Extraordinary

I just finished a most extraordinary novel: "The Sea Wolf" by Jack London. It is a truly gripping tale of the essential shiang-haiing of Humphrey Van Weyden, a self-described "gentleman" (i.e., as Captain "Wolf" Larsen says, "standing on his father's legs": living on his father's inherited fortune).
Captain Larsen is the most fascinating character, as Van Weyden describes him, an absolute "materialist". He has a totally amoral, social Darwinist vision of life. He is, for lack of a better term, an absolute beast, rejecting any higher goal than individual desire. It is a rather frightening portrayal. One thing that can be said for him is that he is true to his non-spiritualist philosophy unto his last breath. There is no deathbed confession.
The only complaint I have is of my own ignorance: there is so much sailing jargon and mechanical description that I wanted a glossary and illustrations of topsail, foresail, jib, watch-tackle, shears-tackle, etc, etc.
Still, it is an incredibly engaging story of savagery and mayhem that, astonishingly, turns into a love story. And, it is a love story in the genteel Victorian sense, when there were actual ladies and gentlemen who respected their honor (honour, for my friends across the pond). I know, I know, I'm a dinosaur.
It reminds me of the movie "A Walk in the Clouds": They had to put it back immediately after WWII to make credible the protagonist behaving with the "honour" he does.