Jack London. Sea wolf (№ 294199)

Anyway, I ran to his cabin for a book and read him the "cloak of Caliban" aloud. He was delighted. This simplistic view of things and the primitive mode of reasoning was quite accessible to his understanding. From time to time he inserted comments and criticized the shortcomings of the poem. When I finished, he made me count his poem a second and third time, and then we got into a dispute about philosophy, science, evolution, religion. His reasoning was distinguished by the inaccuracy inherent in the self-taught, and peremptory directness inherent in the primitive mind. But in the most primitive of its judgments was a force and its primitive materialism was far more convincing than the subtle and intricate materialist constructions of Charlie Paraceta. This I do not say that he persuaded me, or hardened, as expressed Farasat, "natural born" idealist. But Wolf Larsen stormed the foundations of my faith with such force, which involuntarily inspired respect, though I could not shake.