The Trip to Echo Spring
Subtitle Why Writers Drink
By Olivia Laing
Published by
Canongate Books
ISBN 9781847677945
Autumn 2013
Synopsis
Olivia Laing examines the link between creativity and alcohol through the work and lives of six extraordinary men: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever and Raymond Carver.
Olivia Laing grew up in an alcoholic family herself. Wanting to make sense of this disease, she took a journey across America to piece together a topographical map of alcoholism.
Olivia Laing grew up in an alcoholic family herself. Wanting to make sense of this disease, she took a journey across America to piece together a topographical map of alcoholism.
Author's Biography
Olivia Laing's first book, To the River, was a book of the year in the Evening Standard, Independent and Financial Times and was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the Dolman Travel Book of the Year.
Olivia is the former Deputy Books Editor of the Observer and writes for a variety of publications.
Olivia is the former Deputy Books Editor of the Observer and writes for a variety of publications.
Reviews
'Olivia Laing's writing is beautifully modulated, her tone knowledgeable yet intimate. She can evoke a state of mind as gracefully as she evokes a landscape.' Hilary Mantel
'A gentle, wise and riddling book. Its prose, like the river it describes, flows intricately, unpredictably and often beautifully, carrying the fascinated reader onwards.' Robert Macfarlane
'A brave, distinctive, and deeply intelligent addition to that protean genre mixing nature, history and travel writing ... There are passages of masterfully timed lyricism.' Alexandra Harris, Literary Review
'Without wanting to sound gushing, her writing at its sublime best reminds me of Richard Mabey's nature prose and the poetry of Alice Oswald.' The Times
'Beguiling, beautifully written... brilliant and original' John Carey, The Sunday Times
‘Olivia Laing is a new and thoughtful voice in the tradition of W.G. Sebald. I confidently expect it to be listed in this year's favourite books’ Joan Bakewell, Daily Telegraph
‘Laing is a brilliant wordsmith and this is a beautifully accomplished book’ Independent
‘A triumphant exercise in creative reading in which diary entries, letters, poems, stories and plays are woven together to explore deep, interconnected themes of dependence, denial and self-destructiveness. It is a testimony to this book's compelling power that having finished it, I immediately wanted to read it again’ Scotland on Sunday
‘It's deliciously evocative, Laing's melancholic and lyrical style conjuring the location, before effortlessly segueing into medical facts about alcoholism, the effects on the lives of each writer, and well-chosen passages from their work. This is a highly accomplished book, and highly recommended’ The List
‘Laing's is a travel book as well as a series of critical biographies... It's also a personal journey, as Laing grew up with alcoholism in her family and wants to make sense of the disease. To her, no romance attaches to it at all’ Guardian
‘Laing is a fine and stylish travel writer, with a sharp eye for passing detail and an acute ear for oddly amusing conversations’ Independent: I & Radar
‘The book’s subtitle, Why Writers Drink, undersells her achievement… [Laing has produced] a nuanced portrait – via biography, memoir, analysis – of the urge of the hyperarticulate to get raving drunk’ New Statesman
Price: £20.00
'A gentle, wise and riddling book. Its prose, like the river it describes, flows intricately, unpredictably and often beautifully, carrying the fascinated reader onwards.' Robert Macfarlane
'A brave, distinctive, and deeply intelligent addition to that protean genre mixing nature, history and travel writing ... There are passages of masterfully timed lyricism.' Alexandra Harris, Literary Review
'Without wanting to sound gushing, her writing at its sublime best reminds me of Richard Mabey's nature prose and the poetry of Alice Oswald.' The Times
'Beguiling, beautifully written... brilliant and original' John Carey, The Sunday Times
‘Olivia Laing is a new and thoughtful voice in the tradition of W.G. Sebald. I confidently expect it to be listed in this year's favourite books’ Joan Bakewell, Daily Telegraph
‘Laing is a brilliant wordsmith and this is a beautifully accomplished book’ Independent
‘A triumphant exercise in creative reading in which diary entries, letters, poems, stories and plays are woven together to explore deep, interconnected themes of dependence, denial and self-destructiveness. It is a testimony to this book's compelling power that having finished it, I immediately wanted to read it again’ Scotland on Sunday
‘It's deliciously evocative, Laing's melancholic and lyrical style conjuring the location, before effortlessly segueing into medical facts about alcoholism, the effects on the lives of each writer, and well-chosen passages from their work. This is a highly accomplished book, and highly recommended’ The List
‘Laing's is a travel book as well as a series of critical biographies... It's also a personal journey, as Laing grew up with alcoholism in her family and wants to make sense of the disease. To her, no romance attaches to it at all’ Guardian
‘Laing is a fine and stylish travel writer, with a sharp eye for passing detail and an acute ear for oddly amusing conversations’ Independent: I & Radar
‘The book’s subtitle, Why Writers Drink, undersells her achievement… [Laing has produced] a nuanced portrait – via biography, memoir, analysis – of the urge of the hyperarticulate to get raving drunk’ New Statesman
Price: £20.00
Reader Comments
An intelligent and wide-ranging study of six alcoholic American writers. Laing combines memoir, biography, literary criticism and travelogue in beautiful, if melancholy, prose.