The Rise & Fall Of An Egoist

If I read the Jack London Novel, it was so long ago I've forgotten it. At any rate, I found this treatment of the story very compelling, as it is almost completely a character study.

The drive & authenticity & intelligence of the character was sullied by an ugly sort of elitism in an intelligence which must have inspired some works of brilliance, according to the tale, but also poisoned his most intimate relationships, his view of the world & the people in it.

His fiancee's mother, who comes off in the end as bit opportunistic herself, read him right early on - first, "He's a a megalomanic", and later "Its all this Herbert Spencer he's been reading".

People can, given limited exposure and over-exposed to extremism, be warped. Maybe that was his destiny, maybe that was the tragedy of his limited opportunity for a broad education.