John Barleycorn (novel): Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|1913 book by Jack London}} |
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[[Image:JohnBarleycorn.JPG|thumb|1st edition cover <br>([[The Century Company]]) ]] |
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{{Infobox book |
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| image = JohnBarleycorn.JPG |
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| caption = First edition cover |
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| author = [[Jack London]] |
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| illustrator = |
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| cover_artist = |
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| country = United States |
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| language = English |
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| genre = [[Autobiographical novel]] |
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| publisher = [[The Century Company]] |
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| pub_date = 1913 |
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| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover]] & [[Paperback]]) |
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| pages = |
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| isbn = <!-- NA, published before ISBN system --> |
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| oclc = 264225 |
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}} |
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== Themes == |
== Themes == |
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The novel's themes include [[masculinity]] and male friendship. London discusses various life experiences he has had with alcohol and at widely different stages in his life. Key stages are his late teen years when he earned money as a sailor and later in life when he was a wealthy, successful writer. |
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In this memoir, there is the theme of [[masculinity]] and male comradeship. Those themes are especially evident in one scene of the memoir where the men are at a [[pub]]. Jack London goes to the pub with his acquaintance, Nelson, who is well known around the town as being the prime definition of masculinity. Jack goes to the pub to drink with Nelson because he wants to prove his masculinity to this other manly man. Jack London also wants to become friends with Nelson because this will also prove his masculinity. The theme of friendship is shown through them buying each other drinks which connects to alcohol.<br /> |
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Alcohol plays a big role in facilitating the themes listed above. The book is about the social facilitation of alcohol, but is also a cautionary tale about the addictive powers of alcohol and its deleterious effects on health. London describes the effects of alcohol along both optimistic and pessimistic lines, insisting at some points that it helped him in his developmental process towards becoming a man as he understood the idea and a writer and at other points that it limited in developing him in a healthy way. It remains an important and enduring milestone of his authorial career and of many of the writers of his period, as well as the milestone of many of the social historians of his period. London insisted that historical literature was always more important in his life than alcohol, however.<ref>{{Cite book |last=London |first=Jack |title=John Barleycorn (1913): is an autobiographical novel |date=2018-06-02 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-7206-6047-7}}</ref> |
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== |
== White Logic == |
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At the beginning of the book, Jack London gives a quick tease of "White Logic", mentioning the "white light of alcohol" and how alcohol presented to his mind the concept of White Logic. It is only until the final five chapters that the nihilism of White Logic is finally revealed and pitted against the "lesser truth" that "makes life possible to persist".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-03-04 |title=The White Logic of London vs. Dostoyevsky's Faith {{!}} Mike Cornelison |url=http://www.mikecornelison.com/the-white-logic-of-london-vs-dostoyevskys-faith |access-date=2023-08-29 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034813/http://www.mikecornelison.com/the-white-logic-of-london-vs-dostoyevskys-faith |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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[[Alcoholic beverages]] play a big role in facilitating the themes listed above. To prove one's masculinity, one feels the need to drink more to show only a “manly man” can drink that much. Also, alcohol appears to be the basis of John and Nelson’s friendship. They are only shown as friends as they share a beer at the pub. While at the bar, Nelson buys John Barleycorn several rounds of drinks. Then, after six drinks John Barleycorn decides to make an appearance in the place of Jack. John Barleycorn is Jack London's [[alter-ego]] and he only appears to come out when Jack London is feeling drunk. Therefore, John feels he has to pay Nelson back when in actuality he does not have the money to do so. By having John Barleycorn buying Nelson drinks, it in a way emphasizes his masculine image because it gives off the image that he has enough money to buy all the drinks because he has a high-paying successful career, when he really does not have the high-paying career. John Barleycorn stated, “Money no longer counted. It was comradeship that counted” (p50).<sup>1</sup> However, in another way, it also de-masculinizes John because he is in a way buying his friendship with Nelson through the drinks. The role of alcohol is very prevalent in this memoir because Jack London is the sober version of himself and John Barleycorn is the version of Jack London that leaks [[drunkenness]] everywhere. |
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==Seeing pink elephants== |
== Seeing pink elephants == |
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The first recorded use of pink elephants as the stereotypical hallucination of the extremely drunk<ref> |
The first recorded use of pink elephants as the stereotypical hallucination of the extremely drunk<ref>{{Cite web |title=pink {{!}} Etymology, origin and meaning of pink by etymonline |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/pink |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>[http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980826 ''pink elephants''] Maven's Word of the Day, Random House</ref> occurs at the beginning of chapter two: |
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<blockquote> |
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There are, broadly speaking, two types of drinkers. There is the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants. He is the type that gives rise to the jokes in the funny papers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=London |first=Jack |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/John_Barleycorn_(London)/Chapter_II |title=John Barleycorn}}</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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This is contrasted to drinkers such as the narrator, who are possessed of imagination and become drunk more in brain than in body. To them, John Barleycorn sends clear visions of the eventual pointlessness of life and love and struggle. |
This is contrasted to drinkers such as the narrator, who are possessed of imagination and become drunk more in brain than in body. To them, John Barleycorn sends clear visions of the eventual pointlessness of life and love and struggle. |
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*[[The Three-Day Blow]] |
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*[[The Sun Also Rises]]<br /> |
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== References == |
== References == |
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1. London, Jack. ''John Barleycorn'' New York: [[Oxford University Press]]. 1989. |
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{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
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== |
==Further references== |
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*{{Cite book |
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|chapter = Introduction |
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|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SC8tdWkVwycC&q=john+barleycorn+oxford+university+press&pg=PT8 |
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| publisher = Oxford University Press |
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| isbn = 9780191605918 |
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| last = London |
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| first = Jack |
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| title = John Barleycorn: 'Alcoholic Memoirs' |
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| date = 1998-09-10 |
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}} |
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== External links == |
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{{Bio-book-stub}} |
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* {{Wikisource-inline|John Barleycorn (London)|John Barleycorn}} |
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* {{librivox book | title=John Barleycorn | author=Jack London}} |
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{{Jack London novels}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Novels by Jack London]] |
[[Category:Novels by Jack London]] |
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[[Category:American autobiographical novels]] |
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[[Category:Novels about alcoholism]] |
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[[Category:Memoirs about alcoholism]] |
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[[Category:The Century Company books]] |
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Latest revision as of 19:19, 15 November 2023
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Jack London |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Autobiographical novel |
| Publisher | The Century Company |
Publication date | 1913 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| OCLC | 264225 |
John Barleycorn is an autobiographical novel by Jack London dealing with his enjoyment of drinking and struggles with alcoholism. It was published in 1913. The title is taken from the British folksong "John Barleycorn".
Themes
[edit]The novel's themes include masculinity and male friendship. London discusses various life experiences he has had with alcohol and at widely different stages in his life. Key stages are his late teen years when he earned money as a sailor and later in life when he was a wealthy, successful writer.
Alcohol
[edit]Alcohol plays a big role in facilitating the themes listed above. The book is about the social facilitation of alcohol, but is also a cautionary tale about the addictive powers of alcohol and its deleterious effects on health. London describes the effects of alcohol along both optimistic and pessimistic lines, insisting at some points that it helped him in his developmental process towards becoming a man as he understood the idea and a writer and at other points that it limited in developing him in a healthy way. It remains an important and enduring milestone of his authorial career and of many of the writers of his period, as well as the milestone of many of the social historians of his period. London insisted that historical literature was always more important in his life than alcohol, however.[1]
White Logic
[edit]At the beginning of the book, Jack London gives a quick tease of "White Logic", mentioning the "white light of alcohol" and how alcohol presented to his mind the concept of White Logic. It is only until the final five chapters that the nihilism of White Logic is finally revealed and pitted against the "lesser truth" that "makes life possible to persist".[2]
Seeing pink elephants
[edit]The first recorded use of pink elephants as the stereotypical hallucination of the extremely drunk[3][4] occurs at the beginning of chapter two:
There are, broadly speaking, two types of drinkers. There is the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants. He is the type that gives rise to the jokes in the funny papers.[5]
This is contrasted to drinkers such as the narrator, who are possessed of imagination and become drunk more in brain than in body. To them, John Barleycorn sends clear visions of the eventual pointlessness of life and love and struggle.
References
[edit]- ^ London, Jack (2018-06-02). John Barleycorn (1913): is an autobiographical novel. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1-7206-6047-7.
- ^ "The White Logic of London vs. Dostoyevsky's Faith | Mike Cornelison". 2016-03-04. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
- ^ "pink | Etymology, origin and meaning of pink by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
- ^ pink elephants Maven's Word of the Day, Random House
- ^ London, Jack. John Barleycorn.
Further references
[edit]- London, Jack (1998-09-10). "Introduction". John Barleycorn: 'Alcoholic Memoirs'. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191605918.
External links
[edit]
Works related to John Barleycorn at Wikisource
- John Barleycorn by Jack London at Project Gutenberg
John Barleycorn public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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