Publisher's Synopsis
Jerry of the Islands: A True Dog Story is a novel by American writer Jack London. Jerry of the Islands was initially published in 1917 and is one of the last works by Jack London. The novel is set on the island of Malaita, a part of the Solomon Islands archipelago, which in 1893 became a British protectorate. The hero of the novel is Irish terrier Jerry, who was a brother of dog named Michael, about whom London wrote another novel--Michael, Brother of Jerry.
Jerry was born in Santa Isabel Island, a part of the Solomon Islands archipelago. Jerry's owner was Mr. Haggin, who worked as a plantation guard and used Jerry to chase black slaves. Higgin gave Jerry to Mr. Van Horn, Captain of ship Arangi, under condition to return the dog if something bad happens. The ship was engaged in delivering so-called "reverse" slaves who worked for three years on a plantation. During a stop on Malaita island, Arangi was attacked by the natives, who killed the captain and skipper. Jerry was kicked from the ship, which was looted and burned. A native boy found Jerry in the sea and delivered the dog on the shore. Later, Jerry was brought to a village, where tribe chief Bashto decided to use Jerry for improving the breed of local dogs. Jerry received a taboo status and began to live among the tribesmen.
Jerry led a fairly quiet life until local sorcerer Agno decided to use the dog for a sacrifice. To overcome its taboo status, Agno arranged Jerry to attack a holy bird megapoda, which also had a taboo status. Jerry stole the bird eggs, which were kept for chief Bashta. Jerry was spotted while killing the fourth bird. The bird's taboo status was higher than that of Jerry; therefore, the dog could be sacrificed. However, old blindman Nalasu bought Jerry for a pig to protect himself against an expected vendetta.
Later, the village was destroyed by British as a part of punitive operation to retaliate for the loss of Arangi. Jerry escaped and hid in the jungle. Having stayed there for a long time, Jerry began to look for people. Out in the beach, the dog saw a distant ship and plunged into the sea, thinking it is Arangi and hoping to see his beloved Captain Van Horn. The ship was the yacht Ariel traveling around the world. People on board noticed the dog and saved it.
Martin Eden is a 1909 novel by American author Jack London about a young proletarian autodidact struggling to become a writer.
Living in Oakland at the beginning of the 20th century, Martin Eden struggles to rise above his destitute, proletarian circumstances through an intense and passionate pursuit of self-education, hoping to achieve a place among the literary elite. His principal motivation is his love for Ruth Morse. Because Eden is a rough, uneducated sailor from a working-class background and the Morses are a bourgeois family, a union between them would be impossible unless and until he reached their level of wealth and refinement.
Over a period of two years, Eden promises Ruth that success will come, but just before it does, Ruth loses her patience and rejects him in a letter, saying, "if only you had settled down ... and attempted to make something of yourself". By the time Eden attains the favour of the publishers and the bourgeoisie who had shunned him, he has already developed a grudge against them and become jaded by toil and unrequited love. Instead of enjoying his success, he retreats into a quiet indifference, interrupted only to rail mentally against the genteelness of bourgeois society or to donate his new wealth to working-class friends and family. He felt that people did not value him for himself or for his work but only for his fame.
The novel ends with Eden's committing suicide by drowning, which contributed to what researcher Clarice Stasz calls the "biographical myth" that Jack London's own death was a suicide.
