The Search For Jack London [Paperback]

Jerome Lofgren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 2001

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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. 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." -- Russ Kingman, Jack London scholar --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Since 1983, Jerome V. Lofgren has written six historical novels, a novella, and 60 short stories.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (March 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595173683
• ISBN-13: 978-0595173686
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,819,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There are always two truths to any story, March 3, 2000

By 

Liz Morris (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Search For Jack London (CD-ROM)

Setting aside all personal beliefs and preconceptions about how life "really is" is a prerequisite for journeying with J. V. Lofgren not only through elliptical parts of his own life, but through the life of the famous American writer, Jack London. To experience the numerous stories and people in this book is a unique reading adventure. The twists and turns are fearsome as Lofgren brings himself and Jack London to life with panache in an eloquent and passionate gallop into strange times and places. Lofgren believes himself to have been Jack London in a previous life and sets out to inform us of his experiences alaong the way. To quote Lofgren, "Whether my soul ever energized the body of Jack London or not is important only for my personal understanding. That was then. Now is now. I'm satisfied that my soul once lived a life as Jack London not because of what others have said, but because of my own personal remembrances." This book contains an enormous cast of diverse and strange characters all of whom interact with Lofgren himself and Jack London as Lofgren's reincarnation. There are spirit people and mediums, professionals of every stripe and color with their own beliefs and conceptions few of which they are willing to give up in favor of the author's basic contention, "...that my soul once lived a life as Jack London." And all, he adds, are "subjective elements for which I cannot provide objective proof." He also insists that this work is not creative fiction or a product of his imagination. The southwestern writer Carlos Castanada comes to mind when reading Lofgren's work with all its psychic nuances and far-flung reachings into the "great unknown." Jack London was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco at 2 p.m while Lofgren was born November 29, 1933 in Isle, Minnesota at 7:52 p.m, and as we travel through Lofgren's world, it is clearly the journey that matters, not the destination, which is indiscernible. In the end, Lofgren seems to believe, with Carl Jung, "...that there were two truths, scientific and psychic, and the great tragedy of the 20th century was the over-emphasis upon scientific truth and the supression of psychic truth." As for one character's suggestion that the book is a "love story," referring to Jack London's relationship with his last wife, Charmian, in fact the real love story is between Lofgren and Jack London and Lofgren and Lofgren, a kind of triangle. So fly away into this good night if you dare, but expect to meet a few

3.0 out of 5 stars Recommended, November 13, 2001

By 

C. Penn "WordWeaving" (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Search For Jack London (CD-ROM)

Eighty-three years after his death, Jack London's work remains in print throughout the world, and his popularity abroad vastly exceeds the accord he is given in America. Over twenty biographies have been written, yet the man behind the persona perpetuated by the press has remained elusive. Jerome Lofgren, however, brings both London and his wife to life with remarkable perceptiveness and intensity in his novel IN SEARCH OF JACK LONDON.

As Lofgren's personal life disintegrated around him, having come through divorce, bankruptcy and blindness, his spiritual life opened to new possibilities. As his questioned his purpose in life, he began a spiritual journal that led him to conclude that he is Jack London reincarnated.

Lofgren recounts his work with hypnosis, visions and research, drawing a web of intimacy seldom matched by most biographers. Interestingly, Lofgren focuses on the loving relationship between Jack and his second wife, Charmain Kittredge. Most biographers have overlooked the significant role Charmain provided as both a partner to London and a preserver of his work, journals, photographs, and so forth. Further, Lofgren seeks to correct many of the misconceptions of London, often perpetuated by other biographers.

Rather than a typical biographer, Lofgren's goal is to write "about different subjects, different matters, but there will be the essence of the strength from the London lifetime." Indeed, he succeeds in creating a reflective work filled with the emotional insight sadly lacking in most biographies.

Regardless of personal beliefs, this contemplative, thought provoking view of America's most published author will provide unique insight into the life of Jack London.

3.0 out of 5 stars Quirky, eccentric, problematical... and interesting., August 10, 2000

By 

Daniel P. Smith "Daniel P. B. Smith" (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Search For Jack London (CD-ROM)

This is a quirky, individualistic, passionately eccentric book in which fiction, fantasy, and fact are inextricably mixed up. I enjoyed it.

There is no way for me to ask Jack London about the truth of this book, but Jerome V. Lofgren was kind enough to answer some questions I had, and to give me permission to quote them.

(DPBS) "The Search for Jack London" is told in first person by a narrator who claims to be Jack London's reincarnation. Is this simply a literary device or (as the blurb material suggests) do you truly believe this?

(JVL) What I personally believe is not the issue here.. From the onset in my prologue and in the text itself I put forth that if you believe in reincarnation read it right from the tap. If you don't believe in reincarnation at least accept it as a literary technique to tell a beautiful story (Such as The Star Rover).. This is not a dissertation on reincarnation but an effort to understand Jack and Charmian London.

(DPBS) The story is framed by "the annual banquet celebrating Jack London's birthday... the Jack London Foundation gathered as they had each year in the Sonoma Country Club." Is your description of this meeting intended to be: factual? A dramatized version of real events? Fictional?

(JVL) A dramatized version of real events. However, the actual confrontation with Clarice Stasz took place on September 30, 1987 at a BBQ hosted by Russ and Winnie at their Glen Ellen home with Earle Labor, Milo Shepherd their spouses and Clarice. It was a very foggy night when Clarice hoved to out of the fog to launch her broadsides at me.

(DPBS) In the portions of the story which are told in Jack London's voice, I can, here and there, pick out actual quotations from Jack London's works (a snippet from "To Build a Fire" first Klondike episode, a snippet from "The Cruise of the Snark" in the passage where he meets Ernest Darling, etc.) Are the parts told in London's voice _largely_ pastiches of quotations?

(JVL) As Russ Kingman commented repeatedly, anyone who gets immersed into Jack will encounter the, "Dreadful Parallels." My question to you is what other voice would Jack speak in?

(DPBS) The narrator quotes the late Russ Kingman repeatedly and at length as having very definite opinions on various controversial aspects of Jack London's life. Are these actual quotations from Russ Kingman's writings? If not, do you represent them as factual and as being accurately representative of his views?

These are Russ' actual words. Russ went over this manuscript several times and gave his approval of my actual representation of him. As Russ commented, "I come off as a Southern Baptist Preacher, as of course, I was."

(DPBS) In places, you mention events in Jack London's life that are not well-known to his biographers (his affair with the Native American woman, Ruth). Are these actually buttressed by material you found in your researches?

(JVL) Russ asked the same question in the book. And I answered by pointing out how it came to be in the story. Jack never wrote of or spoke of that period from January to May when he was alone in the cabin, "a time when he came to himself." No matter how Charmian tried to weasel it out of him he wouldn't tell. By the way Russ was satisfied with my answer.

(DPBS) Is there a reason why you do not provide notes or explanations to make it easier for the average reader of this "biography" to pick out which things can be considered recognized facts, and which are imagined, guessed, dramatized, invented, or received via occult methods of communication?

(JVL) This piece was written as a historical novel. Irving Stone used this style in his "Sailor on Horseback" without notes or explanations. There are over 20 biographies of Jack London with Stone's the most popular. Most died a quick death. Why? That puzzled Russ and me. So I set out to write a different "biography" where the world, past and present, are viewed through Jack's eyes. Not only is the old Jack revealed more fully but the present world of the friends of Jack London is revealed so that the general public can visit Glen Ellen and appreciate the Ranch and the Jack London Foundation.