Alkohol
kongur is an autobiographical text, depicting both the
pleasures of drink and the horrific battle against alcoholism. This is the
story of the two-edged sword, alcohol.
The devil alcohol is revealed according to the old
dictum, “The one who has burnt himself must never stop speaking of the fire.”
In his honest depiction of his own experiences and
especially their social context, Jack London’s social realism mesmerises.
Without forcing his prose, he shows how being a real man is wound up with excessive
drinking.
He narrates the various experiences of alcohol
throughout life’s stages, noting especially the wonderful experiences in his
teenage years, when he was a sailor, and then the rather different experience later
in life, when a wealthy and famous author – a slow movement from youthful fun
to despair.
London never exchanged the alcohol with water; he
knew he would never make his 1000 words without his one or even 3 glasses a
day.