12 h 1 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the ship that saves your life becomes a place where only strength seems to matter?
Fog closes over San Francisco Bay, a ferry sinks, and literary critic Humphrey Van Weyden finds himself aboard the Ghost. Rescue comes with a cruel condition. Captain Wolf Larsen refuses to put him ashore and makes him a cabin boy. A man who knows books but not hard physical work must learn to survive among sailors ruled by fear.
In Jack London's The Sea-Wolf, storms and fights share the deck with a fierce argument about how to live. Larsen has enormous strength, a sharp mind and shelves of books, but no mercy. He believes the strong must devour the weak. Humphrey struggles to keep his sense of right in a world where the captain's force decides what happens next.
What you’ll discover
- Rescue with a cost Step aboard the Ghost, where survival means far more than escaping the water.
- A captain of contradictions Meet Wolf Larsen, whose hunger for ideas sits beside his ruthless use of power.
- A gentleman put to work Follow Humphrey as rough labor tests his body and threatens his old certainties.
- Cruelty on the deck See how the cook, Thomas Mugridge, bullies those below him and flatters those above.
- Strength against conscience Face the question at the heart of the voyage: does might make right?
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who like sea adventures with ideas in them, and anyone curious about the clash between brute strength and the life of the mind. If you dislike scenes of violence and cruelty, parts of it may be hard going.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ferry sinks in the fog
- Wolf Larsen rules the Ghost
- A gentleman becomes the cabin boy
- The cook, the crew and the cost of cruelty
- Books and arguments in the captain's cabin
- Hump learns to stand on his own feet
- The seal hunt and the rule of fear
- What the story says about strength and morals
- How London tells it: voice, structure and symbols
Who’s who
- Humphrey Van WeydenA refined literary critic who is pulled from the sea and forced into rough labor, he wants to survive and keep his sense of right.
- Wolf LarsenThe powerful, self-taught captain of the Ghost, he rules by force, reads widely and believes that the strong must devour the weak.
- Thomas MugridgeThe ship's cook, a sly bully who torments those beneath him and flatters those above, and who delights in making Humphrey suffer.
- Maud BrewsterA poet who comes aboard after a shipwreck, she brings the world of books and gentleness into a ship ruled by fear.
- Johnson and LeachTwo young sailors who suffer under Larsen's cruelty and plan to break free of the ship at any cost.
- Death LarsenWolf's brother and rival, captain of another sealing vessel, feared on the seal grounds and bound to Wolf by old hatred.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Il lupo di mare
by Jack London· 1904
A shipwrecked critic must serve under a cruel sea captain.
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Language: Italiano
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
A ferry sinks in the fog
The novel opens in the thick fog of San Francisco Bay. Humphrey Van Weyden is a passenger on a ferry called the Martinez, crossing the bay to return to San Francisco. He is a man of letters, a critic who writes essays and lives a comfortable, sheltered life. He thinks of himself as a gentleman, and he has never needed to prove himself in any physical way.
He has been staying at the home of his friend Charley Furuseth, a man of the same gentle kind. Humphrey tells us that the whole chain of events began with Furuseth, in a half joking way. That small detail sets the tone. The narrator is looking back on his own story with a mixture of wonder and humour, as a man who has been through something he could never have planned.
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The author
Jack London
1876–1916 · American novelist and journalist
Jack London (1876–1916) was an American author, journalist and social activist. He was born in San Francisco and lived in California. He wrote novels, short stories and essays. His novels include The Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906) and Martin Eden (1909). He died in California.
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What is The Sea-Wolf about?
It tells of Humphrey Van Weyden, a refined critic rescued from a sinking ferry by the sealing schooner Ghost, and his struggle to survive under its ruthless, brilliant captain Wolf Larsen.
Who is Wolf Larsen in The Sea-Wolf?
Wolf Larsen is the captain of the Ghost. He is physically enormous, self-educated and cruel, and he believes that life is only a struggle in which the strong devour the weak.
Is The Sea-Wolf based on a true story?
No, it is fiction, published in 1904. But Jack London drew on his own youth at sea, including time on a sealing schooner, and on the ideas of Darwin and Spencer.
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