The writer Leslie Jamison said she had bought into the story that booze and a dark temperament were ingredients of beautiful art. So when she sobered up she had to ask herself whether you can write compelling stories about happiness.
The writer Leslie Jamison had a lot going for her: she had studied at the Iowa Workshop and earned a Ph.D. from Yale. She was also an alcoholic. Jamison said she had bought into the story that somehow booze and a dark temperament were the ingredients of beautiful art. So when she decided to sober up she had to ask herself whether you can write compelling stories about happiness. Jamison’s book tells her story, along with the stories of some of our greatest authors, to explore how we imagine addiction. (Rebroadcast)
Leslie Jamison is the author of a collection of essays, The Empathy Exams, a novel The Gin Closet, and her memoir The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath. [Indie bookstores|Amazon|Audible]
