Arizona republican., 1920-03-12
LiQuOr and Literature

left classical account of one writer experience with that drug, and would seem also to have demonstrated that he could get along without II, since when he wrote the confessions Inc claimed to have completely give ut the dope. Whatever stimulus 1t may have afforded him. it certainly gave him his greatest subject Wilkie Col ins. the writer of my stery stories who was a contemporary and friend or Dickens. and whose Woman in White is one Of the worlds famous novels of it's kind, k also said 10 have been q drug addict
 De Quincey's confe ssions remind us that a good many writers have found d subject in their own or other people S experiences with red liquor To take a recent example, Jack London's 5 John Barleycodn. is regarded by many persons as his greatest work 4 much less known but equally interesting ac- count of writers struggle with liquor was written by Will Lexington Com fort. who. like De Quincey. seems never tu have done his best work until he quit his faVorite vice. but who then found in il d conjcniaI and inspiring subject
 It would be a serious omission not to mention in this connection the fact that there has existed for centuries 2; sort of literary tradition which aSSo- ciates conViviality with writing it seems to have begun way back in the time Of Shakespeare and the other great Eliza bet hian dramstiStS who gathered at the Mermaid Tavern to flirt with good liquors and great ideas The tradition was carried on by Dr. Johnso and his circle. by Lamb and Hazlitt. and has its leading modern eN- pOneutS in such meritOriuS ScriVeG-arS as Itillaire Belloc and Gilbert k. CheS-.
 
 cient and modern. believe that ideas should be thrashcd out arounS a table set with flagouS Of nut brown ale. or bumpers Of good old port or tall Jumb- lers of Shandy gaff. or thin scemmeH glasses filled with beautiful garnet red sherry. They are the genelemem who have found good subjects in all the beauties of booze in itS multifarI- ous forms. and in all the joys Of con Vlvial good fellowship. Since most Of them are read and the rest live il England they are not to be piJied. but there are certain young American writers who pattern after them and these are in sad plight The literary tradition which has inspired them iS being leSiSlated out Of existence Soon they Will have nothing to write about except the joys of smoking a pipe and there are even threats that their ufue~ viii be taken away from them ana
 
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 Another hard-hit class of writers i~ that of the professional manufacturers of magazine fiction, to whom the in ebriated villain has long been a stock resource. Many of them too. have a specially of the graceful way in which their characters partoOk Of drinks and have been wont ot use wines and cock tails rather literally in producing that atmosphere Of wealth and Iux7f7--- which the bell hops and manicure girls so love to read about. Magazine ffc- ton has 10 be UD-to-slate above all things. and many magazine editors now immediately clip & rejection sIip onto any manuscript which mentions a more than one -of-one-per. cent beverage. The writer who wants rs use alcohol as a subject must write either historical romance or pure fan tasy-
 Then. too. there has been large literature in English designed to pie tUre the horrors of inebriation. begin ming with such American classics as Ten Night in q BarToom, and Pa ther. Dear Father. Come Home With Me NOW and coming down to such serious realistic studies as T. D. Bere<- ford's The House in Demetrius Road