The Hornet

The Hornet is a once-prominent monthly magazine whose decline is reflected in its treatment of Martin Eden: it publishes his poem “The Peri and the Pearl,” promises him fifteen dollars, and then refuses to honor the payment. Martin’s attempt to collect turns the magazine’s exploitation of writers into a physical confrontation, but its staff ultimately persuade him to accept their claim that the money is theirs.

Reputation and Decline

The Hornet had been founded by a brilliant journalist and had once been made to shine like a first-magnitude constellation. By the time Martin submits his poem, however, its brilliance has long since faded. The contrast between its former standing and its present conduct marks it as an established publication trading on a reputation that no longer guarantees either vitality or fair dealing.

Publication and Unpaid Promise

Martin sends “The Peri and the Pearl” to The Hornet after an earlier San Francisco magazine, published in the interest of a great railroad, offers to pay him in transportation. Because that offer cannot be transferred, Martin retrieves the poem and submits it to The Hornet instead. The Hornet’s editor promises fifteen dollars. After the poem appears, the promised payment does not arrive, and several of Martin’s letters go unanswered. His angry letter finally draws a response from a new editor, who disclaims responsibility for the former editor’s promise and says he thinks little of the poem.

Martin’s Confrontation with the Staff

Later, buoyed by another encounter, Martin remembers the unpaid fifteen dollars and goes to The Hornet to collect. The office is run by clean-shaven, physically imposing young men, including the editor, a former college athlete. With help from the business manager, an advertising agent, and the porter, the editor removes Martin from the office after furniture is broken and sends him down the first flight of stairs. The staff call after him with a mocking invitation to return; Martin picks himself up grinning.

The confrontation does not end with payment. The editor proposes that they all go out for a drink, and Martin accepts on the condition that he will go if he loses. The men drink together amicably and agree that the battle belongs to the strong—and that the fifteen dollars for “The Peri and the Pearl” belongs by right to The Hornet’s editorial staff. The episode turns an unpaid fee into a grotesque settlement: Martin has pursued what was promised, but the magazine’s show of force and camaraderie leaves the money with those who withheld it.