Reseña del libro "Stories of Ships and the sea (en Inglés)"
A collection of Jack London sea stories.
CHRIS FARRINGTON: ABLE SEAMAN (Excerpt)
u0027If you vas in der old country ships, a liddle shaver like you vood pe only der boy, und you vood wait on der able seamen. Und ven der able seaman sing out, u0027Boy, der water-jug!u0027 you vood jump quick, like a shot, und bring der water-jug. Und ven der able seaman sing out, u0027Boy, my boots!u0027 you vood get der boots. Und you vood pe politeful, und say u0027Yessiru0027 und u0027No sir.u0027 But you pe in der American ship, and you tu0027ink you are so good as der able seamen. Chris, mine boy, I haf ben a sailorman for twenty-two years, und do you tu0027ink you are so good as me? I vas a sailorman pefore you vas borned, und I knot und reef und splice ven you play mit topstrings und fly kites.u0027
u0027But you are unfair, Emil!u0027 cried Chris Farrington, his sensitive face flushed and hurt. He was a slender though strongly built young fellow of seventeen, with Yankee ancestry writ large all over him.
u0027Dere you go vonce again!u0027 the Swedish sailor exploded. u0027My name is Mister Johansen, und a kid of a boy like you call me u0027Emil!u0027 It vas insulting, und comes pecause of der American ship!u0027
u0027But you call me u0027Chrisu0027!u0027 the boy expostulated, reproachfully.
u0027But you vas a boy.u0027
u0027Who does a manu0027s work,u0027 Chris retorted. u0027And because I do a manu0027s work I have as much right to call you by your first name as you me. We are all equals in this fou0027castle, and you know it. When we signed for the voyage in San Francisco, we signed as sailors on the Sophie Sutherland and there was no difference made with any of us. Havenu0027t I always done my work? Did I ever shirk? Did you or any other man ever have to take a wheel for me? Or a lookout? Or go aloft?u0027
u0027Chris is right,u0027 interrupted a young English sailor. u0027No man has had to do a tap of his work yet. He signed as good as any of us and heu0027s shown himself as good—u0027
u0027Better!u0027 broke in a Novia Scotia man. u0027Better than some of us! When we struck the sealing-grounds he turned out to be next to the best boat-steerer aboard. Only French Louis, whou0027d been at it for years, could beat him. Iu0027m only a boat-puller, and youu0027re only a boat-puller, too, Emil Johansen, for all your twenty-two years at sea. Why donu0027t you become a boat-steerer?u0027...
About Jack London:
Jack London (1876-1916), was an American author and a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction. He was one of the first Americans to make a lucrative career exclusively from writing. London was self-educated. He taught himself in the public library, mainly just by reading books. In 1898, he began struggling seriously to break into print, a struggle memorably described in his novel, Martin Eden (1909). Jack London was fortunate in the timing of his writing career. He started just as new printing technologies enabled lower-cost production of magazines. This resulted in a boom in popular magazines aimed at a wide public, and a strong market for short fiction. In 1900, he made $2,500 in writing, the equivalent of about $75,000 today. His career was well under way. Among his famous works are: Children of the Frost (1902), The Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea Wolf (1904), The Game (1905), White Fang (1906), The Road (1907), Before Adam (1907), Adventure (1911), and The Scarlet Plague (1912).
