John Barleycorn

Description

Jack London is better known as the successful and popular author of adventure stories such as White Fang , and The Call of the Wild than as an alcoholic pessimist who finally took a fatal overdose of morphine in 1916. John Barleycorn , published in 1913, subtitled "Alcoholic Memoirs," eventually shattered the image of the ruggedly good-looking, energetic and intrepid hero who had been everywhere and seen everything. With his style at its most personal as he explores his own mental states, London achieves a painful kind of autobiography that cuts through the thin skin of his self-esteem.