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Морской Волк. Джек Лондон
 Морской
Волк — роман Джека Лондона, написанный им в 1904 году.
Сюжет
Действие романа происходит в конце XIX — начале XX века в
Тихом океане. Хэмфри Ван-Вейден, житель Сан-Франциско,
известный литературный критик, отправляется на пароме через
залив Золотые Ворота проведать своего друга и по пути
попадает в кораблекрушение. Из воды его подбирает капитан
промысловой шхуны «Призрак» (англ. Ghost), которого все на
борту зовут Волк Ларсен
Ларсен на небольшой шхуне с командой в 22 человека
отправляется заготавливать шкуры морских котиков на север
Тихого океана и забирает с собой Ван-Вейдена, несмотря на
его отчаянные протесты. Порядок на судне держится целиком на
необычайной физической силе и авторитете Волка Ларсена.
Провинившегося за любой проступок капитан немедленно жестоко
наказывает. На судне царит атмосфера первобытного страха,
однако Ван-Вейдену капитан благоволит. Более того, начав
путь на судне с помощника кока, «Хэмп» как его прозвал
Ларсен, делает карьеру до должности старшего помощника
капитана, хотя и поначалу ничего не смыслит в морском деле.
Причина в том, что Ларсен и Ван-Вейден находят общий язык в
области литературы и философии, которые не чужды капитану.
Он даже имеет на борту небольшую библиотеку, где Ван-Вейден
обнаружил Браунинга и Суинбёрна. В свободное время капитан
увлекается математикой и оптимизирует навигационные расчеты.
 По
пути преследования котиков экипаж «Призрака» подбирает еще
одну компанию потерпевших бедствие и в их числе женщину —
поэтессу Мод Брустер. С первого же взгляда Хемфри испытывает
влечение к Мод. Они решают при первом же удобном случае
бежать с Призрака и вскоре такой случай им представляется.
Захватив шлюпку с небольшим запасом продовольствия они
бегут, и через несколько недель скитаний по океану находят
сушу и высаживаются на небольшом островке который Мод и
Хэмфри назвали Остров Усилий (англ. Endeavour Island).
Покинуть остров они не могут и готовятся к долгой зимовке.
Через несколько месяцев к острову прибило разбитую шхуну.
Это «Призрак» на борту которой оказывается Волк Ларсен. Он
ослеп из-за прогрессирующей болезни головного мозга. Команда
«Призрака» взбунтовалась против произвола капитана и сбежала
на другое судно к смертельному врагу Волка Ларсена его брату
по имени Смерть Ларсен. Покалеченный «Призрак» со сломанными
мачтами дрейфовал в океане, пока его не прибило к Острову
Усилий. Волею судеб именно на этом острове ослепший капитан
Ларсен обнаруживает лежбище котиков, которое он искал всю
жизнь. Мод и Хэмфри ценой невероятных усилий приводят
Призрак в порядок и выводят его в открытое море. Ларсен, у
которого последовательно отказывают вслед за зрением все
чувства, парализован и умирает. В тот момент, когда Мод и
Хэмфри наконец обнаруживают в океане спасительное судно, они
признаются друг другу в любви.
Философия Волка Ларсена
 Волк
Ларсен исповедует своеобразную философию жизненной закваски
(англ. yeast) — природного начала, которое объединяет
человека и животное, выживающее в недружелюбном мире. Чем
больше в человеке закваски, тем активнее он борется за место
под солнцем и добивается большего.
Интересные факты
Книга демонстрирует совершенное знание автором морского
дела, навигации и парусного такелажа. Эти познания Джек
Лондон почерпнул в те времена, когда он в молодости работал
матросом на промысловом судне. Так пишет он о шхуне
«Призрак» :
«Призрак» — восьмидесятитонная шхуна превосходной
конструкции. Наибольшая ширина ее — двадцать три фута, а
длина превышает девяносто. Необычайно тяжелый свинцовый
фальшкиль (вес его точно неизвестен) придает ей большую
остойчивость и позволяет нести огромную площадь парусов. От
палубы до клотика грот-стеньги больше ста футов, тогда как
фок-мачта вместе со стеньгой футов на десять короче.
 The
Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American
novelist Jack London about a literary critic, survivor of an
ocean collision who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen,
the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues him.
Its first printing of forty thousand
copies were immediately sold out before publication on the
strength of London's previous The Call of the Wild.[1]
Ambrose Bierce wrote, "The great thing—and it is among the
greatest of things—is that tremendous creation, Wolf Larsen...
the hewing out and setting up of such a figure is enough for
a man to do in one lifetime... The love element, with its
absurd suppressions, and impossible proprieties, is awful."
Background
The personal character of the novel's antagonist "Wolf
Larsen" was attributed to a real sailor London had known,
Captain Alex MacLean.[3] According to London himself, "much
of the Sea Wolf is imaginary development, but the basis is
Alexander McLean".[4] Captain Alex MacLean, or McLean,[5]
was born May 15, 1858 in East Bay, Nova Scotia. He did sail
mostly in the Pacific North West with his brother, Captain
Dan MacLean. MacLean was at one time the Sheriff of Nome,
Alaska. The MacLean Captains maintained their ties to Cape
Breton Island despite having spent much of their lives
sailing the Pacific Coast and do have living descendants.[6]
London, who was called "Wolf" by his close friends, also
used a picture of a wolf on his bookplate, and named his
mansion "Wolf House".[7] Given that Van Weyden's experiences
in the novel bear some resemblance to experiences London had,
or heard told about, when he sailed on the Sophia Sutherland,
the autodidact sailor Wolf Larsen has been compared to the
autodidact sailor Jack London.
Writing the final rescue of van Weyden and Maud by a US
Revenue Cutter London could well have had in mind the USRC
Bear since 1885 in service along the Alaskan coast.
London's intention in writing The Sea-Wolf was "an attack on
(Nietzsche's) super-man philosophy." Nietzsche and
Schopenhauer are mentioned in the second sentence of the
novel as the preferred reading of the friend Humphrey van
Weyden visited before his shipwreck. The novel also contains
references to Herbert Spencer in chapters 8, 10, Charles
Darwin in chapters 5, 6, 10, 13, Omar Khayyám in chapters
11, 17, 26, Shakespeare in chapter 5, and John Milton in
chapter 26.
Plot summary
 Like
The Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf tells the story of a soft,
domesticated protagonist, in this novel's case an
intellectual man named Humphrey van Weyden, forced to become
tough and self-reliant by exposure to cruelty and brutality.
The story starts with him aboard a San Francisco ferry,
called Martinez, which collides with another ship in the fog
and sinks. He is set adrift in the sea, eventually being
picked up by Wolf Larsen. Larsen is the captain of a
seal-hunting schooner, the Ghost. Brutal and cynical, yet
also highly intelligent and intellectual (though highly
biased in his opinions, as he was self-taught), he rules
over his ship and terrorizes the crew with the aid of his
exceptionally great physical strength.
Van Weyden adequately describes him as an
individualist, hedonist, and materialist. Larsen does not
believe in the immortality of the soul, he finds no meaning
in his life save for survival and pleasure and has come to
despise all human life and deny its value. Being interested
in someone capable of intellectual disputes, he somewhat
takes care of Van Weyden, whom he calls 'Hump', while
forcing him to become a cabin boy, do menial work, and learn
to fight to protect himself from a brutal crew.
A key event in the story is an attempted mutiny against Wolf
Larsen by several members of the crew. The organizers of the
mutiny are Leach and Johnson. Johnson had previously been
beaten severely by Larsen, and Leach had been punched
earlier while being forced to become a boat-puller,
motivating the two. The first attempt is by sending Larsen
overboard; however, he manages to climb back onto the ship.
Searching for his assailant, he ventures into the sleeping
quarters, located beneath the main deck, the only exit being
a ladder. Several, at least seven men, take part in the
mutiny and attack Larsen. Larsen however, demonstrating his
inhuman endurance, strength, and conviction, manages to
fight his way through the crew, climb the ladder with
several men hanging off him, and escape relatively unharmed.
Van Weyden is promoted as mate, for the original mate had
been murdered. Larsen later gets his vengeance by torturing
his crew, and constantly claiming that he is going to murder
Leach and Johnson at his earliest convenience, being after
the hunting season is done, as he can't afford to lose any
crew. He later allows them to be lost to the sea when they
attempt to flee on a hunting boat.
During this section, the Ghost picks up another set of
castaways, including a female poet named Maud Brewster. Miss
Brewster and van Weyden had known each other previously—but
only as writers. Both Wolf Larsen and van Weyden immediately
feel attraction to her, due to her intelligence and "female
delicacy". Van Weyden sees her as his first true love. He
strives to protect her from the crew, the horrors of the sea,
and Wolf Larsen. As this happens, Wolf Larsen meets his
brother Death Larsen, a bitter opponent of his. Wolf
kidnapped several of Death's crew and forced them into
servitude to fill his own rank, lost previously during a
storm. During one of Wolf Larsen's intense headaches, which
render him near immobile, van Weyden steals a boat and flees
with Miss Brewster.
The two eventually land on an uninhabited island, heavily
populated with seals. They hunt, build shelter and a fire,
and survive for several days, utilizing the strength they
gained while on the Ghost. The Ghost eventually crashes on
the island, with Wolf Larsen the only crew member. As a
revenge, Death Larsen had tracked his brother, bribed his
crew, destroyed his sails, and set Larsen adrift at sea. It
is purely by chance that van Weyden and Miss Brewster meet
Larsen again.
Van Weyden obtains all of the firearms left on the ship, but
he cannot bear to murder Larsen, who does not threaten him.
Van Weyden and Miss Brewster decide they can repair the ship,
but Larsen, who intends to die on the island and take them
with him, sabotages any repairs they make. After a headache,
Larsen is rendered blind. He feigns paralysis and attempts
to murder van Weyden when he draws within arm's reach but
just then is hit with a stroke that leaves him blind and the
right side of his body paralyzed. His condition only worsens;
he loses usage of his remaining arm, leg, and voice. Miss
Brewster and van Weyden, unable to bring themselves to leave
him to rot, care for him. Despite this kindness, he
continues his resistance, setting fire to the above bunk's
mattress.
Van Weyden finishes repairing the Ghost, and he and Miss
Brewster set sail. During a violent storm, Wolf Larsen
passes away. They give Larsen a burial at sea, an act
mirroring an incident van Weyden witnessed when he was first
rescued. The story ends with them being rescued by an
American revenue cutter.
Characters
Humphrey van Weyden
Van Weyden starts the book weak of body but strong of mind.
He grows stronger as the story progresses, physically
through the manual labor, including his learning of the
ship's workings and rivalry with Thomas Mudgridge and
spiritually as he endures the various hardships, including
his inconsistent relationship with Wolf Larsen. Upon meeting
Maud Brewster, he realizes just how much he has changed,
gaining muscle mass, a more rugged appearance, and a
different outlook on life.
Van Weyden has a unique relationship with Wolf Larsen.
Though he is in effect the captain's prisoner, Larsen shows
him favoritism and occasionally acts as a father figure,
giving advice on how to survive aboard the ship. Though
Larsen claims to take van Weyden aboard primarily because he
needed an additional hand, he also seems to genuinely
believe he is doing something good for van Weyden. He claims
that van Weyden has never "stood on his own legs", meaning
he has never had to work and always relied on his
inheritance from his father to survive. Throughout the book,
Larsen compliments van Weyden on his growth, eventually
telling him he is proud of him, and calling him a real man,
able to stand on his own legs rather than a "dead man's (his
father's)" legs.
Van Weyden has an ideology that is in sharp contrast to
Larsen's. He believes in the eternal soul, inherent good,
and that men should act justly under all circumstances. His
views are constantly being challenged by Larsen, who
encourages him to give in to his desires and behave in an
immoral fashion. Van Weyden resisted himself from the
teachings, and kept his original ideology. By the end of the
story, Larsen is annoyed that van Weyden still clings to his
beliefs and refuses to murder him, despite all the suffering
Larsen has put him through.
 Wolf
Larsen
Larsen is a complex character. Physically, he is described
as approximately five feet ten with a massive build: broad
shoulders and a deep chest. He displays tremendous strength
throughout the story. Van Weyden describes Larsen as
beautiful on more than one occasion, perfectly symmetrical,
a perfect specimen of masculinity. Yet, despite this, his
true strength is described as something more primal, more
primitive, and animalistic. He is extremely intelligent,
having taught himself a variety of fields, including
mathematics, literature, science, philosophy, and technology.
Larsen was born in Norway, though he is of Danish descent.
He spent his entire life at sea: cabin-boy at twelve, ship's
boy at fourteen, seaman at sixteen, able seaman at seventeen.
It is unclear when he obtained the Ghost and became captain.
He has several brothers, but only Death Larsen is mentioned.
Larsen displays characteristics of a sociopath. He has
absolutely no fault with manipulating and bullying people to
better serve his needs. He routinely takes men hostage,
castaways such as van Weyden and seal hunters from other
ships, and uses them to fill his own ranks when needed. He
murders and abuses people without hesitation, seeing no
value in life. He enjoys the intellectual stimulation that
van Weyden and Miss Brewster provide, but van Weyden
describes their relationship as one between a king and his
jester. According to van Weyden, he is only a toy to Larsen.
Despite his immense internal strength, Larsen at times shows
signs of weakness and depression. He is envious of his
brother, because his brother is simple minded, and so is
able to enjoy life unburdened. He also claims he is envious
of Miss Brewster's and van Weyden's faith, but later says it
is only his mind, and he knows he is better off without it.
He also speaks of frustration that he never amounted to
anything great. He claims that he had all the determination
and will but was never given the proper opportunity.
Wolf is not Larsen's real given name. His genuine given name
is never spoken. Dialogue heavily implies that he is called
"Wolf" because of his nature and viciousness, and, for
similar reasons, his brother is called "Death".
The word "Wolf" has the highest number of occurrences in the
novel, appearing 422 times. The name "Larsen" comes the
second, with 363 appearances.
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