Michael:
I agree with Ernie. The history of illicit drugs and drug addiction is as suspect than the history of alcohol and alcoholism. Probably more so. Yet I can't say that my research in the field has been a career handicap. There's a large difference between research and teaching. Publishers and funding sources are interested in the addiction area because it touches a policy nerve. Academic departments aren't much interested, at least not in the way they're interested in minority studies. But that shouldn't matter if you can offer their bread-and-butter courses. (I've spent most of my time teaching history of medicine, legal history, and American history period courses.) Perhaps it works differently in English departments, which tend to be highly politicized, but historians and social scientists seem less concerned with the research specialties of new hires than their ability to plug conspicuous holes in the curriculum. I say this as someone who has taken part in perhaps twenty assistant professor searches over thirty years.
David T. Courtwright
University of North Florida
________________________________
From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society on behalf of Ernest Kurtz
Sent: Tue 3/3/2009 4:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: literary drinking
Michael,
I admire your courage, but in my professional career, I have consistently found alcohol studies to be as stigmatized as alcoholism itself. And the same is true of addiction studies. But some truly great people have made and continue to make real contributions: Robin Room comes to mind, as does George Vaillant, but quite a few others on this list also qualify. My main suggestion is to maintain your ambiguity -- some people will listen to you or read you just to figure out whether or not you are one of "them." And once you've got them listening, if you are a good teacher, you can teach. The main thing in job-hunting, I believe, is convincing people that you a truly good teacher.
ernie kurtz
----
Ernest Kurtz, Ph.D. (Harvard 1978)
Adjunct Assistant Research Scientist (than which rank there is no lower)
The University of Michigan School of Medicine
On Mar 3, 2009, at 10:36 AM, Michael Carolan wrote:
As a new member of the forum (and, believe it or not, a former student of Professor Wedge's), I appreciate all the recommendations of creative work in here. I wanted to share what a veteran professor had to say about the field in a professional recommendation he wrote for me recently after I developed addiction studies courses at UMass:
"Addiction is an area of study not unlike African American studies or Native American studies, and possibly all the more relevant not least because it not yet an established area of study."
As I enter the severely shrunken academic job market, I am left wondering why all I see are openings for minority, third world, gay and lesbian studies but none for alcohol, mental illness, and/or addiction? Am I missing something?
With deep respect,
Michael Carolan
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
________________________________
From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Fahey
Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 1:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: literary drinking
[Personal papers of George Wedge]
Database:
University of Kansas Libraries
Main Author:
Wedge, George F. <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?SC=Author&SEQ=20090228121723&PID=nZT-3bbxeXgav16B8dUssxr0H2ka&SA=Wedge,+George++F.>
Title:
[Personal papers of George Wedge]
Linked Resources:
Finding aid <http://ead.diglib.ku.edu/xml/ksrl.ua.wedgegeorge.html>
Publisher:
1958-1993.
Format:
Archival/Manuscript Material
Description:
12 linear ft.
Indexes:
Finding aid available on the Internet.
General Notes:
Wedge taught English at the University of Kansas from 1958-1993. This collection consists of writings, manuscripts, research, and correspondence.
Margaret Wedge; gift; 2003.
________________________________
Location <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/help/location.htm> :
Spencer Library (University Archives)
Call Number <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/help/callnum.htm> :
PP 408 <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?SC=CallNumber&SEQ=20090228121723&PID=nZT-3bbxeXgav16B8dUssxr0H2ka&SA=PP+408>
Status <http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/help/status.htm> :
Item details not available
On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Crowley, John <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
There is, of course, no shortage of examples of alcoholic characters and
alcoholic behavior in twentieth-century American literature. Just look
into the recent wave of memoirs. One early success, Mary Karr's THE
LIAR'S CLUB, is everywhere redolent of her father's whiskey breath. The
one I most admire and the one I've taught most often is DRINKING: A LOVE
STORY by the late Caroline Knapp (who died much too young, but not from
drinking after all).
This topic reminds me of George Wedge (U of Kansas), one of the true
founders of Alcohol and Addiction Studies within the "discipline" of
English. For many years he compiled a bibliography of drinking/drunken
writers and their stories. (I hope it's gone into the Kansas library.)
Unfortunately, George never published very much of what he knew; but all
of us owe him an intellectual debt.
Toward the end of his life, George was thinking about the idea that AA
had possibly distorted the early scholarship in the field (including,
for instance, mine!): by subtly introducing an unduly righteous tone
toward unregenerate alcoholic authors as well as the possibly rigid
notion that sobriety goes with superior literary production, in terms of
quantity and quality too. Perhaps a dubious idea; for some writers
(e.g. Styron) report the virtual necessity of alcohol in their literary
inspiration. Simply denial? Just an excuse? Maybe not? That's the
direction George would have taken. Any fellow travelers? (I once tried
out this approach in a short piece on James Whitcomb Riley, all of whose
best poetry was written under the influence and none of whose sober
poetry has ever been considered worth a damn.)
John W. Crowley, U of Alabama
--
David M. Fahey
Professor of History
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio 45056
USA
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