Drinking and Writing

And now for something seasonal, while a few people may still be curing extended hang-overs.

Drinking and driving don't mix. We all know that.

But drinking and writing, well. . . . there have been numerous examples of excellent writing by writers that indulge.

I seem to recall that D.H. Lawrence had a fondness for liquors made with Fennel.

Faulkner's drink of choice was Julep.  (Photo below of Faulkner's metal cup on exhibit at his house in Oxford, Mississippi, posted by Paris Review on FB)

Fitzgerald, well I suppose he'd guzzle down just about anything. Perhaps more than usual amounts if in the company of Hemingway (cf. some of his Parisian bar haunts: Fouquets, Closerie des Lilas, Le Select...).

Olivia Laing has just written a book on this subject:  The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking (Picador, 2013).

Links
NPR Staff, "American Literature and the 'Mythos of the Boozing Writer'" NPR (January 11, 2014).
Jane Ciabattari, "Opening the Literary Liquor Cabinet In 'Echo Spring'" NPR (December 31, 2013).
Robert Moore, "Faulkner's Cocktail of Choice" Paris Review Daily (December 31, 2013).

Don Delillo's typewriters

In this BBC documentary, you'll see a few typewriters that Delillo used. He says that the assassination of Kennedy changed the way Americans saw themselves, and has haunted his fiction from the first.

Pat Barker's "Regeneration"

"It was the war my grandfather fought in..." -- Pat Barker


Regeneration on film (1997, and in USA, Behind the Lines, 1998):



Barker speaking about the writing process and the novel:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2012/aug/20/pat-barker-regeneration-book-edinburgh-podcast


Rob Nixon's interview with Pat Barker (published 2004):
http://www.english.wisc.edu/rdnixon/files/barker_interview.pdf


Book Reviews and critical articles on Regeneration and the Regeneration Trilogy

Marie-Noëlle Provost-Vallet, "Ghosts in Craiglockart..." Arts of War and Peace 1:1 (March 2013).
John Mullen, "Regeneration by Pat Barker," Guardian (August 24, 2012).
Christopher Benfy, "The Art of War," New York Times (January 27, 2008).
Alice Bowman, "Restoring the Balance," Kansas State University (2004).


Book Reviews of Toby's Room

Freya Johnston, "Toby's Room by Pat Barker," Telegraph (September 3, 2012).
Mark Sanderson, Toby's Room by Pat Barker: review," Guardian (30 August, 2012).


Web Pages devoted to Pat Barker

Booker Prize.
British Council.
Foyles.
Guardian.
New York Times.
Penguin.

Tributes for Doris Lessing

Tributes for Doris Lessing.

Margaret Atwood, "Doris Lessing was a model for every writer coming from the back of beyond," The Guardian (November 17, 2013).
Maev Kennedy, "Doris Lessing dies aged 94," The Guardian (November 17, 2013).
Helen T. Verongos, "Doris Lessing, Author Who Swept Aside Convention, Dead at 94," New York Times (November 17, 2013).
Doris Lessing, "The Art of Fiction No.102," The Paris Review 106 (Spring 1988).

Rue de Fleurus

Leo Stein moved to Paris in 1902, settling in the rue de Fleurus, where his sister Gertrude joined him in 1903.   Their brother Michael came to Paris in 1904 with his wife, and they settled in rue Madame.  Picasso painted Gertrude's portrait in 1906, which she said influenced her writing. The family's interest in avant-garde art led to purchases of Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso.  From October 5, 2011 to January 16, 2012, their collection is on exhibit at the Grand Palais.

A Conference on Gertrude Stein and the Arts will be held at the Grand Palais in Paris on October 20-21, accompanied by poetry readings at Galérie éof, rue Saint-Fiacre (www.doublechange.org).

Links:
Official site for the exhibit "L'Aventure des Stein," Les Musées Nationaux (http://www.rmn.fr/stein).
German Broadcast about the exhibit (http://youtu.be/QD7NGO-gT94).
"Gertrude Stein and the Arts"Symposium (http://www.terraamericanart.org/calendar/?event=2643).

Writing Tips

Try to develop a literary essay or commentary around a thesis statement, which is a short statement that explains what it is that you wish to demonstrate.

A thesis statement is easier to find and write if you have spent some time studying the texts already. In preparation for a commentary you should plan to read the text four or five times. Relax. Give yourself a quiet space in which to think about what you are reading. Look up the words you don't understand. See how the text breaks down into movements.

Consider that your reader needs to be convinced that what you say is true and important. Use proofs from the literary text to support your assertions.

Before handing anything in: REREAD IT! After every paragraph, ask yourself the question, "so what?"

Punctuation varies from country to country and language to language. Make sure that you are consistent in your use of punctuation, and that it is appropriate for English language texts.

Helpful books and articles to consult on writing, and writing about literature:

Gallet, René. Pratique de l'explication de texte en anglais. Paris: Ellipses, 2007.

Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language" (1946).

Strunk, William, and White, E.B. The Elements of Style (4th edition), Longman, 1999.

Need a font?

Thanks to Steve Jobs, we managed to get a choice of fonts on our computers, but have you ever considered the history and philosophy of the font you are using?  According to Janet Maslin, Simon Garfield's book Just My Type (2010) is an "excellent gloss" on the history of font culture.  Oh, and there's also some material on Wynkyn de Worde.

Janet Maslin, "Font Pain and Poetry: So Much Depends on a Curve," New York Times (August 21, 2011).
Wynkyn de Worde Society (www.wynkyndeworde.co.uk).

(By the way, this book is available through iBooks, and the first pages can be read there.)