The Existential Drinker by Steven Earnshaw

The Existential Drinker by Steven Earnshaw

Drinking to excess has been a striking problem for industrial and post-industrial societies - who is responsible when an individual opts for a slow suicide? The causes of such drinking have often been blamed on genes, moral weakness, 'disease' (addiction), hedonism, and Romantic illusion. Yet there is another reason: the drinker may act with sincere philosophical intent, exploring the edges of self, consciousness, will, ethics, authenticity and finitude. Beginning with Jack London's John Barleycorn: alcoholic memoirs the book goes on to cover novels such as Jean Rhys's Good morning, midnight, Malcolm Lowry's Under the volcano, Charles Jackson's The lost weekend and John O'Brien's Leaving Las Vegas, and less familiar works such as Frederick Exley's A fan's notes, Venedikt Yerofeev's Moscow-Petushki, and A. L. Kennedy's Paradise.

‘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 authorsIt is an interesting and readable, as well as important book.’
Bob Lane, Metapsychology online reviews, Vol. 23, Issue 11 (2019)

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Steven Earnshaw is Professor of English Literature at Sheffield Hallam University

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780719099618
ISBN 10	0719099617
Title	The Existential Drinker
Author	Steven Earnshaw
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Manchester University Press
Year published	2018-10-05
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.