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The Resource Equivocal spirits : alcoholism and drinking in twentieth-century literature, Thomas B. Gilmore

Equivocal spirits : alcoholism and drinking in twentieth-century literature, Thomas B. Gilmore

Creator
Summary
"Of the eight American Nobel Prize winners in literature, three--Sinclair Lewis, Eugene O'Neill and William Faulkner--were alcoholic drinkers, and two--Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck--were hard drinkers. Almost all critical comment about these writers has treated their drinking habits a somehow separate from their work. Thomas Gilmore argues that the result is neither good biography nor good literary criticism. He shows how the drinking and the work can each shed light on the other. Although readers and critics acknowledge that many modern writers tend to be heavy drinkers, [title] is the first full-length study of drinking as it is depicted in literature, both by writers who have had drinking problems and those who have not. This interdisciplinary study of science and literature explores the ways scientific knowledge of alcoholism may enlighten the reader as well as the means by which literature may confirm, intensify, dramatize, extend, and occasionally even challenge empirical studies. Examining the work of Malcom Lowry, Evelyn Waugh, Eugene O'Neill, John Cheever, Saul BEllow, F. Scot Fitzgerald, John Berryman, Kingsley Amis, and George Orwell, Gilmore evaluates the major genres of modern literature--drama, poetry, the short story, the novel--for the distinctive portrayals of drinking or alcoholism. He argues that good literature resists stereotyping the alcoholic and portrays instead a figure divided into a welter of conflicting feelings. Gilmore shows that literature conveys the complex struggle in a fictional character or in a real person in a way that science--which must be diagnostic, analytical, and objective--cannot."--Cover [p. 4]
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (xi, 226 pages)
Contents
  • The place of hallucinations in 'Under the Volcano'
  • Brideshead revisited: Sebastian's alcoholism as a spiritual illness
  • The iceman cometh and the anatomy of alcoholism
  • Drinking and society in the fiction of John Cheever
  • Albee's drinking: Bellow's The victim
  • The winding road to Pat Hobby: Fitzgerald confronts alcoholism
  • John Berryman and drinking: from jest to sober earnest
  • Jim, Jake, and Gordon: alcohol and comedy
Link
Instance
Label
Equivocal spirits : alcoholism and drinking in twentieth-century literature
Title
Equivocal spirits
Title remainder
alcoholism and drinking in twentieth-century literature
Statement of responsibility
Thomas B. Gilmore
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"Of the eight American Nobel Prize winners in literature, three--Sinclair Lewis, Eugene O'Neill and William Faulkner--were alcoholic drinkers, and two--Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck--were hard drinkers. Almost all critical comment about these writers has treated their drinking habits a somehow separate from their work. Thomas Gilmore argues that the result is neither good biography nor good literary criticism. He shows how the drinking and the work can each shed light on the other. Although readers and critics acknowledge that many modern writers tend to be heavy drinkers, [title] is the first full-length study of drinking as it is depicted in literature, both by writers who have had drinking problems and those who have not. This interdisciplinary study of science and literature explores the ways scientific knowledge of alcoholism may enlighten the reader as well as the means by which literature may confirm, intensify, dramatize, extend, and occasionally even challenge empirical studies. Examining the work of Malcom Lowry, Evelyn Waugh, Eugene O'Neill, John Cheever, Saul BEllow, F. Scot Fitzgerald, John Berryman, Kingsley Amis, and George Orwell, Gilmore evaluates the major genres of modern literature--drama, poetry, the short story, the novel--for the distinctive portrayals of drinking or alcoholism. He argues that good literature resists stereotyping the alcoholic and portrays instead a figure divided into a welter of conflicting feelings. Gilmore shows that literature conveys the complex struggle in a fictional character or in a real person in a way that science--which must be diagnostic, analytical, and objective--cannot."--Cover [p. 4]
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Gilmore, Thomas B
Dewey number
810/.9/355
Government publication
government publication of a state province territory dependency etc
Index
index present
LC call number
PS228.A58
LC item number
G55 1987
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
NLM call number
WM 274
NLM item number
G488e 1987
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • American literature
  • English fiction
  • Drinking of alcoholic beverages in literature
  • Drinking customs in literature
  • Alcoholism in literature
  • Alcoholics in literature
  • Amis, Kingsley
  • Bellow, Saul
  • Berryman, John
  • Cheever, John
  • Fitzgerald, F. Scott
  • Lowry, Malcolm
  • O'Neill, Eugene
  • Orwell, George
  • Waugh, Evelyn
  • Alcoholism
  • Literature
  • Littérature américaine
  • Alcoolisme dans la littérature
  • Alcooliques dans la littérature
  • Consommation d'alcool dans la littérature
  • Roman anglais
  • Amis, Kingsley
  • Bellow, Saul
  • Berryman, John
  • Cheever, John
  • Fitzgerald, F. Scott
  • Lowry, Malcolm
  • O'Neill, Eugene
  • Orwell, George
  • Waugh, Evelyn
  • Alcoholics in literature
  • Alcoholism in literature
  • American literature
  • Drinking customs in literature
  • Drinking of alcoholic beverages in literature
  • English fiction
Label
Equivocal spirits : alcoholism and drinking in twentieth-century literature, Thomas B. Gilmore
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-216) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
The place of hallucinations in 'Under the Volcano' -- Brideshead revisited: Sebastian's alcoholism as a spiritual illness -- The iceman cometh and the anatomy of alcoholism -- Drinking and society in the fiction of John Cheever -- Albee's drinking: Bellow's The victim -- The winding road to Pat Hobby: Fitzgerald confronts alcoholism -- John Berryman and drinking: from jest to sober earnest -- Jim, Jake, and Gordon: alcohol and comedy
Extent
1 online resource (xi, 226 pages)
Form of item
online
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1034665075
Label
Equivocal spirits : alcoholism and drinking in twentieth-century literature, Thomas B. Gilmore
Link
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-216) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
The place of hallucinations in 'Under the Volcano' -- Brideshead revisited: Sebastian's alcoholism as a spiritual illness -- The iceman cometh and the anatomy of alcoholism -- Drinking and society in the fiction of John Cheever -- Albee's drinking: Bellow's The victim -- The winding road to Pat Hobby: Fitzgerald confronts alcoholism -- John Berryman and drinking: from jest to sober earnest -- Jim, Jake, and Gordon: alcohol and comedy
Extent
1 online resource (xi, 226 pages)
Form of item
online
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1034665075

Subject

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