The Search for Jack London

Jerome V. Lofgren

Description

Extraordinary Biography of Jack London
The Search For Jack London is a first person account of an investigation into a possible past life as Jack London.

As the narrator revisits a Klondike cabin in the winter of 1898 fresh insight was gained into the life and times of Jack London that could only be known by London himself. Seeking clarification the narrator requested a life reading from Anne Puryear, a psychic living in Scottsdale, Arizona. The narrator was informed that in a previous life he'd been Jack London.

Just being told by a psychic source that he had once lived as Jack London wasn't good enough. When he asked for objective proof he was told to seek and he'd discover the truth. Anne gave him three instructions to guide his search.

The first was to seek out a Canadian psychiatrist who was skilled in past life regression. The fifteen hours of hypnotic regression were recorded on what became known as "The Jack London Tapes."

The second was to seek out all the primary sources of Jack London material and to read all the books about Jack London. The narrator went to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California and the Jack London Foundation in Glen Ellen, California in search of primary source materials.

The third was to write a book about his search.

The book has brought extreme reactions of praise and condemnation. Defending the validity of the experiences has proved to be the greatest challenge of the narrator's life.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique
• Hawái
• Anna Strunsky
• Reference
• Jack London State Historic Park
• Biography
• Charmian London
• The Huntington Library
• Hawaii
• Glen Ellen
• Autobiography
• Klondike
• San Marino
• CA
• Jack London
• Hawaï

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 13 mars 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781469755953
• Langue: English

Extrait

Other Books by the author:
 
NARY A NOSE NOR TAIL—Novella
Grandfather—Grandson adventure story.
 
NOT ALL SPIRITS ARE OF GOD—Arctic adventure novel
Charlie Frankson, Inupiat Shaman
Vol 1 of the medicine wheel stones series.
 
SUQUAMISH—Native American adventure
Vol 2 of the medicine wheel stones series
 
TLINGIT—Native American adventure
Vol 3 of the medicine wheel stones series
 
KRISTINA—Historical novel (Civil War)
A female Johnny Reb
 
MONTSEGUR: Love in the time of the inquisition
The massacre at Montsegur, France in 1244 AD.
 
NARY A NOSE AND OTHER TALES—collection of short
adventure stories of a young boy with his grandfather.
The Search For Jack London
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jerome V. Lofgren
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Authors Choice Press
San Jose New York Lincoln Shanghai
 
The Search For Jack London
 
All Rights Reserved © 2001 by JVL Alaska, Inc.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the
permission in writing from the publisher.
 
Authors Choice Press
an imprint of iUniverse.com, Inc.
 
For information address:
iUniverse.com, Inc.
5220 S 16th, Ste. 200
Lincoln, NE 68512
www.iuniverse.com
 
ISBN: 0-595-17368-3
ISBN: 978-1-4697-5595-3(ebook)
 
 
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
DEDICATION  
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  
INTRODUCTION  
CHAPTER 1  
CHAPTER 2  
CHAPTER 3  
CHAPTER 4  
CHAPTER 5  
CHAPTER 6  
CHAPTER 7  
CHAPTER 8  
CHAPTER 9  
CHAPTER 10  
CHAPTER 11  
CHAPTER 12  
CHAPTER 13  
CHAPTER 14  
CHAPTER 15  
CHAPTER 16  
CHAPTER 17  
CHAPTER 18  
CHAPTER 19  
CHAPTER 20  
CHAPTER 21  
CHAPTER 22  
CHAPTER 23  
CHAPTER 24  
CONCLUSIONS  
ABOUT THE AUTHOR  
DEDICATION  
Dedicated
To the
Memory
of
Russ Kingman (1917—1993)
and his wife and partner
Winnie
Who were my mentors, teachers, and friends Without
whose loving and generous encouragement this work could
never have been undertaken,much less completed.
They knew the meaning of being “On Trail.”
 
Lone Wolf II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  
In the long period of researching and experiencing that led to the writing of this book many helpers flowed in and out of my life. I want to acknowledge some of the key players in my personal drama.
I am grateful to Lennart and Louise Augustsson who provided a wonderful room in their home at Suquamish, Washington where I could digest my experiences and write my story. The rising of the Sun and Moon over Pudget Sound, as viewed from the deck of their home, helped to bring forth the deepest of memories.
Mere words can not convey my heart felt thanks to Russ and Winnie Kingman who remained my faithful supporters throughout the years.
I wish to thank my daughter Paula and her husband, Charles Peach, for their continued support while others remained non-believers and scoffers. They also presented me with a wonderful companion in the form of my grandson Zachery who kept me company during the quiet days of writing. The grandson grandfather bond was a very precious gift.
I am grateful to my spirit guides, Magnus and Kurt, and my angels Ichthanai, Nife, and Nife without whose assistance this story would have remain but another buried memory.
I wish to thank Ralph Amok, my Inupiat Shaman, who sought me out in my great distress to guide me through the early phase of my search. It was he who set my feet on trail in The Search for Jack London.
Once written the manuscript needed the copy editing of Dr. Paul Roland, Barbara Sexton, and Ellen Barnes for whose assistance I’m eternally grateful.
Jerome V. Lofgren
Poulsbo, Washington, January 2001 http://members.home.net/jlofgren4/
INTRODUCTION  
WHO IS JACK LONDON?
 
Jack London (1876—1916) continues to be acknowledged the world over as the most popular and most read of America’s authors. Eighty-three years after his death, his books are still in print throughout the world.
The fabulous adventures of Jack London began with his early years as a ‘gamin’ of the San Francisco waterfront earning his living as an oyster pirate, working in canneries, jute mills, and laundries for starvation wages. At the age of seventeen, he went to sea as an able-bodied seaman aboard a three-masted sealing schooner that took him to Japan and the North Pacific seal islands. In 1894, he rode the rails to see the country and spent a month in the Erie County Penitentiary, Buffalo, New York on the charge of vagrancy before returning home to enter the University of California at Berkeley.In 1897, at the age of twenty, he hiked across the famous Chilkoot Pass en route to the Klondike gold fields. In 1902, he lived in the east-end slums of London. In 1904, he covered the Russo-Japanese War for the Hearst papers. He built a ketch and sailed the South Seas for two years, from 1906 to 1908. In 1912, he covered the Mexican Revolution as a war correspondent.
In the end, he had climbed out of poverty to find himself America’s best-selling author caught in the grinding struggle to maintain that position against failing health and the ever-increasing demands of his ranch.
The most significant thing about his life was not his adventures but the quality and diversity of his literary production. Modern classics such as The Call of The Wild, The Sea Wolf, White Fang, and Martin Eden flew from his pen. Over a period of sixteen years, he authored fifty-two books consisting of essays, short stories, juveniles, novels, plays and sociological studies.
He was a master of the short story. High school students are still thrilled by such Klondike pieces as “To Build A Fire” or his personal favorite, “The League of Old Men.”
Jack London’s writings were the embodiment of the lusty, brawling Horatio Alger spirit of turn-of-the-century America, the America of the vanishing frontier and of the last generation of rugged and desperate individualists who sought to win their fortunes in the hostile wilderness.
Over twenty biographies have been written. Still, the elusive Jack London the man remains an enigma—until now.
We will learn that the steadying hand on the wheel of Jack’s ship was his wife Charmian whom he met in 1903. This love story has gone untold for nearly 85 years.
After reading my manuscript, Russ Kingman, the leading Jack London scholar, told me that “you have succeeded in capturing Jack and Charmian (London) with the touch of the master. I have nothing but praise for everything you have done with Jack and Charmian. You completely caught their love as no one has caught it before and it is wonderful. You made Jack and Charmian real people, and even the most critical critic will be unable to accuse you of putting halos on their heads. They come out as humans in love. And that was the way it was.”
CHAPTER 1  
January 12th arrived as predicted as did the annual banquet celebrating Jack London’s birthday. One-hundred-and-ninety members and friends of the Jack London Foundation gathered as they had each year in the Sonoma Country Club. Among the distinguished quests were the top Jack London scholars in the world, Earle Labor, Milo Shepard and of course, Russ and Winnie Kingman.
My book had just been published and was starting to get some play in local bookstores. I was in San Francisco on a promotional tour when Russ Kingman invited me to the banquet.
The dining room was a turbulent sea of people flitting to and fro. When I entered, I sensed a stillness come over the crowd like the stillness before the breaking of a storm. The rising hum of whispers and the turning of heads followed it.
I stood in the doorway searching for a friendly face or two but discovered only curious eyes that looked away upon meeting mine. Then I saw Winnie waving from across the room. She beckoned me to join them at the front table. Her smile was like the flashing beam of a lighthouse to a sailor locked tight in a winter storm. It guided me to a safe moorage.
My name had not appeared in the program so following the meal when Russ took command of the podium like the Southern Baptist preacher that he had been, he caught me by surprise.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we’re going to have a little fun. Beside each place setting there is a slip of paper with the question, ‘If you could ask Jack London one question, what would it be?’ If you haven’t yet written down your question, why not take a minute or two now while the tables are being cleared?”
Plates clattered and chairs scraped as people hurried off for last-minute visits to the restrooms or quick smokes outdoors.
Quiet fell upon the audience when the lights dimmed and the podium came alive in the spotlights. All attention was focused on Russ as he, like a sea captain stepping onto his bridge, took possession of the meeting.
His commanding presence drew instant respect from the audience.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a surprise that is not on the program. You’ve no doubt read, or heard about, a new book just published that is written around the idea that Jack London is reincarnated.”
When derisive murmurs moved through the audience, Russ raised his hand for quiet.
“I know that some of you give no credence to the concept of reincarnation; and after reading the book, you might want to throw it