I doubt there was such a thing as alcohol "abuse" or "addiction" in Twain's time. There was drunk and there was sober. These nonjudgmental euphemisms (along with "affliction, problem, dependence, et al) came with our PC society. Did Huck's Pa have an addiction to alcohol?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry Ballard" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, September 3, 2010 12:43:03 PM
Subject: Re: Twain and alcohol
You might want to check out Mark Twain: Man in white by Michael Sheldon,
which details the last four years of Twain's life. There are several
stories about binge drinking late at night - once at his apartment on
5th Ave and once at Stormfield. In both cases, Isabel Lyon had to get
him moved to bed. The book is highly recommended:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780679448006.html
Terry Ballard
Assistant Director of Technical Services for Library Systems
New York Law School, Mendik Library
185 W. Broadway
New York, NY, 10013
Telephone: 212-431-2106
Web: www.terryballard.org
Blog: librariansonedge.blogspot.com
Tweets: twitter.com/terryballard
"Things always seem darkest just before the bottom drops out." Arthur
Lifshin
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gregg
Camfield
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 2:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Twain and alcohol
On Christmas eve, 1863, in Virginia City, Clemens and Charles Farrar
Browne (aka Artemus Ward) got so drunk that they ran across the rooftops
(Letters 1: pp269-70, n 5). In San Francisco, he and his roomate, Steve
Gillis, would drink beer and then chuck the bottles on the roofs of the
houses below (Letters 1, 15 July 1864, to William Wright, pp 303-304).
I'm not sure if these are examples of abusing alcohol or of abusing the
neighbors.
Gregg=20
----- Original Message -----
From: Chet Manchester <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, September 3, 2010 10:59 am
Subject: Twain and alcohol
To: [log in to unmask]
> Does anyone on the forum know if Sam Clemens ever abused alcohol,
especially
> toward the end of his life? Did he turn to the bottle to ease his=20
> pain or
> grief? When he lectured, was he ever known to appear on stage drunk?
> Did
> he ever use alcohol to calm his nerves before a public performance? =20
> Lastly,
> is there any possibility that he successfully hid an alcohol=20
> addiction from
> his family and others?
> =20
> Thanks for any insights and sources you can offer on this subject.
> =20
> - C.H. Stewart
> =20
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