Alcohol consumption and sense of shame in the novels "John Barleycorn" by Jack London, "The Mighty Angel" by Jerzy Pilch and "The Drinker" by Hans Fallada
Abstract
The basis of this paper are three novels which were written in very different times and whose authors came from different cultural backgrounds. Despite their many similarities, these largely autobiographical novels differ in the way they portray the alcoholic disease with regard to its causes and symptoms, both somatic and psychological, which include shame. The aim of this paper is to attempt to answer the question of whether alcohol abuse necessarily causes a sense of shame by the protagonists of the chosen novels (by Jack London, Jerzy Pilch and Hans Fallada).
Keywords:
alcohol addiction, shame, autobiographical novel, Hans Fallada, Jack London, Jerzy PilchReferences
References
Chyrowicz, Barbara. „Dyskretny urok wstydu.” Ethos 30, no. 2 (118) (2017): 17–35. Google Scholar
Fallada, Hans, Der Trinker. Berlin: Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag, 2016. Google Scholar
London, Jack, König Alkohol. Translated by Lutz-W. Wolff. München: dtv, 2017. Google Scholar
Łyjak, Konrad. „Genese, Verlauf und Symptome der Alkoholkrankheit am Beispiel des Romans „Der Trinker“ von Hans Fallada.“ Acta Neophilologica XXIII, no. 2 (2021): 195–206. Google Scholar
Neckel, Sighard. „Scham und Schamsituationen aus soziologischer Sicht.“ Trauma – Zeitschrift für Psychotraumatologie und ihre Anwendungen 19, 1 (2021): 94–108. Google Scholar
Pilch, Jerzy. Zum starken Engel. Translated by Albrecht Lempp. München: Luchterhand Literaturverlag, 2002. Google Scholar
Raub, Michael. „Scham - ein obsoletes Gefühl? Einleitende Bemerkungen zur Aktualität eines Begriffs.“ In Scham – Ein menschliches Gefühl, edited by Rolf Kühn, Michael Raub, and Michael Titze, 27–43. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1997. Google Scholar
Rurawski, Józef. Wódko, wódeczko… Motyw alkoholu we współczesnej prozie polskiej. Kielce: Gens, 2001. Google Scholar
Saint-Exupéry de, Antoine. Der Kleine Prinz. Translated by Grete, and Josef Leitgeb. Düsseldorf: Karl Rauch Verlag, 2006. Google Scholar
Schneider, Ralf. Die Suchtfibel. Wie Abhängigkeit entsteht und wie man sich daraus befreit. Hohengehren, Schneider Verlag, 2017. Google Scholar
Stadler, Barbara. „Scham – Das Trennende bei Sucht in Beziehungen.“ In Paardynamik. Methodenspezifische und methodenübergreifende Beiträge zur Psychotherapie im Paar- und Einzelsetting, edited by Renate Hutterer-Krisch, and Gabriele Rass-Hubinek, 284–298. Wien: facultas, 2018. Google Scholar
Szubert, Mateusz. „Wstyd w dyskursie kulturowym.” Ethos 30, no. 2(118) (2017): 51–69. Google Scholar
Walther, Peter. Hans Fallada. Die Biographie. Berlin: Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag, 2018. Google Scholar
Wolff, Lutz-W., Nachwort. John Barleycorn muss sterben. In London, Jack. König Alkohol. Translated by Lutz-W. Wolff, 247–259. München: dtv, 2017. Google Scholar
Statistics
Abstract views: 0PDF downloads: 0
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Transfer. Reception Studies

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Similar Articles
- Zainab Magdy, “Going Easily Under”: Waguih Ghali’s Diary of Depression , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 5 (2020)
- Grzegorz KOWAL, German reception of Janusz Korczak , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 1 (2016): CIRCULATION OF GERMAN-LANGUAGE AND POLISH LITERATURE IN THE XXI CENTURY
- Paulina Kasińska, Conquering shame Trauma and Identity in Eva Hoffman’s "Lost in Translation" , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 10 No. 1 (2025): SHAME IN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
- Andrea Rudolph, Shame-shaming dynamics as opportunities to initiate educational processes. On the functionalisation of shame in texts from the Age of Enlightenment , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 10 No. 1 (2025): SHAME IN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
- Jakub Suliga, Hemingway mis-present. On the trail of shame , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 6 (2021): AFFECTS 2 - CONTEMPORARY CULTURE OF EMOTIONS. TRANSFER. TRANSLATION. RECEPTION
- Manuela Graf, Anxiety and liminality in the autobiographical work of Hugo Hamilton , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 8 (2023): Anxiety and fear in contemporary German-language, Polish and Irish literature
- Brigitta Helbig-Mischewski, “Ich komme aus Polen”: Migrant Literature as Coming Out– Wir Strebermigranten by Emilia Smechowski in the Context of Polish Migrant Prose in Germany , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 4 (2019)
- Anna Pastuszka, The anxiety of the stranger and overcoming it. The cosmopolitan attitude of Ilija Trojanow , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 8 (2023): Anxiety and fear in contemporary German-language, Polish and Irish literature
- Monika WÓJCIK-BEDNARZ, Crossing the boundaries in Austrian novels: Engel des Vergessens by Maja Haderlap and Stillbach oder die Sehnsucht Sabine Gruber , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 3 (2018)
- Ewa Górska, Dorota Sośnicka, ‘Refugees’ nightmares’: Motives of escape and anxiety in Gertrud Leutenegger’s novel "Späte Gäste" (2020) , Transfer. Reception Studies: Vol. 8 (2023): Anxiety and fear in contemporary German-language, Polish and Irish literature
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

