What are you currently reading?

[Brian]

And Jackson Pollock too.

When we get to writers, it might be easier to list writers who were NOT alcoholics.

[Jo498]

I'd expect pre-Pollock painters to be among the less frequently drunk artists, though... Maybe sculptors must be the most sober because it's too dangerous otherwise...

[Artem]

 

[LKB]

...Of moderately famous dipsomaniac conductors: Franz Konwitschny, Wyn Morris (and probably lots of Russians... SCNR)...

John Barbirolli as well, or so I've read.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Alexander Gibson, Antonio de Almeida.

Alcoholism in the United States peaked in the 1820s-1850s, when, generally speaking, frankly everyone was constantly drunk. Six gallons of pure alcohol per person per year (or around 10ish gallons of whiskey, rotgut, and other distilled spirits), three times our rate today. And well before that, in 1758, George Washington ran for the Virginia House of Burgesses and gave away booze to voters (he won, of course). He included in his campaign expenses approx. 1 pint of beer, 1 glass of wine, and 1 PINT of rum - per eligible voter in his district!
(Source on that: Susan Cheever's Drinking in America)

de Almeida is one of the conductors I like. Plus, he had an interesting life. Before pursuing music, AdA studied nuclear chemistry at MIT. The Portuguese American, who used to live in Argentina as well, eventually chose to become French citizen. I like the recordings with him, both from major and budget labels.

[vers la flamme]

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good & Evil



Felt like reading a bit more German philosophy. Must say that Nietzsche goes over my head a bit more than does Schopenhauer. Must also reiterate that I have never really been a philosophy guy. But I enjoy his passion and sincerity.

[vers la flamme]

Numerous times, I read the WWR and PP (Parerga and Paralipomena). I think your book (I have it too with many underlines) is a compilation of some chapters in the PP. The WWR and PP are phenomenal books that would be a great revelation and consolation to the readers. Still, if I may, I would like to suggest reading some introductory books first, that will save your time overall when you read the WWR and PP. They would include your book, Christopher Janaway (Oxford), Bryan Magee, and/or Alex Neill/Janaway (Blackwell.)

I like the book you are reading (it's a mini-PP!), and I hope you will have a good time reading the book.

I'll try and find one or two of those books you recommend as an introduction. I do hope to read the WWR some day, as I find Schopenhauer very interesting, if not necessarily "right" about everything he said.

[vandermolen]

Stoner

[vers la flamme]

Stoner

I've heard nothing but very, very good things about this novel. Definitely need to read it one of these days.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I've heard nothing but very, very good things about this novel. Definitely need to read it one of these days.

+1. It is on my list!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I'll try and find one or two of those books you recommend as an introduction. I do hope to read the WWR some day, as I find Schopenhauer very interesting, if not necessarily "right" about everything he said.

It is my understanding that the WWR was one of A. Einstein's favorite books while the PP is more accessible than the WWR. Nowadays, I skip the chapters about women and politics in these books though. The book you read covers the most of his philosophy, so it is a great book.  Also, the biography of S by Cartwright is a nice mix of his life story and an accessible explanation of his philosophy. It is a fun read, imo.

As for S's "Will," today, it sounds a lot like the evolution (or evolutionary process) to me. The WWR was written decades before Darwin's "On the Origin of Species." It seems to me, Will is a characteristics of biological and animal systems, rather than the true picture of the world independently of human perception/senses. So for a metaphysical theory, I personally support Kant's "unknowable" thesis over S's Will. Still S's theory and insights are deep and wonderful. It's amazing that he had some of these insights before Darwin.

[vers la flamme]

It is my understanding that the WWR was one of A. Einstein's favorite books

Really! Wow, that's intriguing to know—reading stuff like this, the thought always enters my mind, "what do physicists think of these metaphysicists?"—to which I would guess, not much. I guess I'm wrong, at least as regards this case.

Thinking about Schopenhauer's Will kept drawing to mind some of the (few) things I remember from Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, a book which impressed me very much when I read it some 10 years ago. (My knowledge of Darwin is all secondhand, so no comment there.)

[Brian]

Stoner

A profoundly sad but beautiful novel about the life of teaching and passing your best self on to others. The passage where his mentor tells him he will be a teacher made me cry in public (airplane). A sort of American version of Middlemarch. I hope you like it and are inspired to pick up Williams' next novel about the life of Augustus. Williams, fitting into our ongoing discussion, was curtailed to only three novels in his mature career by alcoholism and a habit for moving from woman to woman.

[Artem]

I need to read The Stoner again. That book got so much buzz when the NYRB published it.

[Jo498]

I have not read Stoner (I think I bought it and then gave it away new and unread when I needed a present...or it is somewhere on the shelves...) but I'd recommend both the Augustus book and the one about Buffalo hunting (the latter is a mix between Moby Dick with buffaloes instead of whales and a more serious book TC Boyle could have written).

[Karl Henning]

Hi Guys - did not think that my post would get SUCH a response, but Slingerland knows his field and has done a lot of research - quote below from Amazon.  The book is fascinating and looks at alcohol, i.e. ethanol (and other mind changing intoxicants) from both a human and non-human perspective - if the descriptions in my links and the topic is of interest, then a strong recommendation from me.  Dave

The Science of Getting Knackered.

[Karl Henning]

There were too many heavy drinkers or borderline alcoholics among artists to keep track of.

QFT

[SimonNZ]

Started:

[Florestan]

I have no statistics but I do think that alcoholism (or borderline sub-clinical abuse of alcohol) was worse in the 19th and until the mid-20th century than it is today

One thing to consider is that until late 19th century genuinely drinking water was quite a rarity and it was healthier to drink wine or beer than water. Plus, alcohol was widely used as a daily painkiller and as an anaesthesic for surgery.

[Florestan]

When we get to writers, it might be easier to list writers who were NOT alcoholics.

Balzac and Eugene Sue once reportedly had 16 bottles of wine at dinner, after which the former went to the Italian Opera House to watch a Rossini opera. When  the lady seated next to him shouted indignantly "This man smells like wine!" he retorted "No, Madam, I smell like music!"