The Furniture: "Martin Eden" and Designing Outside of History
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 11:00AM "The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)
Jack London was befuddled by the reception of Martin Eden. He intended the novel to be a sharp critique of individualism and was surprised when the public took his protagonist as something of a libertarian hero. Though as J. Hoberman points out in his extremely perceptive reading, the novel is more of a “tragic celebration” than a bitter condemnation. And perhaps the “misreading” of an antihero is always inevitable, the unintended seduction of an unexpected contingent of the audience.
This tension has followed Martin Eden into the 21st century. Pietro Marcello’s new adaptation moves the story from California to Italy and places it outside of time, replenishing some of the aesthetic mystery that is inevitably lost when a novel is cast, shot and projected onto a screen. The production design helps, contributing to the atmosphere at both high and low registers.
Martin Eden begins, in part, as a love story. Martin (Luca Marinelli) is a sailor who falls for Elena Orisini (Jessica Cressy), the daughter of a wealthy liberal family...
