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The Existential drinker

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Looks at the nineteenth-century convergence of a new kind of excessive, habitual drinking, and a new way of thinking about the self, which we came to label 'existential'.
Hardback
288 Pages
05-October-2018
$240.23
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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. -- .

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    Product Details
    ISBN-13
    9780719099618
    Author
    Steven Earnshaw
    Publisher
    Manchester University Press
    Published
    05-October-2018
    Format
    Hardback
    Pages
    288

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    $240.23
    Ships in 3-5 business days

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    The Existential drinker

    $240.23

    Description

    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. -- .

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