Read it here: http://medicolegal.tripod.com/tolstoy1890.htm
His basic thesis was that intelligent/sensitive people suffered more from witnessing injustice and crap, and therefore had more need to make themselves numb.
He quit drinking and smoking after he wrote War and Peace, and before he wrote Anna Karenina. So I wouldn't say that sobriety hurt his writing ability.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com> To: "lbo-talk" <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Sunday, May 9, 2010 5:22:25 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [lbo-talk] bigger vocab, bigger drinker
http://gawker.com/5533732/smart-people-drink-more-alcohol ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk