Sunday, April 26, 2015

Fortnightly Book, April 26

We are approaching the end of term, so the next fortnightly book is also a re-read: Jack London's The Sea-Wolf. London is most closely associated with Alaska and the Yukon, but he started out his career as a sailor, and drew on those experiences for this sea-story. London also went through a nihilistic period, and the book also draws on that, being, as he put it, an answer to the Nietzschean notion of a 'super-man'. It is my favorite work by Jack London, but it has been some years since I've read it.

I will be re-reading it in a Heritage Press (New York) edition. It is an odd-looking book, with coarse linen covers in the color of burlap and a typeface in Monotype Times Semi-Bold, a very dark and thick version of Times New Roman. It is illustrated by Fletcher Martin.