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A powerful and revealing look at Jack London himself |
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John Barleycorn - Alcoholic Memoirs
Published by The Century Co., 1913
By Jack London
When it first appeared in 1913, John Barleycorn was an immediate sensation. America's most famous author, the creator of The Sea Wolf and The Call of the Wild, had confessed to a lifelong struggle with alcohol. Temperance advocates used John Barleycorn in the push for prohibition; liquor companies denounced it; a popular movie was made of it; ministers cited it in sermons. |
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| BACKGROUND - BY CLARICE STASZ |
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Dr. Clarice Stasz (retired)
Professor Sonoma State University
Department Chair, Professor History
1801 East Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park, CA 94928 |
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"JACK LONDON WROTE John Barleycorn right after his tumultuous trip to NYC early 1912. While there he appeared at suffrage functions with Charlotte Perkins Gilman (whom he knew when she lived in the Bay area) and Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, the most radical suffragist in the country (and multi-millionaire who underwrote what would become the National Women's Party). But he also had a terrible fall with alcohol, which culminated in Baltimore when he went out and shaved his head. John Barleycorn was written intentionally as an anti-alcohol tract—hence its connection to suffrage—and this is clear from Charmian's unpublished Diary of the Dirigo. It was also written as an apology to Charmian for his loutish behavior in NYC. In exchange for promising to quit his abuse of drink, she offered to try for another child. By the end of the voyage around the Horn, she was pregnant, although she miscarried later. He never had a bad binge after that, even after the terrible stresses of 1913 with its business failures and burning of Wolf House." - Dr. Clarice Stasz |
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John Barleycorn is, however, more than a tract against demon rum and an insightful portrait of the mind of the drinker. It is, above all, a powerful and revealing look at Jack London himself. Into this unique confession, London poured much of his astonishing life, from his days as a work beast in the Oakland canneries to his exploits as an oyster pirate on San Francisco Bay, from his sailing adventures to his triumphs as an author. It is the closest London came to writing his autobiography.
Go read this famous story:
John Barleycorn |
