Under the influence : the literature of addiction / edited by Rebecca Shannonhouse ; foreword by Pete Hamill.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Shannonhouse, Rebecca.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drug abuse--Literary collections.

Drug abuse.

Genre:

Literary collections.

Literature.

Physical Description:

xxii, 305 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

Modern Library paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Modern Library, 2003.

Summary:

Drawing on two centuries of important literary and historical writings, Rebecca Shannonhouse has shaped a remarkable collection of works that are, in turn, tragic, compelling, hilarious, and enlightening. Together, these selections comprise a profound and truthful portrait of the life experience known as addiction. "Under the Influence" offers classic selections from fiction, memoirs, and essays by authors such as Tolstoy, Cheever, Parker, and Poe. Also included are topical gems by writers who illuminate the causes, dangers, pleasures, and public perceptions surrounding people consumed by excessive use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Recent provocative works by Abraham Verghese, the Barthelme brothers, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, and others expand and modernize the definition of addiction to include sex, gambling, and food. Together, these incomparable writings give shape and meaning to the raw experience of uncontrollable urges. Shannonhouse's recent anthology, "Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on Madness", is also available as a Modern Library Paperback.

Contents:

1821: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater / Thomas De Quincey 3

1843: "The Black Cat" / Edgar Allan Poe 15

1884: The Cocaine Papers / Sigmund Freud 25

1888: "How the Opium Habit Is Acquired" / Virgil G. Eaton 35

1891: "The Ethics of Wine-Drinking and Tobacco-Smoking" / Leo Tolstoy 40

1907: "How Children Are Made Drunkards" / William Lee Howard 61

1909: "The Enemy" / Margarita Spalding Gerry 66

1910: "Let Me Feel Your Pulse" / O. Henry 86

1913: John Barleycorn / Jack London 98

1919: "A Bartender Tells What Man Did to Booze, and Booze to Man" / Anonymous 118

1921: "On Giving Up Smoking" / Y.Y. 126

1929: "Big Blonde" / Dorothy Parker 131

1953: "The Sorrows of Gin" / John Cheever 153

1954: The Doors of Perception / Aldous Huxley 168

1959: Naked Lunch / William S. Burroughs 174

1967: "The Blood of a Wig" / Terry Southern 188

1997: The Story of Junk / Linda Yablonsky 203

1998: "The Pathology of Sex" / Abraham Verghese 210

1998: "They Take a Photograph of You When You First Get Here" / Kate Braverman 220

1998: Holy Hunger: A Memoir of Desire / Margaret Bullitt-Jonas 235

1999: Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss / Frederick, Steven Barthelme 245

2000: "Sleeping with Alcohol" / Donna Steiner 252

2001: Love Sick: One Woman's Journey Through Sexual Addiction / Sue William Silverman 264

2001: "Confessions of a Middle-Aged Ecstasy Eater" / Anonymous 275.

ISBN:

0375757163

OCLC:

50035382