Martin Eden, Jack Londonβs semiautobiographical novel about a struggling young writer, is considered by many to be the authorβs most mature work. Personifying Londonβs own dreams of education and literary fame as a young man in San Francisco, Martin Edenβs impassioned but ultimately ineffective battle to overcome his bleak circumstances makes him one of the most memorable and poignant characters Jack London ever created. As Paul Berman points out in his Introduction, βIn Martin, [London] created one of the great twisted heroes of American literature . . . a hero doomed from the outset because his own passions are bigger and more complicated than any man could bear.β