Favorite Literary Lush

So, who is your favorite drinker either fictional or real? I did grow quite fond of Pete Hamill after reading his autobiography A Drinking Life.

Where to begin? Alcoholism and literature have a rich and proud history together. Jim Thompson comes to mind as I can just picture him slugging on a bottle as he wrote The Grifters. Also Fitzgerald, and Oscar Wilde with his absinthe.

Do journalists count? It would be a long list. I was thinking of Hunter S. Thompson.

Tom

Kingsley Amis is my all-time favorite literary lush. Lucky Jim's drunken "Merrie English" speech is hilarious. And his description of a hangover as a huge raw egg rolling around inside his skull has stayed with me my whole drinking life.

Amis's other books are similarly alcohol-centered. The Old Devils involves a group of older friends who spend most days drinking. The inn keeper hero of The Green Man devotes a lot of energy in hiding the quantity of booze he puts away.

The dipso apple didn't fall far from the Amis tree. Kingsley's son, Martin Amis, has penned plenty of memorable drunken scenes. Money is one long sodden romp. Entertaining, but sodden.

On a relevant note, I stole this link about booze and books from the folks in the Green Dragon. http://www.examiner.com/x-562-Book-Examiner~y2008m10d24-Pairing-books-with-cockt...

Fun article, thanks varielle!

How about a classic? Sir Toby Belch in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

I've taken a great liking to Adrien Danglard in Fred Vargas commissaire Adamsberg series - he has a hard time holding off the booze before 5 pm and carries a bottle of wine with him at all times, but is extremely erudite: a walking encyclopaedia.

Virtually any male Patrick Hamilton protagonist (rather like Hamilton himself) fits the bill. Hamilton to a certain extent modelled Bob, in The Midnight Bell, on himself. The final section of this book – published as the first volume of the trilogy Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky – is remarkably powerfully written.

On a more existential level, the main female characters in Jean Rhys's short novels would also qualify. Sasha in Good Morning, Midnight is perhaps the most extreme case: she can barely come alive without a drink. Again, the author was similar to her characters.

+1 for Kingsly Amis! He is especially good because of his very adapt description of 'the state' with the humour early and the tragedy later. Brilliant.

For fictional character, probably the Consul (Geoffrey Firmin) in Under the Volcano. Malcolm Lowry was a pretty fearsome drunk, tales have it.

Here's the drink of choice for some of your favorite writers as well as their alcohol related untimely ends. http://vintageanchor.tumblr.com/post/11045366646/it-is-no-secret-that-some-of-th...