Martin Eden

Jack London’s ambitious novelist-hero climbs through class aspiration, self-education, romantic idealism, and social disillusion in a fierce modern classic of literary ambition.

At a glance Martin Eden follows a working-class sailor who resolves to educate himself into… Jack London turns that premise into something larger and harsher: a novel about reading… Themes The novel explores ambition, authorship, class mobility, intellectual labor… London gives Martin genuine force and drive, but he also subjects the dream of solitary…

The novel explores ambition, authorship, class mobility, intellectual labor, individualism, romance, and disillusionment.