The San Francisco call., 1904-12-04
LONDON
Deals in Brutality.

10 the most ardent of the young
Californian writer's admirers
For by the very insistence of
certain element in the telling of
his last story London boldly challenges
2 question which his former tales have
raised. though in less degree. and which
viii find in its answer. given by the
readers. the forecast of future success
or failure for London the writer of iic-
ton. This question, boldly put. is: In
how large a measure does the element
Of strength in a novel cOndone the use
of the ugly. the sordid, the brutal; can
the utter elimination of the spiritual in
favor Of gross materialism be consid-
cred an asset Of csthetic value in the
final appraiscment Of a novels worth?
This issue is boldly, even pugnacious-
ly forced 10y Ar. London in this story
Of his. / can recall 10 piece Of English
or American fiction OF recent years
which insists upon a display of the raw
meat Of life such as does The Sea-
Wolf" The trite phrase of the review
ers who sum up the worth of book
by its arterial pressure Of good red
blood" certainly applies TO LondOn's sea
story as il has applied to no recent
piece Of fiction. Red blood spurts from
every page of Wolf Larsen's log. red
blood and teeth coughed UP after blows.
and ribs cracked from tigerish mauling.
The central figure, at all times the con-
trolling figure, is a Cyclops. q moral
fHa1fI-rn Ia SC H,., 10 Of he
Stone Age and whose scheme of life is
that Of the Mad Philosopher" Metz
sche-life the sordid thing. From the
second chapter of the book through TO
the last the atmosphere is permeated
with the taint Of this Wolf Larsen-a
man whom London calls "Lucifer.
proud spirit destroyer. infidel captain
Of he'll ship" in very truth. There
is no surcease from the spoken and
acted enormities OF the man. Blood and
hlasphemy reek from three hundred
pages Of The Sea-Wolf."
To what end? True. brutality has
found place in the most treasured of
our classics. Homer sings Of Achilles
dragging Hector about the walls of
Troy AT the tail Of his chariot; but
this exemDlifies the divine rage Of men
OF the heroic age. Tolstoy tells of the
horrors Of war in his "SevastopoP with
the single purpose Of painting the un-
pardonable tragedy Of conflict. The
brutality in The Sea Wolf serves no
purpose but its own; it is brutality
for brutality's sake. Granted that the
ultimate aim Of the story is to dem
onstrate the development that comes to
the character Of the dilettante Hum
phrey Van Weyden, can it be esti-
mated in the final instance that Van
Weyden is the better man for witness
fng and suffering for months the in
human barbarisms Of Wolf Larsen.
even though TO his talents as a literary
critic he has added that Of naviga-
ton?
Wolf Larsen's sava gerry constructs
nothing. profits nothing. His gross
iconoclssm Of philosophy moves no.
body in the story, convinces nobody.
This savagery, then. this iconoclasm.
serves but TO bring strength to the au-
thOr's conception Of his character-and
We are back TO the question: Does the
suppression Of the spiritual to the ad-
vancing Of bald, hard materialism make
for strength in a novel-for true
strength?
Consideration Of this element Of the
novel aside, 1t may be heartily assert
ed that London has given here a vivid
picture OF the sea-vivid 90 a degree
that most landsmen cannot appreciate.
The author has exhibited here, as in
his other stories, a remarkable facility
for producing an atmosphere for his
plot which pricks itself line for line
on the retina OF the readers imagina-
ton. The tossing schooner Ghost, its
nongrel crew Of fotsam, Wolf Larsen
himself, are real-real as If the reader
were IN Humphrey Van Weden's sea
Boots The incident Of the attack upon
Gsath Larsen's sealing crew and the
subsequent flight through the fog. as
well as the description Of Larsen's
masterful seamanship in the typhoon
are intensely vivid. London has the
knack OF coloring essential detail in a
manner such as to embrace and out
line the whole picture.
The authors grasp upon the course
OF true love is not so certain. The
whole incident Of Van Weyden's res
cue Of Maud Brewster from the Ghost.
Of their subsequent drifting in an
open boat, their sojourn on a desert
island and their final emancipation
from the wilderness of the sea lacks
the convincing quality that charac-
terizes the early part Of the tale. IT
reads like an excerpt from the story
books The psychological moment for
the implanting or that kiss upon the
fair Maud's liDs was not at the Sight
ing Of final deliverance, but at the
instant the castaways set foot on En-
deavOr Island.
II, in resume, may be permitted
an expression Of opinion directly per
sonal I say that The Sea-Wolf' win
add nothing TO Mr.. London's credit
and that another story Of its frankly
brutal nature would detract largely
from his well-earned reputation.
do not believe that the reading world
wants this butchers meat. hacked
dripping from the bones Of realism.
CThe Macmillan Company New
York: illustrated; price 81 SOD
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