{"product_id":"the-surrender-of-silence-isbn-9781907222658","title":"The Surrender of Silence","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe life of escape artist, fortune-teller, author and raconteur “Ironfoot Jack,” aka Jack Rudolph Neave (1881–1959), the self-styled “King of the Bohemians” in London's Soho.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I became acquainted with gipsies, with show people, with buskers, with people who entertained the public by performing in the city, on fair grounds and market places…and with a variety of “fiddles”—that is, some dubious methods of obtaining the means of life. I became a member of this fraternity.”\u003cbr\u003e—from \u003ci\u003eThe Surrender of Silence\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEscape artist, fortune-teller, author, and raconteur “Ironfoot Jack,” aka Jack Rudolph Neave (1881–1959), the self-styled “King of the Bohemians,” was a well-known Soho character in pre- and postwar London. His rich and enthralling story of a lifestyle now gone forever was dictated as his portrait was being painted by the artist Timothy Whidborne in 1956. It was then entrusted to a Soho acquaintance, the author Colin Wilson whose first book \u003ci\u003eThe Outsider\u003c\/i\u003e, had been a success in the same year. Despite his efforts, Wilson failed to find a publisher and, after his death, the manuscript was discovered among his papers by his bibliographer Colin Stanley, who assembled the text, which is accompanied by a contextual introduction by cultural historian Phil Baker.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJack wrote that \u003ci\u003eThe Surrender of Silence\u003c\/i\u003e was “the outcome of years of struggle to survive; of solving the problem of existence by various and curious methods… Most of the people I am talking about led a precarious life and obtained their livelihood from day to day…. They worked to live; they did not live to work.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis Strange Attractor Press edition is the first publication of this legendary work.\u003c\/p\u003eA fascinating journey into a forgotten world, with Ironfoot Jack as our eccentric guide.—\u003ci\u003eMagonia Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e—Colin Stanley is an author and the editor of \u003ci\u003eColin Wilson Studies\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhil Baker's other books include \u003ci\u003eThe Dedalus Book of Absinthe\u003c\/i\u003e, a biography of Dennis Wheatley, \u003ci\u003eThe Devil is a Gentleman\u003c\/i\u003e, and critical works on Samuel Beckett and William Burroughs. He lives in London.","brand":"Strange Attractor Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303578161381,"sku":"NP9781907222658","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781907222658.jpg?v=1767741744","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-surrender-of-silence-isbn-9781907222658","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}