Description
Book SynopsisLooks at the nineteenth-century convergence of a new kind of excessive, habitual drinking, and a new way of thinking about the self, which we came to label ‘existential’.
Trade Review‘Earnshaw's book is a careful and well-documented study of a number of important literary works that are concerned with the drinking of alcohol, by the characters and/or by the authors. It is an interesting and readable, as well as important book.’
Bob Lane, Metapsychology online reviews, Vol. 23, Issue 11 (2019)
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Table of ContentsI Whiffs and gleams
1 Habitual drunkards and metaphysics: case studies from the Victorian period
2 Jack London, John Barleycorn (1913): truth
II The Existential drinkers
3 Jean Rhys and drunken consciousness (1929-1939)
4 Charles Jackson, The Lost Weekend (1944): life projects
5 Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano (1947).: singular experiences
6 Hans Fallada, The Drinker (1950): absurdity
7 Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1955): abandonment
8 Frederick Exley, A Fan’s Notes (1968): authenticity
9 Venedikt Yerofeev, Moscow-Petushki (1970): self and others
III Enough: attic, Vegas, paradise
10 William Kennedy, Ironweed (1983): fugitive souls and free spirits
11 John O’Brien, Leaving Las Vegas (1990): suicide
12 A. L. Kennedy, Paradise (2004): love
Conclusion
Bibliography
