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5 Classics Written Under the Influence
neatorama.com — Many writers seek extreme experiences, including getting drunk / high / ecstatic / wasted / buzzed. And while we're not exactly advocating altered states here, it did seem to take the edge off their writer's block. So, who says drugs and alcohol aren't useful? For one thing, they're responsible for some of the world's greatest literature.
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- sloworbit, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7I'm sure Ken Kesey and Hunter S. Thompson would've fit on that list.Interesting none the less.
- dleesgeetar, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4who needs that stuff when you got coffee? 8-)
- cococooky, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3The Bonus section was cool, and after reading it, I can't help but wonder if Yahtzee used Jerzy Andrzejewski for inspiration when he brainstormed Zero Punctuation....
- reflex768, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3It's a fine list. I'd add the semi-surrealist heroin-fueled novel "Ice" by Anna Kavan and rank it first on the list though. Unfortunately it's just not as widely read as these selections...but if you've read it, it should leave a deeper impression than most of them. It certainly has a more coherent plot and more deeply imagined fantasy setting: A stylistically complex dystopian future of neo-fascist, retro-futurist 1930s states at war for obscure reasons, as the entire world freezes into sheets of ice.
- jordankasteler, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Not surprising. I seriously write so much better drunk. In an English college course my teacher used one of my papers as a good example. I later told her I wrote it drunk and she was disgusted. lol.
- mclev, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs, or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. - Hunter S. Thompson
- mrgreenjeans, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Drugs and alcohol always help me write gooder.
- MakiMaki, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2They left out quite a few authors and IMO, the most notable being Alexander Trocchi who had a life-long addiction to heroin. His novel 'Cain's Book' is an incredibly personal look at existential dread. If you thought Burroughs and Sartre's work was good, Trocchi will be right up your alley.
- doctechnical, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2I always wondered if Poe was dipping into a little somthin' somthin' when he was writing. Damn, but I loves me some Poe.
And Lovecraft. To come up with those nightmarish visions when *straight* just strains credulity. - AManWithNoName, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2I would think parts of Stranger in a Strange Land were written UI. Heinlein always seemed a little off.
- greytfriend, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Maybe, but in the best way.
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