Nicknaming himself “Papa” while still in his 20s, he was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris known as “the Lost Generation”, as described in his memoir A Moveable Feast. . "The more I drank, the more I was compelled to drink in order to get an effect." If he had not become such a drunk, would Truman Capote have finished "Answered Prayers"? . One notable exception was Upton Sinclair, the muckraking author of "The Jungle" and a score of other novels, who was a rabid teetotaler. On the night of December 20, 1940, he had a heart attack, and the next day, December 21, while awaiting a visit from his doctor, Fitzgerald collapsed and died. 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Was it ever thus? For one thing, writers usually work alone, facing an empty page that must be filled. In his teens, he learned to drink strong men to the floor. Your Skin May Change. Goodwin also discusses the drinking lives of Edgar Allen Poe, Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner, O'Neill and Malcolm Lowry. In it, he tells how he got drunk the first time. To Goodwin, drinking is often an integral part of a writer's life. Imagine a world where Hart Crane continued to write poetry into middle age; where Jack London lived beyond 40 and worked as his talent matured on novels a cut above "White Fang," where Ernest Hemingway did not sink in his later years to novels like "Across the River and Into the Trees." Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American writer of novels and short stories, whose works have been seen as evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he himself allegedly coined. When it was published in 1977, he was on the cover of Newsweek and the book was No. O. Henry is the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910). It uses and expands on material from Wikipedia. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Some writers think they get inspiration from alcohol. More tragic than any shortage of years was the loss of productivity, the absence of joy." Then he acquired another "jingle" before dinner. He was interested in what we were doing and how we felt . He wrote "The Cup of Fury" in the 1950s to warn young people against the evils of alcohol. but a literary craftsman devoted to producing art regardless of the obstacles that stood in his way. He or she must keep at it day after day alone in a room with a keyboard, writer's block and fears of failure to even get published. Several times she passed out on the floor and stayed there all night. Tragic Literary Heroes The prototype in American letters of the alcoholic writer as tragic hero is Ernest Hemingway. In what seems to echo the Freudian refrain, Levy added: "Part of creativity is pain." "Yet given that Fitzgerald worked with this considerable handicap, his productivity becomes all the more impressive . Notable Omissions: Frederick Exley, Harry Crews, Jack London, Stephen King. On 3 November 1953, Dylan Thomas and Liz Reitell, celebrated his 39th birthday and the success of 18 Poems. His drinking episodes occasionally caused fights in the local pubs. Fitzgerald had been an alcoholic since his college days, and became notorious during the 1920s for his extraordinarily heavy drinking, leaving him in poor health by the late 1930s. He went to the Smithers Alcoholism Rehabilitation Unit of St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in New York, which he called the Devil's Island of alcohol clinics. Much has been made of the fact that Faulkner had a serious drinking problem throughout his life, but as Faulkner himself stated on several occasions, and as was witnessed by members of his family, the press, and friends at various periods over the course of his career, he did not drink while writing, nor did he believe that alcohol helped to fuel the creative process. A failure at business, a spendthrift, and finally an alcoholic, he died in poverty on June 5, 1910. Virginia Woolf suffered from depression of psychotic intensity after unfavorable criticism. He could stay off the booze for three or four months, and then he went back on it. Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. . Toll on Literature The impact of alcoholism on American letters is a subject that attracts increasing attention from literary scholars. Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. Many great writers of the 20th century (especially American writers) struggled with addictions to alcohol. . "Authors do the cocktail party thing, but of course it's their personal life histories that determine how they'll handle it." Ann Waldron is a writer in Princeton, N.J., and the author of "Close Connections," a biography of Caroline Gordon. He appeared on a talk show; drunk and rambling. After he was arrested for drunken driving on Long Island, he went to Silver Hill, an expensive clinic in Connecticut for alcoholics. Insomnia and hangovers followed, along with the need for a drink in order to write. She found none. But she did find that 80 percent of the writers had had an episode of affective disorders, i.e. Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, famous for his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.