Martin Eden
by Jack London
- First published
- 1909
- Reading level
- Easy
- Price
- Free
About the book
"Martin Eden" by Jack London is a novel published in 1909 about a young working-class sailor who struggles to become a writer. Driven by love for Ruth Morse, a woman from a bourgeois family, Martin Eden pursues intense self-education to rise above his circumstances. As he transforms himself through relentless effort, he becomes increasingly isolated from both his working-class roots and the elite society he sought to join. The novel explores themes of social class, individualism, and the cost of ambition.
- Working class
- Authors
- Autobiographical fiction
- Bildungsromans
- Young men
- San Francisco (Calif.)
Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #1056. Martin Eden on Wikipedia.
