Martin Eden: Romaani
1909
A novel written in the early 20th century. The story revolves around Martin Eden, a young man from a rough background who aspires to rise above his circumstances and achieve literary success. Through his journey, the novel delves into themes of ambition, class struggle, and the quest for identity. At the start of the narrative, the reader is introduced to Martin Eden as he enters an unfamiliar and luxurious setting, feeling out of place compared to the refined individuals around him. His awkward demeanor and keen observations highlight his inner turmoil and self-awareness. As he interacts with his companion, Arthur, and meets a young woman named Ruth, he experiences a whirlwind of emotions, including admiration and inferiority. The opening sets the stage for Martin's struggles between his desire for acceptance in high society and the essence of his working-class identity, outlining his complex journey ahead in the realm of literature and love.
Editions
X-Ray
“But I am I. And I won't subordinate my taste to the unanimous judgment of mankind””
— Jack London
“limited minds can recognize limitations only in others.””
— Jack London
“Who are you, Martin Eden? he demanded of himself in the looking- glass, that night when he got back to his room. He gazed at himself long and curiously. Who are you? What are you? Where do you belong? You belong by rights to girls like Lizzie Connolly. You belong with the legions of toil, with all that is low, and vulgar, and unbeautiful. You belong with the oxen and the drudges, in dirty surroundings among smells and stenches. There are the stale vegetables now. Those potatoes are rotting. Smell them, damn you, smell them. And yet you dare to open the books, to listen to beautiful music, to learn to love beautiful paintings, to speak good English, to think thoughts that none of your own kind thinks, to tear yourself away from the oxen and the Lizzie Connollys and to love a pale spirit of a woman who is a million miles beyond you and who lives in the stars! Who are you? and what are you? damn you! And are you going to make good?””
— Jack London
“He was a man without a past, whose future was the imminent grave and whose present was a bitter fever of living.””
— Jack London
“Every book was a peep-hole into the realm of knowledge. His hunger fed upon what he read, and increased.””
— Jack London
“The more he studied, the more vistas he caught of fields of knowledge yet unexplored, and the regret that days were only twenty-four hours long became a chronic complaint with him.””
— Jack London
“Why didn’t you dare it before? he asked harshly.When I hadn’t a job? When I was starving? When I was just as I am now, as a man, as an artist, the same Martin Eden? That’s the question. I’ve been asking myself for many a day. My brain is the same old brain. And what is puzzling me is why they want me now. Surely they don’t want me for myself, for myself the same olf self they did not want. They must want me for something else, for something that is outside of me, for something that is not I. Shall I tell you what that something is? It is for the recognition I have recieved. That recognition is not I. Then again for the money I have earned and am earnin. But money is not I. And is it for the recognition and money, that you now want me?””
— Jack London
“Here was intellectual life, he thought, and here was beauty, warm and wonderful as he had never dreamed it could be. He forgot himself and stared at her with hungry eyes. Here was something to live for, to win to, to fight for”
— Jack London
“Is love so gross a thing that it must feed upon publication and public notice ? It would seem so.””
— Jack London
