Saturated Literature - a brief review
THE PARIS WIFE by Paula McLain - historical fiction, a very well-researched and written piece spoken in first person by/about Hemingway's first wife.
In my fresh state as a non-ethanol-drinking person raised in the same kind of drinking culture as the "lost generation" after WWI that evolved to the "Mad Men" culture post WII, I gotta say - any of us who have consciously decided to put ethanol behind us in the face of such strong cultural and societal mythology and conditioning - that's still going strong in the new "wine and brew" culture - deserve major kudos.
There is booze on every page of this book, morning noon and night. Ethanol consumption created much of the drama F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, all those writers we ADMIRE wrote about. Ernest even says about one guy how he doesn't trust a man who doesn't drink. I've said that before myself.
If they hadn't all been shitfaced all the time, creating all this misunderstanding, daring and drama, and glamor, you've got to wonder how different our world might be. :-) You've got to wonder how differently-shaped our perception of creative genius and social acceptability might have been.
So, If you want to "check in" and see just how well you're doing in seeing through all of the conditioning and myth, read this book, and say Wow! at every turn of the page. If you can get through it without the little monster trying to capitalize on all of those cues and urges and popular culture images and words, I think you can be confident that you've done it. Yipee! We free!
Copyright © Heidi Mayo All rights reserved
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