsen descends into the cockpit, here the sailors attack Wolf Larsen and try to kill him, but they are not armed, in addition, they are hampered by darkness, large numbers (since they interfere with each other) and Wolf Larsen, using his extraordinary physical strength, makes his way up the ladder.

After this, Wolf Larsen calls Van Weyden, who remained in the cockpit, and appoints him as his assistant (the previous one, along with Larsen, was hit on the head and thrown overboard, but unlike Wolf Larsen, he was unable to swim out and died), although he knows nothing about navigation.

After the failed mutiny, the captain's treatment of the crew becomes even more cruel, especially against Leach and Johnson. Everyone, including Johnson and Leach themselves, are sure that Wolf Larsen will kill them. Wolf Larsen himself says the same thing. The captain himself has intensified attacks of headaches, now lasting for several days.

Johnson and Leach manage to escape on one of the boats. Along the way of pursuing the fugitives, the crew of the “Ghost” picks up another group of victims, including a woman, the poet Maude Brewster. At first sight, Humphrey is attracted to Maude. A storm begins. Angry over the fate of Leach and Johnson, Van Weyden announces to Wolf Larsen that he will kill him if he continues to abuse Leach and Johnson. Wolf Larsen congratulates Van Weyden that he has finally become an independent person and gives his word that he will not lay a finger on Leach and Johnson. At the same time, mockery is visible in Wolf Larsen’s eyes. Soon Wolf Larsen catches up with Leach and Johnson. Wolf Larsen comes close to the boat and never takes them on board, thereby drowning Leach and Johnson. Van Weyden is stunned.

Wolf Larsen had earlier threatened the unkempt cook that if he did not change his shirt, he would ransom him. Once making sure that the cook has not changed his shirt, Wolf Larsen orders him to be dunked into the sea on a rope. As a result, the cook loses his foot, bitten off by a shark. Maude witnesses the scene.

The captain has a brother nicknamed Death Larsen, the captain of a fishing steamer, in addition to this, as they said, he was involved in the transportation of weapons and opium, the slave trade and piracy. Brothers hate each other. One day, Wolf Larsen encounters Death Larsen and captures several members of his brother's crew.

The wolf also becomes attracted to Maud, which ends with him attempting to rape her, but abandoning his attempt due to the onset of a severe headache attack. Van Weyden, who was present, even at first rushing at Larsen in a fit of indignation, saw Wolf Larsen truly frightened for the first time.

Immediately after this incident, Van Weyden and Maude decide to escape from the Ghost while Wolf Larsen lies in his cabin with a headache. Having captured a boat with a small supply of food, they flee, and after several weeks of wandering around the ocean, they find land and land on a small island, which Maude and Humphrey named Endeavor Island. They cannot leave the island and are preparing for a long winter.

After some time, a broken schooner washed up on the island. This is the Ghost with Wolf Larsen on board. He lost his sight (apparently this happened during the attack that prevented him from raping Maude). It turns out that two days after the escape of Van Weyden and Maud, the crew of the “Ghost” moved to the ship of Death Larsen, who boarded the “Ghost” and bribed the sea hunters. The cook took revenge on Wolf Larsen by sawing down the masts.

The crippled Ghost, with its masts broken, drifted in the ocean until it washed up on the Island of Effort. As fate would have it, it is on this island that Captain Larsen, blind due to a brain tumor, discovers the seal rookery that he has been looking for all his life.

Maud and Humphrey, at the cost of incredible efforts, get the Ghost in order and take it out to the open sea. Larsen, who successively loses all his senses along with his vision, is paralyzed and dies. At the moment when Maud and Humphrey finally discover a rescue ship in the ocean, they confess their love for each other.

Jack London

Sea Wolf

Chapter first

I really don’t know where to start, although sometimes, as a joke, I put all the blame on Charlie Faraseth. He had a summer house in Mill Valley, in the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, but he lived there only in the winter, when he wanted to relax and read Nietzsche or Schopenhauer in his spare time. With the onset of summer, he preferred to languish in the heat and dust in the city and work tirelessly. If I had not been in the habit of visiting him every Saturday and staying until Monday, I would not have had to cross San Francisco Bay on that memorable January morning.

It cannot be said that the Martinez, on which I sailed, was an unreliable vessel; this new steamer was already making her fourth or fifth voyage between Sausalito and San Francisco. Danger lurked in the thick fog that shrouded the bay, but I, knowing nothing about navigation, had no idea about it. I remember well how calmly and cheerfully I sat on the bow of the ship, on the upper deck, right under the wheelhouse, and the mystery of the foggy veil hanging over the sea little by little took possession of my imagination. A fresh breeze was blowing, and for some time I was alone in the damp darkness - however, not entirely alone, since I vaguely felt the presence of the helmsman and someone else, apparently the captain, in the glassed-in control room above my head.

I remember thinking how good it was that there was a division of labor and I didn’t have to study fogs, winds, tides and all the marine science if I wanted to visit a friend living across the bay. It’s good that there are specialists - the helmsman and the captain, I thought, and their professional knowledge serves thousands of people who are no more knowledgeable about the sea and navigation than I am. But I do not spend my energy studying many subjects, but can concentrate it on some special issues, for example, on the role of Edgar Allan Poe in the history of American literature, which, by the way, was the subject of my article published in the latest issue of The Atlantic. Having boarded the ship and looking into the salon, I noted, not without satisfaction, that the issue of “Atlantic” in the hands of some portly gentleman was opened precisely on my article. Here again was the advantage of the division of labor: the special knowledge of the helmsman and the captain gave the portly gentleman the opportunity, while he was being safely transported on the steamer from Sausalito to San Francisco, to become acquainted with the fruits of my special knowledge of Poe.

The saloon door slammed behind me, and a red-faced man stomped across the deck, interrupting my thoughts. And I just managed to mentally outline the topic of my future article, which I decided to call “The Necessity of Freedom. A word in defense of the artist." Red-face glanced at the wheelhouse, looked at the fog that surrounded us, hobbled back and forth across the deck - apparently he had artificial limbs - and stopped next to me, legs wide apart; Bliss was written on his face. I was not mistaken in assuming that he spent his entire life at sea.

“It won’t take long for you to turn gray from such disgusting weather!” – he grumbled, nodding towards the wheelhouse.

– Does this create any special difficulties? – I responded. – After all, the task is as simple as two and two make four. The compass indicates the direction, distance and speed are also known. All that remains is simple arithmetic calculation.

- Special difficulties! – the interlocutor snorted. - It’s as simple as two and two are four! Arithmetic calculation.

Leaning back slightly, he looked me up and down.

– What can you say about the ebb that rushes into the Golden Gate? – he asked, or rather barked. – What is the speed of the current? How does he relate? What is this - listen to it! Bell? We're heading straight for the bell buoy! You see, we are changing course.

A mournful ringing came from the fog, and I saw the helmsman quickly turn the wheel. The bell now sounded not in front, but from the side. The hoarse whistle of our steamer could be heard, and from time to time other whistles responded to it.

- Some other steamboat! – the red-faced man noted, nodding to the right, where the beeps were coming from. - And this! Do you hear? They just blow the horn. That's right, some kind of scow. Hey, you there on the scow, don’t yawn! Well, I knew it. Now someone is going to have a blast!

The invisible steamer sounded whistle after whistle, and the horn echoed it, seemingly in terrible confusion.

“Now they have exchanged pleasantries and are trying to disperse,” the red-faced man continued when the alarming beeps died down.

He explained to me what the sirens and horns were shouting to each other, and his cheeks were burning and his eyes were sparkling.

“There’s a steamship siren on the left, and over there, hear that wheezing sound, it must be a steam schooner; it crawls from the entrance to the bay towards the ebb tide.

A shrill whistle raged like one possessed somewhere very close ahead. At Martinez he was answered by striking the gong. The wheels of our steamer stopped, their pulsating beats on the water died down, and then resumed. A piercing whistle, reminiscent of the chirping of a cricket amid the roar of wild animals, now came from the fog, from somewhere to the side, and sounded weaker and weaker. I looked questioningly at my companion.

“Some kind of desperate boat,” he explained. “We really should have sunk it!” They cause a lot of trouble, but who needs them? Some donkey will climb onto such a vessel and rush around the sea, not knowing why, but whistling like crazy. And everyone should move away, because, you see, he’s walking and he doesn’t know how to move away! Rushing forward, and you keep your eyes peeled! Duty to give way! Basic politeness! Yes, they have no idea about this.

This inexplicable anger amused me a lot; While my interlocutor hobbled back and forth indignantly, I again succumbed to the romantic charm of the fog. Yes, this fog undoubtedly had its own romance. Like a gray ghost full of mystery, he hung over the tiny globe spinning in cosmic space. And people, these sparks or specks of dust, driven by an insatiable thirst for activity, rushed on their wooden and steel horses through the very heart of mystery, groping their way through the Invisible, and made noise and shouted arrogantly, while their souls froze from uncertainty and fear !

- Hey! “Someone is coming towards us,” said the red-faced man. - Do you hear, do you hear? It's coming fast and straight towards us. He must not hear us yet. The wind carries.

A fresh breeze blew in our faces, and I clearly distinguished a whistle to the side and a little in front.

- Also a passenger? – I asked.

Red Face nodded.

- Yes, otherwise he wouldn’t have flown so headlong. Our people there are worried! – he chuckled.

I looked up. The captain leaned out chest-deep from the wheelhouse and peered intensely into the fog, as if trying to penetrate through it by force of will. His face expressed concern. And on the face of my companion, who hobbled to the railing and gazed intently towards the invisible danger, anxiety was also written.

Everything happened with incomprehensible speed. The fog spread out to the sides, as if cut by a knife, and the bow of the steamer appeared in front of us, dragging wisps of fog behind it, like Leviathan - seaweed. I saw the wheelhouse and a white-bearded old man leaning out of it. He was dressed in a blue uniform that fit him very smartly, and I remember being amazed at how calm he was. His calmness under these circumstances seemed terrible. He submitted to fate, walked towards it and waited with complete composure for the blow. He looked at us coldly and thoughtfully, as if calculating where the collision should take place, and did not pay any attention to the furious cry of our helmsman: “We have distinguished ourselves!”

Looking back, I understand that the helmsman’s exclamation did not require an answer.

“Get hold of something and hold on tight,” the red-faced man told me.

All his enthusiasm left him, and he seemed to be infected with the same supernatural calm.

Novel "Sea Wolf"- one of the most famous “sea” works of the American writer Jack London. Behind the external features of adventure romance in the novel "Sea Wolf" hidden is a criticism of the militant individualism of the “strong man”, his contempt for people, based on a blind belief in himself as an exceptional person - a belief that can sometimes cost his life.

Novel "The Sea Wolf" by Jack London was published in 1904. The action of the novel "Sea Wolf" occurs at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century in the Pacific Ocean. Humphrey Van Weyden, a San Francisco resident and famous literary critic, goes to visit his friend on a ferry across Golden Gate Bay and ends up in a shipwreck. He is saved by the sailors of the "Ghost" boat, led by the captain, whom everyone on board calls Wolf Larsen.

According to the plot of the novel "Sea Wolf" main character Wolf Larsen, on a small schooner with a crew of 22 people, goes to harvest fur seal skins in the North Pacific Ocean and takes Van Weyden with him, despite his desperate protests. Ship captain Wolf Larson is a tough, strong, uncompromising person. Having become a simple sailor on a ship, Van Weyden has to do all the grunt work, but he can cope with all the difficult trials, he is helped by love in the person of a girl who was also rescued during a shipwreck. On a ship, subject to physical force and authority Wolf Larsen, the captain immediately punishes him severely for any offense. However, the captain favors Van Weyden, starting with the assistant cook, “Hump” as he nicknamed him Wolf Larsen makes a career up to the position of chief mate, although at first he knows nothing about maritime affairs. Wolf Larsen and Van Weyden find common ground in the fields of literature and philosophy, which are not alien to them, and the captain has a small library on board, where Van Weyden discovered Browning and Swinburne. And in my free time Wolf Lasren optimizes navigation calculations.

The crew of the "Ghost" pursues the Navy SEALs and picks up another company of victims, including a woman - the poet Maude Brewster. At first glance, the hero of the novel "Sea Wolf" Humphrey is attracted to Maud. They decide to escape from the Phantom. Having captured a boat with a small supply of food, they flee, and after several weeks of wandering around the ocean, they find land and land on a small island, which they called the Island of Efforts. Since they have no opportunity to leave the island, they are preparing for a long winter.

The broken schooner "Ghost" is washed up on the island of Efforts, on board of which it turns out Wolf Larsen, blind due to progressive brain disease. According to the story Wolf his crew rebelled against the captain's arbitrariness and fled to another ship to their mortal enemy Wolf Larsen to his brother named Death Larsen, so the “Ghost” with broken masts drifted in the ocean until it washed up on the Island of Effort. By the will of fate, it was on this island that the captain became blind Wolf Larsen discovers the seal rookery he has been looking for all his life. Maude and Humphrey, at the cost of incredible efforts, restore the Phantom in order and take it out to the open sea. Wolf Larsen, who successively loses all his senses along with his vision, is paralyzed and dies. At the moment when Maud and Humphrey finally discover a rescue ship in the ocean, they confess their love to each other.

In the novel "The Sea Wolf" Jack London demonstrates a perfect knowledge of seamanship, navigation and sailing rigging, which he gleaned from the days when he worked as a sailor on a fishing vessel in his youth. into a novel "The Sea Wolf" Jack London invested all his love for the sea element. His landscapes in the novel "Sea Wolf" amaze the reader with the skill of their description, as well as with their truthfulness and magnificence.

I read the novel with great pleasure! I will try to explain my attitude towards this novel. Let me give a brief description of some of the characters in the novel who made the most complete impression on me.

Wolf Larsen is an old sea wolf, captain of the schooner "Ghost". An irreconcilable, extremely cruel, intelligent, and at the same time dangerous person. He loves to command, urge and beat his team, he is vindictive, cunning and resourceful. The image of, say, Bluebeard, who, in essence, he is. Not one sensible member of his team will express his dissatisfaction to his face, because this is life-threatening. He doesn’t value someone else’s life even a penny, when he treated his own life as a treasure. Which, in principle, is what he advocates in his philosophy, even if sometimes his thoughts differ from his own views on things, but they are always consistent. He considers the ship's crew his property.

Death Larsen is the brother of the wolf Larsen. A small part of the novel is devoted to this personality, but this does not mean that the personality of Death Larsen is less significant. Little is said about him, there is no direct contact with him. It is only known that there is long-standing enmity and competition between the brothers. According to Wolf Larsen, his brother is even more rude, cruel and uncouth than himself. Although it's hard to believe.

Thomas Mugridge - cook on the schooner "Ghost". By nature, he is a cowardly upstart, a bully, brave only in words, capable of meanness. The attitude towards Humphrey Van Weyden is extremely negative; from the first minutes his attitude towards him was ingratiating, and later he tried to turn Help against himself. Seeing the rebuff to his impudence, and that Hemp is stronger than him, the cook tries to establish friendship and contact with him. He managed to make a blood enemy in the person of Laitimer. He ultimately paid severely for his behavior.

Johnson (Joganson), sailor Leach - two friends who are not afraid to express dissatisfaction with the captain openly, after which Johnson was severely beaten by Wolf Larsen and his assistant. The lich, trying to avenge his friend, attempted a rebellion and tried to escape, for which both were severely punished by Wolf Larsen. In his usual manner.

Louis is a member of the schooner's crew. Sticks to the neutral side. “My house is on the edge, I don’t know anything,” in the hope of reaching my native shores safe and sound. More than once he warns of danger and gives valuable advice to Hemp. Tries to encourage and support him.

Humphrey Van Weyden (Hemp) - rescued after a ship crash, by chance ends up on the “Ghost”. He undoubtedly gained important life experience thanks to his communication with Wolf Larsen. The complete opposite of the captain. Trying to understand Wolf Larsen, he shares his views on life. For which he gets poked more than once by the captain. Wolf Larsen, in turn, shares with him his views on life, through the prism of his own experience.

Maud Brewster is the only woman on the schooner “ghost”; I will omit how she got on board, otherwise it will be a retelling, who had a lot of trials, but in the end, showing courage and perseverance, was rewarded.

Here is just a brief description of the characters that I remember and love the most. The novel can be roughly divided into two components: a description of the events taking place on the ship and a separate narrative after Hemp’s escape from Maud. I would say that the novel is undoubtedly written, first of all, about human characters, expressed very clearly in this novel, and about relationships between people. I really liked the moments of discussion of views on life, diametrically opposed heroes - the Captain and Humphrey Van Weyden. Well, if everything is relatively clear with Hemp, then what caused this behavior with a certain amount of skepticism, Wolf Larsen? - it is not clear. Only one thing is clear, that Wolf Larsen is an irreconcilable fighter, but he fought not only with the people around him, but it seems that he was fighting with his own life. After all, he treated life in general as a cheap trinket. The fact that there is nothing to love this person for is understandable, but there was a reason to respect him! Despite all the cruelty towards others, he tried to isolate himself from his team with such a society. Because the team was selected somehow, and there were different people: both good and bad, the trouble was that he treated everyone with the same malice and cruelty. No wonder Maud nicknamed him Lucifer.

Perhaps nothing could change this man. It was in vain that he believed that anything could be achieved through rudeness, cruelty and force. But mostly he got what he deserved - the hatred of others.

Humphrey fought this giant to the end, and what a surprise he was when he found out that Wolf Larsen was not alien to science, poetry and much more. This man combined incompatible things. And every time he hoped that he would still change for the better.

As for Maud Brewster and Hemp, during their journey, they grew stronger, not only physically, but also spiritually. I was amazed by the willpower to win in this fragile woman, and the tenacity with which she fought for life. This novel convinced me that love can overcome any obstacles and trials. Wolf Larsen all the way proved to Hemp the inconsistency of his (Hemp’s) ideals, which he drew from books until the age of 30, but how much was worth, he still learned only thanks to Larsen.

Despite the fact that life played a cruel joke on Larsen, and everything that he caused to people came back to him, I still felt sorry for him. He died helpless, not realizing his mistakes made during life, but perfectly understanding the situation in which he found himself! This fate was the cruelest lesson for him, but he endured it with honor! Even if he never knew love!

Rating: 10

The first London novel I finally cared about. I won’t say I liked it, because in general, based on the results, it is, perhaps, very far from ideal, but it was in the process that it was interesting and in some places there was no sense of that cardboard template by which the heroes, “good” and “bad,” live and move. And this, it must be said, is entirely the merit of Wolf Larsen, who, whatever one may say, still turned out to be a romantic villain.

Alas, in the best traditions, the villain ultimately faced the punishment of God and the mercy of those whom he had previously tormented, but nevertheless, it is the tough and unexpected episodes with Larsen that greatly enliven the story.

“Sea Wolf” is a deceptive name, because this epithet is applicable equally to the evil captain, whose name is Wolf, and to the unfortunate hero who, by chance, fell into his clutches. We must give Larsen his due, he really managed to make a real man out of the hero during all this time, through threats, torment and humiliation. No matter how funny it is, because Van Weyden, having fallen into the hands of the villain Larsen, in good faith should not have come out of there alive and in one piece - I would rather believe in the option that they would be entertaining the shark, and not the cook who still “one of our own”. But if the concepts of class hatred are not alien to Larsen, but the concepts of class revenge are at least alien to him, he treated Van Weyden no worse than everyone else, and perhaps even better. It’s funny that the hero doesn’t think for a second that he owes it to Wolf Larsen’s science that he basically managed to survive on that uninhabited island and get home.

The love line, which suddenly appeared, like a piano from a bush, somewhat enlivens Larsen’s mockery of everyone and the suffering of the oppressed, which had already begun to become boring. I was already glad that this would be a love story with the participation of the Wolf himself - that would be really interesting and unexpected. But alas, London took the path of least resistance - two hero-victims somehow miraculously managed to escape without dying (although a few chapters ago, former sailors thrown into the sea on a boat, as they said, would probably have died if they had not figured out how to survive on the island and then run away into the dawn, holding hands. Only the presence of the dying Larsen somewhat brightened up this idyll and gave it an eerie shade. It’s strange that it never occurred to the heroes for a second that it might be more merciful to kill the paralyzed Larsen. And it’s even stranger that it didn’t occur to him himself - although it’s likely that it did, he just didn’t want to ask for help, and the fire he started was a suicide attempt, and not at all an intention to specifically harm the heroes.

In general, the novel gives the impression of being quite heterogeneous and diverse. In particular, the periods before and after Maud appeared on the ship are radically different. On the one hand, all the signs of sea life, local revolts of individual sailors against the Wolf and general misadventures were very interesting. On the other hand, Wolf Larsen himself is invariably interesting; in some ways, his behavior constantly represented a kind of flirting with Van Weyden and the reader: either he shows a surprisingly human guise, or again he hides under his villainous mask. I was expecting a certain catharsis in his attitude, to be honest, not like in the finale, but real catharsis. If London had the guts to do a Beauty and the Beast type romance and have Van Weyden and Maude work together to change something about the Wolf, that would be cool. Although I agree that doing this convincingly would also be very difficult.

Rating: 7

A hymn to masculinity as Jack London understands it. A pampered intellectual ends up on a ship, where he becomes a real man and finds love.

Conventionally, the novel can be divided into 2 parts:

Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)

the hero's maturation on the ship and Robinson's life on the island with his beloved, where the hero learns to put into practice everything he learned on the ship.

If the author had limited himself to the format of the story, he could still have enjoyed it, but he, inflating the volume, tediously describes every day, every little thing. The captain's philosophy is especially annoying. Not because it is bad - no, it’s a very interesting philosophy! – but there is too much of it! The same idea, which has already become ingrained in the teeth, is endlessly presented with new examples. The author clearly went too far. But what’s even more offensive is that he went too far not only in words, but also in actions. Yes, the tyranny of a captain on his own ship was always and everywhere, but how to maim and kill his own crew and kill and capture others is beyond the bounds even for the corsairs of the 17th century, not to mention the 20th century, when such a “hero” was in At the very first port, even if they hadn’t been strung up, they would have been locked up in hard labor until death. What's wrong, Mr. London?

Yes, I’m happy for the hero: he managed to survive and improve in this completely implausible hell, and even grab a woman. But again London has a depressing thought that, supposedly, it would be like this for everyone, they say, whoever didn’t set sails, didn’t survive in the taiga and didn’t look for treasure is not a man at all. Yes, yes, all Jack London fans, if you are sitting in city offices in shirts and trousers, your idol would consider you sub-men.

And all my criticism of this particular novel and my dislike for the author in general boils down to the fact that I am not going to agree with him ON THIS.

Rating: 5

I read the book as an adult, and (as it happened) after watching the Soviet film adaptation. London's favorite piece. Deep. In the film, as always happens, a lot was distorted, so I regret that I did not read the book first.

Wolf Larsen seemed like a deeply unhappy man. His tragedy began in childhood, and life, with its cruelty, made him infinitely cruel. Otherwise he would have died, he would not have survived. But Wolf Larsen was endowed with intelligence and the ability to reason and understand beauty - that is, endowed with something that rude, uncouth people usually do not have. And this is his tragedy. It was as if he had split in half. More precisely, I lost faith in life. Because I realized that this beauty is made up, just as religion and eternity are made up; there was a place where he says that when he dies, fish will eat him, and there is no soul... but it seems to me that he would like there to be a soul, and for life to flow along a humane, and not brutal channel... but I knew too well, I knew the hard way, that this doesn’t happen. And he did as life taught him. I even came up with my own theory about “sourdough”...

But it turned out that this theory does not always work. That force can achieve obedience, but not respect and devotion. And you can also achieve hatred and protest...

Amazing dialogues and discussions between Wolf Larsen and Hamp - I re-read them sometimes. And it seems that the captain understood life better... but he drew the wrong conclusions, and this ruined him.

Rating: 10

It is clear that Wolf Larsen is a literary negative of Martin Eden. Both are sailors, both are strong personalities, both come from “from below.” Only where Martin has white, Larsen has black. It felt like London was throwing a ball at a wall and watching it bounce.

Wolf Larsen is a negative hero - Martin Eden is positive. Larsen is a super-egocentrist - Martin is a humanist to the core. The beatings and humiliations experienced in Larsen's childhood embittered him, but Eden was hardened. Larsen is a misanthrope and misanthrope - Eden is capable of strong love. Both strive with all their might to rise above the wretched environment into which they were born. Martin makes a breakthrough out of love for a woman, Wolf Larsen out of love for himself.

The image is certainly darkly charming. A kind of pirate who loves good poetry and freely philosophizes on any given topic. His arguments look much more convincing than the abstract humanistic philosophy of Mr. Van Weyden, because they are based on the bitter knowledge of life. It's easy to be a "gentleman" when you have money. Just try, remain human when they are not there! Especially on a schooner like the Ghost with a captain like Larsen!

To London's credit, he managed to retain Mr. Van Weyden until the very end without sacrificing much verisimilitude. At the end of the book, the hero looks much nicer than at the beginning, thanks to a medicine called Wolf Larsen, which he “took in large doses” (in his own words). But Larsen is clearly outplaying him.

The rebel sailors Johnson and Leach are vividly described. The sporadically flashing hunters are absolutely living real people. Well, Thomas Mugridge is generally a literary triumph for the author. This is where the gallery of magnificent portraits, in fact, ends.

What remains is a walking mannequin named Maude Brewster. The image is ideal to the point of complete implausibility and therefore causes irritation and boredom. I remembered the translucent inventors of the Strugatskys, if anyone remembers “Monday”. The love story and dialogues are something special. When the characters, holding hands, drag out their speech, you want to look away. It feels like the romance was HIGHLY recommended by the publisher - but how? Ladies won't understand!

The novel is so strong that it withstood the blow and did not lose its charm. You can read at any age and with the same pleasure. You just place different emphasis on yourself at different times.

Rating: no

Smeared with plenty of psychologism and philosophical dilemmas, this book does not have a single extra word and, it seems to me, is written superbly, a pleasant, even “delicious” style, giving the reader a gap into the cruel world of getting food in survival mode, eyelids sticking together from lack of sleep, dirty and the tattered, sweat-soaked shirts of the lower class sailors, struggling by blind chance due to an “unfortunate birth” in a poor family, for the sake of those treasured calories contained in the crumbs of food, for which they have to constantly sacrifice themselves. But for what? As the title character would put it, I would say, “an anti-hero,” “to fill his belly, which gives life.” Life in the name of what? “We want to live and move, despite all the meaninglessness of this, we want it because it is inherent in us by nature - the desire to live, move, wander,” Wolf Larsen would answer. For some reason, all the time I was reading, I wanted to call him “Varg”; apparently, it was unusual to see a nickname instead of a name, and it is precisely this name that is translated from Scandinavian languages ​​as “wolf”. Frankly, the struggle between philosophical movements and philosophers causes violent conflicts for me. London, which rejects social Darwinism, colorfully reveals to us the personality of the captain of a fishing schooner, nevertheless, supporting idealistic ideas and such abstract, man-made chimeras as “justice, duty, immortality of the spirit, love,” proving that humanity in its development has gone far from animals and the laws generated by reason are objectively consistent with life within society.

Sometimes there is a feeling that Larsen, having failed to achieve success, enviously takes revenge on the pampered aristocrats he meets, who were lucky to be born into noble families and who are “fed by dead hands.” In one of his remarks, the premise of which was Hamp’s question “Why haven’t you done anything significant? The power inherent in you could lift someone like you to any height,” the Wolf says that his parents were simple illiterate people, plowmen of the sea , who sent their sons from generation to generation to surf the waves of the sea, as has been the custom since time immemorial. Because the Wolf “grew up without roots” and did not have a favorable opportunity to rise, he had to plow the ocean abyss on a small wooden world with its own laws and mechanisms of work. But in the end, Hamp benefited from his upbringing on a schooner, and he was able to survive on a desert island thanks to the skills he learned from the crew and the knowledge of its members.

Thus, I wanted to report on this problem, although there are many of them in the novel. But it is precisely this theme that correlates with the socialist worldview of London, the fact that every child should be given equal conditions at birth. It is interesting to note that my friend was extremely annoyed that I first read Martin Eden and then began the real novel. The situations in them are inverted, but still, from past experience, nothing prevents me from analyzing and understanding the connection between these works. I recommend that you read both works.

So, a reference book for a lover of voyages and severe hardships, after reading it you just want to build your own ship and, quoting Rumbaud, “In a fierce crowd I rushed into the distance of the seas,” maneuver and sway in the violent and chthonically indomitable water element.

Rating: 9

“The Sea Wolf” is a philosophical and psychological novel, purely symbolically disguised as an adventure. It comes down to a dispute between Humphrey Van Weyden and Wolf Larsen. Everything else is an illustration of their argument. Van Weyden, alas, did not work out. Jack London did not like such people, did not understand them and did not know how to portray them. Mugridge, Lynch, Johnson, Louis did better. Even Maud turned out better. And, of course, Wolf Larsen.

When reading (not the first time, in my youth, but relatively recently), it sometimes seemed to me that in the image of Larsen the author saw a version of his fate, undesirable, but possible. Under certain circumstances, John Griffith could become not Jack London, but Wolf Larsen. Both did not graduate from universities, both were excellent sailors, both were fond of the philosophy of Spencer and Nietzsche. In any case, the author understands Larsen. His arguments are easy to challenge, but there is no one to do it. Even when an opponent appears on the ship, you can point at him. For his part, Van Weyden understands that in his situation it is important not to argue, but simply to survive. Pictures from nature, seemingly confirming Larsen’s ideas, are again possible in the closed, specific world of “The Phantom.” It’s not for nothing that Larsen doesn’t like to leave this little world and even seems to avoid going ashore. Well, the ending is natural for such a little world. An old large predator, having become decrepit, becomes a victim of small predators. You feel sorry for the wolf, but you feel more sorry for his victims.

Rating: 9

The novel left a double impression. On the one hand, it is brilliantly written, you read and forget about everything, but on the other hand, the thought constantly appears that this does not happen. Well, people cannot be afraid of one person, and one person, even a captain, cannot mock people at sea with impunity, threatening their lives. In the sea! On land it’s okay, but in the sea I don’t believe it. On land you can be held responsible for murder, this stops you, but on the sea you can calmly kill the hated captain, but, as I understand from the book, he is still afraid of death. There was one attempt, but it was unsuccessful, which prevented the use of small arms, which are on the ship, to be sure, it is not clear. The most interesting thing is that some people from the crew themselves take part in this bullying with pleasure, and they do not follow the order, they like it. Or maybe it’s just that I, a land rat, don’t understand anything about sailing, and it’s customary for sailors to risk someone’s life for fun?

And the captain himself resembles the unkillable John McClane from the Die Hard films; even sharp steel cannot kill him. And at the end of the book, he generally resembled a harmful, spoiled child who just wanted to do some mischief. Although he is a well-read person, his dialogues are meaningful, he talks interestingly about life, but in his actions he is an ordinary, as people say, “cattle.” Since he lives by the principle “he who is stronger is right,” then his remarks should have been appropriate, and not the way London painted them.

In my opinion, there is no “you” and “I” in the sea, there is only “we” in the sea. There are no “strong” and “weak”, there is only a strong team that can weather any storm together. On a ship, saving the life of one person can save the entire ship and its crew.

PS. If Jack London would have made the main antagonist not a complete asshole, but cruel but fair, then it would be ideal.

Rating: no

Jack London's favorite book.

Journalist Van Weyden, after a shipwreck, ends up on the schooner "Ghost", led by the gloomy and cruel captain Larsen. The team calls him "Wolf Larsen". Larsen is a preacher of a different morality than Van Weyden. A journalist who speaks passionately about humanism and compassion experiences a real shock that in the age of humanity and Christian compassion there is a person who does not act guided by such ideals. “Every person has his own leaven, Hamp...”, Larsen tells the journalist and invites him not to just eat bread on the schooner, but only to earn it. Having lived in urban bliss and humane ideals, Van Weyden plunges downwards with horror and difficulty and is forced to discover for himself that at the root of his essence lies not the virtue of compassion, but that very “leaven”. By chance, a woman gets on board the Ghost, who becomes partly Van Weyden’s savior and a ray of light, preventing the hero from turning into the new Wolf Larsen.

The dialogues between the Main Character and Wolf Larsen are quite remarkable, the clash of two philosophies from two diametrically opposed classes of society.

Rating: 10

The Sea Wolf by Jack London is a novel inspired by the atmosphere of sea adventures, adventurism, a separate era, isolated from others, which gave rise to its incredible uniqueness. The author himself served on a schooner and is familiar with maritime affairs and put all his love for the sea into this novel: Excellent descriptions of seascapes, relentless trade winds and endless fogs, as well as hunting for seals. The novel exudes the authenticity of what is happening, you literally believe in all the author’s descriptions coming from his consciousness. Jack London is famous for his ability to put heroes in unusual circumstances and forces them to make difficult decisions that prompt the reader to certain thoughts, and there is something to think about. The novel is filled with reflections on the topic of materialism, pragmatism and is not without its originality. Its main decoration is the character of Wolf Larsen. A melancholic egocentric with a pragmatic outlook on life, he is more like a primitive man with his principles; he has gone far from civilized people, is cold towards others, cruel and devoid of any principles and morals, but at the same time a lonely soul, delighted with the works of philosophers and with reading literature (My brother is too busy with life to think about it, I made a mistake when I first opened the book (with) Wolf Larsen), after reading the novel his personality remained a mystery to me, but at the same time I understand what the author wanted to say , in his opinion, a person with such life attitudes is best adapted to life (From the point of view of supply and demand, life is the cheapest thing on Earth (c) Wolf Larsen). He has his own philosophy, which goes against civilization; the author himself claims that he was born 1000 years in advance, because despite his intelligence, he himself has views bordering on primitiveness in its purest form. He served all his life on various ships, he developed a certain mask of indifference to his physical shell, like all crew members, they can dislocate a leg or crush a finger and at the same time they will not show that they were somehow uncomfortable at that moment, when the injury occurred. They live in their own little world, which generates cruelty, the hopelessness of their situation, fights or beatings of their colleagues are a common thing for them and a phenomenon whose manifestation should not cause any questions about their education, these people are uneducated, and in terms of their level of development they are not much different from ordinary children , only the captain stands out among them, his uniqueness and the individuality of his personality, which is simply filled with materialism and pragmatism to the core. The main character, being an educated person, takes a long time to get used to such a wild contingent, the only person in this darkness for him is Wolf Larsen, with whom he talks sweetly about literature, philosophical treatises, the meaning of life and other eternal things. Larsen’s loneliness may fade into the background for a while, and he was glad that, by the will of fate, the main character ended up on his ship, because thanks to him he learned a lot about the world, about many great writers and poets. Soon the captain makes him his right hand, which the main character does not really like, but he soon gets used to his new position. Jack London created a novel about the fate of one person in a difficult time, where sheer adventurism reigned, the thirst for profit and adventure, about his torment, thoughts, through mental monologues we understand how the main character is changing, we are imbued with his nature, we become one with him and realize that Larsen’s unnatural views on life are not so far from the truth of the universe. I definitely recommend everyone to read it

Rating: 10