Looking at his photos, he seems to exhibit the visible signed of immoderate smoking, at least, and I saw him holding a cigarette in at least one candid photo.

Too, he looks a bit dissipated, as if from immoderate drinking. Does anyone know if he was a heavy drinker?

I see that he made it to 68, which was pretty good for his era. However, this visibe signs seem to be there...

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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He smoked and he drank. I think toward the end of his life he drank immoderately. I strongly suspect that he may have dipped a toe a few times in the era's rather vibrant cocaine culture, usually injected cocaine (you can find all kinds of references to cocaine use in early twentieth century music) but I have no proof of that. I think it likely he had some experience of hashish too. But these are not quite assertions, they are just guesses. I would have to take time to do a lot of research to substantiate them...

And by the way he spent a lot of time outdoors in a desert. And he had fair skin...

John Shirley Wrote:
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> And by the way he spent a lot of time outdoors in
> a desert. And he had fair skin...


I didn't realize he got around that much. Which desert? In CA or elsewhere?

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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A desert--not really, a semi-arid area. WHen he was young he was agoraphobic, but later in life he spent a good deal of time wandering about under the sun in Auburn, California. He lived mostly in Auburn, until he got married in his 60s. He was said to be a womanizer, in Auburn...

My impression is that he did drink too much, as was mentioned a the beginning of this thread, and took trips to San Francisco and Sacramento at times, and had some connections that could have led to some experiences with cocaine. But for many years you could get cocaine in drugstores most places, early on. Some of his writing raises flags in my mind, as a former drug addict myself, and a person who used hashish, as being authentic drug experiences described afterwards; few authors actually write on hard drugs, as it tends to be incoherent. They write sometimes about experiences they had earlier...my own novel Wetbones is a horror novel partly about drug addiction, with supernatural symbolism...written after I'd given up all mind altering materials...All this because poster seemed to be wondering how he got so haggard looking, fairly young.

E. Hoffman Price's account on this Forum of his meeting with CAS certainly raises strong suspicions of heavy daily use of hard liquor, which in some people will eventually produce the ravaged countenance seen in photos. Smoking simply adds to the damage. John Shirley's speculations concerning drug use contributing to the images seen in some of CAS's writings may have some legitimacy, although, as he says, we have no proof. Anyway, it's a fascinating subject, and thanks, Sawfish, for bringing it up.

The single best piece of fiction that I've read about the long term use of opiates/opioids is Kipling's The Gate of 100 Sorrows.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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I'm not familiar with the Kipling story, but my 35 years as a clinical psychologist working with both acute and chronic psychiatric patients clearly demonstrated to me the devastating effects, both physical and mental, of long-term opioid and/or alcohol usage, much of which can turn out to be permanent. Some organ systems, notably the brain, can be damaged beyond repair.

The toll on creative people can be especially telling, as creative ability seems to be uniquely susceptible to the corrosive effects of intoxicants. This could at least partially explain why CAS produced little of value in the last 20 years of his life. But it would not be necessary to cite drugs as a causative factor, since alcohol alone can have much the same effect.

It is curious that CAS's work during his most productive period shows little evidence of the "whiskey writing" seen with other alcoholic writers, i.e., the same sort of intermittent incoherence which John refers to above in connection with acute drug intoxication. For me, CAS was rarely if ever incoherent in his best work, although his colorful, striking and brilliant imagery might well have been inspired at least in part by drugs other than alcohol.

But, who knows? Maybe CAS was just a literary genius whose output cannot be explained or defined in any meaningful way by conventional means.

Carl Glover Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not familiar with the Kipling story, but my 35
> years as a clinical psychologist working with both
> acute and chronic psychiatric patients clearly
> demonstrated to me the devastating effects, both
> physical and mental, of long-term opioid and/or
> alcohol usage, much of which can turn out to be
> permanent. Some organ systems, notably the brain,
> can be damaged beyond repair.
>
> The toll on creative people can be especially
> telling, as creative ability seems to be uniquely
> susceptible to the corrosive effects of
> intoxicants. This could at least partially explain
> why CAS produced little of value in the last 20
> years of his life. But it would not be necessary
> to cite drugs as a causative factor, since alcohol
> alone can have much the same effect.
>
> It is curious that CAS's work during his most
> productive period shows little evidence of the
> "whiskey writing" seen with other alcoholic
> writers,

This is interesting. Can you give some examples of whiskey writing? I'll get the ball rolling by citing Hemingway's Islands in the Stream.

> i.e., the same sort of intermittent
> incoherence which John refers to above in
> connection with acute drug intoxication. For me,
> CAS was rarely if ever incoherent in his best
> work, although his colorful, striking and
> brilliant imagery might well have been inspired at
> least in part by drugs other than alcohol.
>
> But, who knows? Maybe CAS was just a literary
> genius whose output cannot be explained or defined
> in any meaningful way by conventional means.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carl, if you look at photos of Smith, you will see that he had an unusually large forehead.

Also, Smith's friend Dr. Farmer has related that when he knew CAS in the author's old age, they would drink wine together, but Smith never behaved drunkenly. He was always crystal clear, and had instant access to his enormous vocabulary even when speaking.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 18 Jun 21 | 12:01PM by Knygatin.

Knygatin Wrote:
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> Carl, if you look at photos of Smith, you will see
> that he had an unusually large forehead.
>
> Also, Smith's friend Dr. Farmer has related that
> when he knew CAS in the author's old age, they
> would drink wine together, but Smith never behaved
> drunkenly. He was always crystal clear, and had
> instant access to his enormous vocabulary even
> when speaking.

...although in some of CAS's correspondence he related that Farmer could not "hold his likker" and often got "roaring drunk"...


;^)

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Both Lovecraft and Smith had reputation for speaking as if straight out of a dictionary, using very specific words to get exact meaning in every sentence, without having to search for the words. Which is highly unusual in casual conversation.

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> ...although in some of CAS's correspondence he
> related that Farmer could not "hold his likker"
> and often got "roaring drunk"...
>
>
> ;^)


That's funny. Though I don't remember having read that in CAS's letters.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > ...although in some of CAS's correspondence he
> > related that Farmer could not "hold his likker"
> > and often got "roaring drunk"...
> >
> >
> > ;^)
>
>
> That's funny. Though I don't remember having read
> that in CAS's letters.

:^)

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sawfish Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > >
> > > ...although in some of CAS's correspondence
> he
> > > related that Farmer could not "hold his
> likker"
> > > and often got "roaring drunk"...
> > >
> > >
> > > ;^)
> >
> >
> > That's funny. Though I don't remember having
> read
> > that in CAS's letters.
>
> :^)

;D