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Thread: What Drives so many Writers to Drink?

  1. #16
    Original Poster Buh4Bee's Avatar
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    I think stress is only one factor that may contribute to people picking up the bottle, but many factors that drive a person to become an alcoholic.
    Last edited by Buh4Bee; 08-03-2013 at 08:59 PM.

  2. #17
    Artist and Bibliophile stlukesguild's Avatar
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    I don't know about writers, but this painter is drinking right now...



    ... because it tastes great... and feels even better... especially after a long day painting.

    Ask me the same question in a couple of weeks and the answer will be:

    "Because I teach f***in' public school in the ghetto, you idiot!"

    Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
    The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
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  3. #18
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by stlukesguild View Post
    I don't know about writers, but this painter is drinking right now...



    ... because it tastes great... and feels even better... especially after a long day painting.

    Ask me the same question in a couple of weeks and the answer will be:

    "Because I teach f***in' public school in the ghetto, you idiot!"



    interesting picture of cows on the bottle. crème brulee stout however is rather intriguing it must be an acquired taste
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  4. #19
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buh4Bee View Post
    I think stress is only one factor that may contribute to people picking up the bottle, but many factors that drive a person to become an alcoholic.
    it could also be the fact that it is easy to get a bottle anywhere anytime. alcohol a gogo as the French would say.
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  5. #20
    A User, but Registered! tonywalt's Avatar
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    Creative people/artists are pre-disposed to sensitivity, that's why they can observe and then create based on those observations(whether it be a painting or writing). I would imagine it is a kind of imaginative or sensory baggage that gets too heavy. Sensitivity people and depression know each other very well.
    Last edited by tonywalt; 08-04-2013 at 06:48 PM.

  6. #21
    Seasider
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    A big part of most artists' lives is public scrutiny, rejection and criticism. They must invite it in order to be seen ,heard, read etc. Virginia Woolf was not an alcoholic but she experienced episodes of extreme anxiety and depression after publication.

  7. #22
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seasider View Post
    A big part of most artists' lives is public scrutiny, rejection and criticism. They must invite it in order to be seen ,heard, read etc. Virginia Woolf was not an alcoholic but she experienced episodes of extreme anxiety and depression after publication.
    About Woolf I would imagine that would happen to anyone. rejection is bound to feel hard on anyone's feelings. not knowing the outcomes of what ones has just uncovered to the world to see is also traumatic.
    criticism is partly to blame
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  8. #23
    Bibliophile JBI's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tonywalt View Post
    Creative people/artists are pre-disposed to sensitivity, that's why they can observe and then create based on those observations(whether it be a painting or writing). I would imagine it is a kind of imaginative or sensory baggage that gets too heavy. Sensitivity people and depression know each other very well.
    I am not sure I can agree with this. I think most of the most beautiful creations can be termed not from "feeling" but from technical skill. There is no feeling in, for instance, the major architectural structures in Shanghai, but there is still an artistic sense of accomplishment in the architecture.

  9. #24
    Artist and Bibliophile stlukesguild's Avatar
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    Creative people/artists are pre-disposed to sensitivity...

    I would question this as well. Artists as a whole are no more "sensitive" than anyone else. They simply have the ability to give their perceptions and ideas... however sensitive they may may... an artistic form.
    Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
    The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
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  10. #25
    All are at the crossroads qimissung's Avatar
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    It actually doesn't say that others are not sensitive, only that artists are.
    "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
    "Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai
    "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka

  11. #26
    All are at the crossroads qimissung's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JBI View Post
    I am not sure I can agree with this. I think most of the most beautiful creations can be termed not from "feeling" but from technical skill. There is no feeling in, for instance, the major architectural structures in Shanghai, but there is still an artistic sense of accomplishment in the architecture.
    I think architects are artists, as are artisans. And I think the best writers and artists work from a fusion of feeling and very high technical skill. Having one does not presuppose you cannot have the other necessarily. What is any kind of writing or art on canvas but a medium put on paper (so to speak). It's all symbolic and all infused with the feeling of the artist. I think e.e. cummings said it best..."since feeling is first..."

    Interestingly, though, architects are rarely known for either their debauchery or their depression. Or at least as well known for these things. I think Frank Lloyd Wright had a pretty wild and crazy life. Maybe not up to Picasso's standards, but still.

    I don't think more writers are drinkers or alcoholics than the rest of the general public, but just that they have got the reputation for it somehow.
    "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
    "Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai
    "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka

  12. #27
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    ...and general misery and depression? It is a question that has long bothered me. So many of my favourite writers were alcoholics (the English-British poet Philip Larkin, the novelists Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis) I guess you can't rule out the events of their personal lives (loss of loved ones, abuse in childhood etc), but on the whole I suppose artists tend to be more sensitive than the average person and sensitivity always makes life harder.

  13. #28
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    Pain.

    But it's a bad idea.

  14. #29
    Registered User hannah_arendt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Der Prozess View Post
    Pain.

    But it's a bad idea.
    And solitude.

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by hannah_arendt View Post
    And solitude.
    And you think solitude doesn't cause pain?

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