Author: Jack London
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2018-02-04
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781985018464
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →
Named after the first story - about a couple that tries in vain to uphold an intensely idealistic romance against the erosions of time and the inconstancy of human nature - the collection explores themes for which London became famous: the struggle for survival in the midst of hostile environments, human nature's most elemental drives, and worker abuse in industrialized society. In The Apostate his concerns with the working poor and his dislike of pre-union-era capitalism are evident in a grim story about a young man who is brutalized by the subhuman working conditions in a textile mill, yet achieves a kind of liberation in the end. London's fascination with primitive male characters is evident in Just Meat, a story of two thieves who plot each other's demise in a selfish grab for a hoard of recently stolen jewelry. Like his famous novel The Sea Wolf, the stories Make Westing and The 'Francis Spaight' (described as "A True Tale Retold") portray corrupt sea captains abusing and terrorizing their crews during nightmarish voyages. In the concluding story, A Piece of Steak London starkly portrays the desperate struggles of an aging boxer as he grapples with a younger contender through most of a grueling twenty-round fight. As all of these stories vividly reveal, many of them brilliantly, no one had a more dispassionate and uncompromising view of human nature at its worst or could express it more forcefully than Jack London. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.
