I was more struck by how Moore equates "romantic" with "romance". Romancers are romantic, but the Romantics were not romancers: i.e., Coleridge was an addict; Byron and Shelley self-destructive; Keats diseased; Wordsworth lonely as a cloud.

Alcholism has a place in the capital-R Romantic tradition; it is gothic horror integrated with questing to escape this mortal coil. Or maybe it's just the consequence of failing to achieve trascendence? (a la Jim Morrison finding that "breaking on through to the other side" is a quick trip to an early grave)..

I was going to write, "The Romantics were not grounded in reality, neither are those who fight the demons of addiction." But I'm not sure what it means to be "grounded in reality". I was trying to say that addicts turn to substances for solutions that cannot supply them, in the same way that the Romantics sought an impossible transcendence. Ah, oversimplification. Does this make sense? (And I hear David Bryne saying, "Stop!")

I have to say that talk of alcoholism as a "trend" or a "persona" (singular of "personae", for the record, GGG) really gets my back up. No one who's had any personal experience with this disease could be so damn glib about it.

Moore's piece is about alcoholics as characters in literature, not as a stereotype of the writer. She's right; alcoholics do make interesting characters. Addiction is one of the few diseases that still provokes as much contempt from others as sympathy. It’s even sadder when people think of it as a fashionable ‘choice’, like deciding to be Wiccan, or dressing-up like Fred Durst or Eminem everyday (which might be sad in its own right, but it’s still a choice).

Moore writes: “The best writing about alcoholics manages to explore the degradation the disease inflicts while respecting the dignity of its victim.” Her diction is revealing, “degradation”, “disease”, “inflicts”, “victim”. Critical acumen + compassion. No wonder her fiction is so good.

Yeah, except for that total sobriety thing.

Edited by author 11-05-2003 01:06 AM
The literary drunk is a thing of the past. That romance has played itself out. The trend now is to be a reformed alcoholic. This is an ideal situation because you can still have the personae of the two-fisted drinker though all you do is putter around in the garden all day and get to bed by nine. The personae is good for your career the lifestyle is good for your health. It's a win win situation.

*Hic*

The literary drunk: alcoholism as bravery?




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