Why do writers drink?

[Cecil Pinto]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/20/why-do-writers-drink-alcohol

[Nazareth, Peter]

Dear Cecil,
Very interesting, though Blake Morrison might have called his piece "Why do White Writers Drink" since he has not mentioned a single non-white writer [the Irish and Welsh at some time were admitted into the White pantheon, having been beyond the pale for a long time]. I could provide a long list of non-white writers, among them heavy drinkers like Okot p'Bitek of Uganda who wrote "Song of Lawino".
But I would like to respond to the following reference to Kingley Amis:
According to Amis, a large glass can supply "that final burst of energy at the end of the day" but should be avoided any earlier: "The writer who writes his books on, rather than between, whisky is a lousy writer. He is probably American anyway."
In the Fall of 1984, two novelists shared apartments in the Mayflower Apartments, where all the writers were housed: Joseph Haslinger (Austria) and Charles Feeling (Argentina). Actually they had separate apartments but shared the kitchen and bathroom. They invited my wife and me (we both work for the IWP) for dinner. During dinner, we discovered that one of them drank every morning before writing and the other drank every evening after writing. I was fascinated and decided to do an interview with them for Radio WSUI (the radio of the University and National Public Radio). I used to do six-seven interviews with selected writers every Fall. That was the time Iowa City was going through one of its periodic attempts at trying to control drinking on campus (Iowa City frequently appears on the list of the heaviest drinkers on campuses). Apparently listeners found the interview with Haslinger and Feeling fascinating and it was replayed twice.
It is now on-line in what has been called The Peter Nazareth Collection on Info-Science of the Library of the University of Iowa, placed there with over 150other interviews I did with other writers from all over the world).
Best.
Peter

________________________________________
From: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com [goa-bo...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Cecil Pinto [cecil...@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 10:40 PM
To: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [GOABOOKCLUB] Why do writers drink?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/20/why-do-writers-drink-alcohol

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[Jeanne Hromnik]

Dear Peter

I started with the interview of you (you as anthology?) and plan to continue listening to interviews by you. It really will be like going to school again. And I thank you -- again.

Best

Jeanne