The Game

Jack LondonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 86K words
Chapters: 9

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Game by Jack LondonAuthor: London, Jack, 1876-1916,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jan 1, 1998

Editor's review

The Game is a boxing novel from Jack London's middle-to-late period. It is short but full of tension. In his early years London worked as a sailor and a gold prospector, and he also observed boxing at close range; his writing of flesh-and-blood collisions inside and outside the ring carries a grittier realism than ordinary adventure fiction. The fight scenes are tightly paced, and the gasps between rounds, the roar of the crowd, and the dizziness after injury are all pushed before the reader in an almost reportorial style. More noteworthy is that London does not present boxing as a mere contest of brute force; through the fights he discusses the conflict between courage, professional ethics, and emotional responsibility: a fighter's choice between love and the ring drives the story from within. This Project Gutenberg edition is an English public-domain ebook, suitable as an introductory read for understanding American popular literature and sports narrative in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As you read, pay attention to how London balances violent description with moral judgment, which is what distinguishes him from popular writers of the same period. Overall, it is not London's weightiest work, but a small book that can be finished in an afternoon and leaves one thinking about the price behind competitive sport.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who like Jack London's work and want to explore his lesser-known novels
Readers interested in boxing and sports literature
English learners who need a short public-domain English book for reading practice
Literature enthusiasts studying American naturalism and popular narrative

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a full-length novel with a complex, multi-stranded structure
Readers sensitive to descriptions of boxing violence
Beginners who prefer to read a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Start with the fight chapters to feel London's pacing, then go back and sort out the characters' motivations.
Consider London's experience at sea and in the gold fields to understand the source of his tough-guy figures.
As an English public-domain book, it is best to read it through once before looking up unfamiliar words, so as not to break the feel of the language.
After finishing, compare it with sports reporting of the same period to appreciate the difference between fiction and journalism.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a mature-period work by Jack London?

The Game is not among London's weightiest representative works; it is generally regarded as a compact boxing novel from his middle-to-late period. It continues his concern with physical vigor and the struggle for survival, but is lighter in structure than works such as The Call of the Wild, making it suitable supplementary reading for understanding his range.

Can I read this edition if my English is not good?

This is an English public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese parallel text. London's narrative language is generally straightforward, but there is a lot of boxing terminology and colloquial dialogue. Readers with basic English can work through it chapter by chapter with a dictionary, or first read a Chinese translation to become familiar with the plot before reading the original.

What themes does the book mainly discuss?

Beyond who wins in the ring, the novel focuses on the tension between courage, professional duty, and personal feelings. The choices the fighter faces inside and outside the ring take the work beyond a simple sports story, carrying London's characteristic questioning of human nature and the price of survival.

Comments

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About the author

Jack London Author · American · 1876–1916

Jack London (1876–1916) was an American realist writer born in San Francisco; his original name was John Griffith Chaney. He left school early to make a living, worked as a sailor and a tramp, and once went to Alaska to search for gold. These hard experiences became an important source of his writing. His works cover a wide range of subjects and often focus on the harsh struggle for survival in the northern wilderness, the relationship between humans and animals, and the misery of the lower classes. His style is vigorous and forceful, his plots are tightly constructed, and his writing combines adventure with social criticism. His representative works include The Call of the Wild, The Sea-Wolf, White Fang and Martin Eden. The library holds 91 of his works, including White Fang, Martin Eden, The Iron Heel and The People of the Abyss. He wrote about 50 works in his lifetime and is one of the most widely translated American writers of the twentieth century.