Saturday, February 27, 2010

My Favorite (Drunk) Writer

Life magazine online recently posted a list of the top literary drunks and addicts of all time. The list includes great photos and fun facts about iconic figures of the literati, and its scope extends beyond (but still includes) obvious literary addicts Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac.

Find out what vice your favorite writer was partial to. For example, Tennessee Williams was fond of alcohol. What was another of his weaknesses? (Hint: it starts with amph and ends with etamines). How did Louisa May Alcott get hooked on morphine? Did Dylan Thomas actually proclaim, "I've had eighteen straight whiskies, I think that is a record," before he keeled over at the Chelsea Hotel in November, 1953. What famous writer, who died in 1984, and was hooked on booze and various drugs, had this to say about himself: "I'm an alcoholic. I'm a drug addict. I'm homosexual. I'm a genius." Hint: he wrote In Cold Blood.

2 comments:

Robin said...

Not Truman Capote? Say it ain't so!

Neil Everett said...

I think mine is Bukowski because knowing that he's a crazy/asshole/drunk just makes his writing even more compelling somehow.