*[Personal papers of George Wedge]*Database:University of Kansas LibrariesMain 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 MaterialDescription: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