Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Drunk Dialogue

Some years back, a friend gave me an anthology called Drinking, Smoking & Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times. It's a better idea than the book itself ... probably because of permissions and copyrights, that sort of thing. Its omissions are pretty substantial. It doesn't have Hunter S. Thompson (though I suppose that's more drugs than drinking). It doesn't have any D.H. Lawrence (a little sentimental but still quite good). It doesn't have anything from John Steinbeck's Cannery Row (i.e. Mack and the boys).
It also doesn't have any of the best drunk dialogue in English literature, which must be from Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. So much of it is good, but I'll content myself to quote just a few little lines here:
"Certainly like to drink," Bill said. "You ought to try it some times, Jake."
"You're about a hundred and forty-four ahead of me."
"Ought not to daunt you. Never be daunted. Secret of my success. Never been daunted. Never been daunted in public."
"Where were you drinking?"
"Stopped at the Crillon. George made me a couple of Jack Roses. George's a great man. Know the secret of his success? Never been daunted."
"You'll be daunted after about three more pernods."
"Not in public. If I begin to feel daunted I'll go off by myself. I'm like a cat that way."

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