I am currently doing some work on temperance novels written in the United
States in the Progressive Era. I have come across, a
number of times, a plot in which a writer attempts to quit drinking, but
finds that he is unable to produce literature without drink. I know that
connection between drink and literary production has been quite prevelant
throughout the 20th century, and I imagine it goes quite far back, but I
wonder if anyone has written about the history
of this connection, or if others have encountered it in their work on
earlier periods. I would appreciate any suggestions.
 
Elaine Frantz Parsons
Graduate Student
Department of History
Johns Hopkins University
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