Jack London And His《Martin Eden》

Jack London (1867-1916) is generally regarded as one of the most popular, most widely-read American authors in Europe, Russia and many socialist countries. London dominated the literary marketplace during the first decade of the twentieth century; scarcely a month passed without his writing appearing in British leading magazines. In less than 20 years, he produced some 500 nonfiction pieces, 200 short stories, and 19 novels (over 50 books in all), on such varied subjects as agronomy, alcoholism, astrology, big business, ecology, economics, gold-hunting, penal reform, political corruption, prizefighting, seafaring, socialism, war, and wildlife. Of those books, at least three (The Call of the Wild. White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf) have become world classics.The long novel Martin Eden is Jack London's most impressive and thrilling work. It is rather a semi - autobiography of the author himself. He always criticizes the evil of capitalism while he himself has been deeply influenced by capitalist individualism. With working class origin, keen insight and his masterful description, Jack London exposes sharply the darkness of American society and severely criticizes the capitalist system. Martin Eden comes from the bottom of the society and was once a sailor and hard laborer. Working very hard, overcoming many difficulties and nearly dying of hunger, Martin succeeds at last and makes his fame as a writer. But when his dream becomes true and his lovercomes back to him, he feels hollow inside and thinks that his life is?meaningless. He realizes that his success is just a visionary hope. He gets tired of his life and drowns himself after he becomes very famous and rich. The tragedy of Martin is also the author's tragedy. It reflects the doom of their individualism and capitalism.Martin Eden is Jack London's masterpiece. Darwin's, Spencer's, Nietzsche's theories and Marxism are integrated in the novel. It reflects Jack London's own confusing philosophy.The novel is rich in symbolism, flashback, imagination and metaphor. And Jack London uses a lot of slang words to give us a vivid picture of the language of the lower class people.