Cultural events

Alcohol and Literature

round table discussion

I was once told that literature is located at the bottom of a bottle. It would not be far-fetched, in my opinion, to present a view of contemporary literature through alcohol addiction. Up to the Romantic Era, we are mostly guided by literary references. However, from that period onwards, we can count on various types of data, namely biographical, historic and sociological, that allow us to offer a clear overview of a topic full of anecdotes. Although alcohol-related literature is scarce, there have been hundreds of alcohol addicted writers throughout the ages. From Herodotus to Bukovsky and including Poe, Rubén Darío, Alfred Jarry, Neruda, Hemingway, Lowry, Onetti, Dylan Thomas, Chandler or Cendrars.

Javier Barreiro, a writer and literature professor, has published 36 books and over 600 articles. In addition to this work he has given speeches in 250 conferences and he has taught in European and American Universities. He has actively supported exhibitions and diverse cultural projects. He has received awards for his work in poetry, novel, essay writing and journalism. He was elected member of the Academia Porteña del Lunfardo (Argentinian organization for the linguistic study of the evolution of the colloquial language of Buenos Aires) and the Academia Nacional del Tango (Argentinian national tango academy) following his work on studies on tango. He directed the literary and arts magazine El Bosque from 1992 to 1996. He became vice-president of the Asociación Aragonesa de Escritores (writers association from the region of Aragon) and he coordinated the work of the Diccionario de Autores Aragoneses Contemporáneos (contemporary dictionary of authors from the region of Aragon). In the context of his specialization in literature and music of the 20th century he has carried out studies on bohemianism, old Spanish records, singers, authors and heterodox topics in literature (alcohol, drugs, suicide…) as well as work in bibliographic search for forgotten works and authors. He is an avid collector of books, magazines, music scores and vintage records.