{"id":7894,"date":"2014-06-17T18:35:29","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T18:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/06\/17\/jack-london-john-barleycorn-and-the-noseless-one\/"},"modified":"2014-06-17T18:35:29","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T18:35:29","slug":"jack-london-john-barleycorn-and-the-noseless-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/06\/17\/jack-london-john-barleycorn-and-the-noseless-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack London, John Barleycorn<\/i>, and the Noseless One"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Like many American boys, I read plenty of <\/span>Jack London<\/span><\/a>: The Call of the Wild<\/em>, White Fang<\/em>, The Sea Wolf<\/em>, Martin Eden<\/em>, not to mention numerous short stories, some of them unforgettable to this day: "Love of Life," "Moonface," and "To Build a Fire." But I never got around to John Barleycorn<\/em> until years later after I had read a lit-crit study of the American booze novel, and had decided to read every booze novel I could get my hands on. You could say I went on a booze novel binge. So I read Charles Jackson's <\/span>Lost Weekend<\/span><\/a>, things like that, until I was ready for the grandpappy of them all, John Barleycorn<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some notes from a journal entry of 7 March 1998.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finished John Barleycorn<\/em> in bed last night. One of London's best books. What's the gist of it?<\/span><\/p>\n

One cannot live and be happy unless one suppresses the final truth which is that life is a senseless play of forces, a brutal and bloody war of all against all with no redeeming point or purpose. Man is a brother to the dust, "a cosmic joke, a sport of chemistry." (319).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Skull\"<\/a> Only by telling himself "vital lies" can a man live "muttering and mumbling them like charms and incantations against the powers of Night." (329) All metaphysics, religion, and spirtuality are half-believed-in attempts to "outwit the Noseless One [the skull behind the face] and the Night." (329) "Life is oppositional and passes. You are an apparition." (317) "All an appearance can know is mirage." (316) <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah, but here is a weak point in the London position. An appearance can't know anything, can't even dream or doubt anything. If I am dreaming, then I am<\/em>, beyiond all seeming, and I cannot be a mere dream object. Here the "White Logic" shows itself to be illogic. Let your experience be as deceptive, delusive, mirage-like as you want, the experiencer stands above it, apart from it, behind it  — at least in his inner essence. Thus there is the hope that he may unfold his inner essence, disentangling himself from the play of specters. But this is exactly what London, worldling and sensualist, did not<\/em> do.  And what he presumably could not do.
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There is the 'truth' we need to live and flourish — which is a bunch of "vital lies" — and there is the real truth, which is that our life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Religion and metaphysics are further life-enhancing illusions. Alcohol revealed all this "White Logic" to London. What is his solution? Stay sober and dream on, apparently. Close the books of despair (Spencer, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche) and lose yourself in the daily round, the social whirl, the delights of the foreground.  Distract yourself and keep your self distracted.
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What is noteworthy here is that booze for London is not anodyne and escape but truth serum.  Beyond noteworthy it is very strange: the boozed-up, barely-corned, brain  is in the proper condition to grasp reality as she is.
<\/span><\/p>\n

Three paths are suggested:<\/span><\/p>\n

A. The Superficial Man.<\/em> Lives in immediacy and illusion, oblivious to sickness, old age, and death. Doesn't see that there is a problem of life to be solved.  Or rather he doesn't want to see that life is a predicament.  He prefers self-deception on this point.  He takes short views and avoids the long ones.  Keeps himself busy and distracted.
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B. The 'London Man.'<\/em> Sees through the average schlep's illusions. He experiences the nullity, the vanity of success, recognition, love of woman, money and the rest. (See p. 254) But beyond this there is only the horror of the senseless and brutal struggle for existence. So he turns against the "ancient mistake of pursuing Truth too relentlessly." (254) He returns to the Cave, believing that ultimately there is No Exit.<\/span><\/p>\n

C. The Quester.<\/em> For whatever reason, he has been so placed in life that he has a glimpse of the possibility of salvation from meaninglessness. He sees deeper than the 'London Man.' He has been granted a fleeting vision of the Light behind and beyond the Noseless One and Night. He works to attain that vision in fullness.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
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\"\"<\/a>You: The Life of Jack London as a Case Study in the Power and Perils of Thumos – #10: Ashes<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>The Discursive as Distraction<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like many American boys, I read plenty of Jack London: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf, Martin Eden, not to mention numerous short stories, some of them unforgettable to this day: "Love of Life," "Moonface," and "To Build a Fire." But I never got around to John Barleycorn until years later … Continue reading “Jack London, John Barleycorn<\/i>, and the Noseless One”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms","category-autobiographical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}