Having made Van Weyden a more-or-l ess-worthy competitor with the splendid Wolf, London introduces Maud Brewster as the determining factor in sexual selection. Doesn't it get just a bit too drippy with sentiment in the end-too much love conquers all silliness? Consider this summation of the novel by Bert Bender in Evolution and "The Sex Problem" (2004): If the problem of Wolf 's strange death is primarily an interpretive problem, this second issue seems more structural or aesthetic. 1 A second mystery-or, perhaps, problem-concerns the sentimental love story that develops in the novel.
Having said that, The Sea-Wolf is not without its mysteries, the foremost of which concerns the strange manner of Wolf Larsen's death. To the extent that the purpose of narrative art is to entertain and instruct, London accomplished those twin tasks in his tale of violence and intrigue about the Ghost. Its exalted place among the vast London canon is certainly deserved: the blend of action and adventure with philosophical speculation and cutting-edge ideas makes the book both a page turner and intellectually provocative. The Sea-Wolf (1904) has been, and remains, one of Jack London's most often taught and analyzed novels.
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