I was re-reading The Sea Wolf recently and marveling at how perfectly Jack London marries romanticism and realism. At heart, so many of his stories are romantic and idealistic, but they're also very raw and real because when he describes the cold (in To Build A Fire) you can feel the cold seeping into your bones. He doesn't spare us any of the painful details of living--his characters are flawed and their experiences are often ugly, but through the difficulty there is a beauty. This is what makes Jack London one of my favorite authors; his idealism mixed with realism suits my world-view and even sartorial view quite nicely. I love dancing around in flower crowns, but I'll almost always balance them with simple pieces that don't look out of place in the present.
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