For these influential writers, the natural high that writing brings might have not been enough.
Here’s the sequel to 10 Authors Who Wrote Under the Influence.
Again, Xlibris advices against illegal substances to fuel your writing nor does it promote the infamous habit.
6. Sir Walter Scott
An excerpt from the Edinburgh University Library’s Walter Scott Digital Archive tells how the Scottish novelist Walter Scott got hooked on laudanum.
Work on the novel began in August 1817, but progress was hampered by a recurrence of gallstone-related illness. Suffering from intensely painful cramps, Scott was forced to take high quantities of laudanum while dieting almost to the point of starvation. Astonishingly, it was under these conditions that Scott wrote perhaps the most fluently readable of all his stories. The novel was finished by early December 1817 and was published on the 30th of the month.
7. W.H. Auden
While he detested his dependency on artificial stimulants, English poet W. H. Auden relied on Benzedrine and other addictive substances for many years and called such an existence as the chemical life.
8. Graham Greene
The English novelist Graham Greene made a confession during his trip to China in 1957.
There are two things I want: a pretty girl to sleep with and to know where to get some opium.
9. Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson reportedly got high on cocaine while writing his horror masterpiece, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. However, his family insisted that the author was merely sick.
The mere physical feat was tremendous and, instead of harming him, it roused and cheered him inexpressibly.
10. Voltaire
Perhaps Voltaire had the least hazardous addiction among the previously mentioned authors here. The French writer, historian, and philosopher was said to have guzzled between 50 and 72 cups of coffee a day.
Read the prequel of this article here.
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