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The Sea-Wolf came out in 1904 and was a psychological adventure novel of Jack London. This novel follows an intellectual man, Humphrey van Weyden’s sea adventure as he gets on a ship named Ghost and experiences a brutal and primitive life aboard. In the novel, Humphrey, starting as a weak man, learns to adapt to the new and harsh environment and to cooperate with others, while Wolf Larsen, the brutal captain, though with tremendous strength and intelligence, is isolated from the outside society and even his sailors. To protect his love, Maud, Humphrey becomes stronger and manages to fight against Larsen. The novel ends with Hump and Maud’s survival and Larsen’s death, which illustrates the distinct beliefs and fates of different human beings. Since its publication, The Sea-Wolf has received much attention from both domestic and foreign scholars. Much research has been conducted from the perspectives of feminism, naturalism, socialism, inpidualism and Nietzscheism.
Martin Eden, published in 1909, was often considered to be an autobiography novel by Jack London. The protagonist, Martin Eden, is an out-of-work sailor who falls in love with an upper-class young lady, Ruth, and educates himself in order to match on her. With the help of Ruth, Martin writes a number of drafts, but none of them is accepted by magazine companies, and even Ruth does not appreciate his work. Martin is then experiencing the worst time of his life, with the disappointment and despair following the left of Ruth and the death of his only friend, Brissenden. However, a huge change happens in his life as his works become accepted by the publication magazines and his reputation starts to grow. Although the success brings him money and fame and makes him a member of the upper-class, Martin eventually chooses to commit suicide because he is isolated and can no longer fit in the society. Like The Sea-Wolf, Martin Eden has also been researched from the perspectives including social-Darwinism, inpidualism and Nietzscheism.
1.2 Literature Review
Jack London’s works have been studied by international scholars from various perspectives. Western scholars have been looking at Jack London’s works as soon as it is published. Previous studies of The Sea-Wolf and Martin Eden involve feminism, naturalism, Social Darwinism, inpidualism and Nietzscheism.
Jay Gurian explores the theories of romanticism and naturalism in London’s novels and examines the characteristics of Martin Eden as he storms the naturalist universe and gradually develops an idealist theory. Though Martin objects to the bourgeois class, his heroic nature urges him to fight for the achievements and he ironically becomes a capitalist himself after he “conquers the bourgeois literary market” (Gurian, 1966, p. 118). The inpiduality rapidly increases within Martin, but at this time his altruism also starts to grow and the naturalist universe does not seem to matter anymore. Gurian therefore claims, despite his desire to conquer the world, the self-destruction becomes inevitable for Martin because the victory brings him only emptiness and Martin presents a romantic hero of literary naturalism (Gurian, 1966).
In an article called “The Five Deaths of Wolf Larsen,” Eric Carl Link observes different reasons that account for Wolf Larsen’s death and believes that the Larsen’s inpidualism serves as the most fundamental and fatal cause of his self-destruction, for inpidualism, against the growing trend of human society, only leads to his isolation from the world and inability to adapt to the changing environment (Link, 2000).