The apostate

The Apostate, first published in magazines in 1906, is a parable about child labor in American factories, informed by Jack London's own autobiographical recollections, and a vivid prelude to his masterpiece, Martin Eden. Johnny, the protagonist, is a boy who works with his mother in the textile factories of San Francisco, working grueling hours, without protective gear, exposed to the cold and the bullying of supervisors, and taunted by his younger siblings. He begins working as a child, knowing nothing but the factory, and grew up mechanically repeating the same movements, until he becomes a beast of burden, a cog in the powerful machine of American capitalism, nourished by Puritanism: a machine-man without will, without dreams, without joy. But from his struggle emerges the outline of a rebellious character and the awakening of a conscience: at eighteen, by now as insensitive as the machines he operates, Johnny decides to stop. He will pursue his own free individual "heresy," escaping the religion of work that supports the exploitative rhetoric of his masters.

Stella Sacchini is a writer and translator. She teaches English Language and Translation at the University of Macerata. She has translated many authors, including C. Dickens, J. Williams, M. Twain, C. Brontë, F. Baum, J. S. Le Fanu, J. London, L. M. Alcott, H. P. Lovecraft, Raven Leilani, William Finnegan, Josephine Johnson, Apuleius, Ovid, and Apollonius Rhodius. She edits the series "Tentacles: Little Books of H. P. Lovecraft" for Oscar Fantastica. She is the author of Fuori posto (Coazinzola Press, 2013) and O magico di parole: Giacomo Leopardi (Giaconi Editore, 2019). In 2014, she won the Babel Prize for literary translation. She is responsible for "The Translator in the Classroom: The Voice of the Other," a project that brings translation to schools of all levels, and for "Attraversamenti," a translation workshop (in collaboration with the CPIA of Fermo and the SAI network) for migrants and refugees. Since 2018, she has been the director of "BookMarchs – The Other Voice," a festival dedicated to books and their translators. She has written and continues to write about language, literature, and translation for "Doppiozero," "Left," and "Il Post." Together with other colleagues, she edits "Linguafranca," the collective poetry translation blog for "Fatto Quotidiano." Since 2021, she has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Casa delle Traduzioni in Rome. Since 2020, she has edited the series "The Translator in the Classroom Notebooks" for Giaconi Editore, where she publishes translations resulting from translation workshops in schools and universities.