Much has been said about alcohol and the writer. So much so that a novelist by the name of Donald Goodwin went as far as writing a full vomit, sorry, volume on the topic.
In the book called Alcohol and the Writer, Goodwin lists several reasons why drinking and writing go so well together. Some of the reasons mentioned by Goodwin are as follows.
- Writing involves fantasy; alcohol promotes fantasy.
- Writing requires self-confidence; drinking provides it.
- Writing is a lonely work; alcohol delivers isolation
Alcohol has been said to be good for the writers’ soul. Could be. Or might be until the pen shakes so much or the keyboard keys become so numb to the touch that words no longer form reflections of the realistic thought process that writing under the influence is no longer a pleasure or even a sober means of communication.
Someone once made up a list of the top ten American Drunkards who wrote.
In that alcohol and the writer list one can find the names of people like:
- Raymond Chandler who can be quoted as saying ” Alcohol is like a love, the first kiss is magic…..”
- Frederick Exley who said something about finding a journey he’d rather not return to after sobering up…..
- Harry Crews…..one day i woke up from the party and the band had gone….
- Jack Kerouac states, I became a drunk, because I like ecstasy of the mind, not necessarily in those exact words.
- Jack London claimed, ” It was not long until I prefaced the beginning of the thousand words with a drink “.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, ” then the drink takes you”.
- Edgar Allan Poe, ” It [ the alcohol ] had been a desperate attempt to escape for torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom”.
Alcohol and the writer seems to be a common practice but is there an alternative ?
Some people claim that the alternative to alcohol and the writer or drinks in the writer is being a sober writer.
How so one may ask.
And the answer to that for many writers, and all types or artists, actors, and other professionals has been a ticket to a center of alcohol rehab.