The Literary Drinking Buddy series was created using four books from the Barnes & Noble Classics collection that were written by some of the most important modern novelists of the 20th century: Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Sherwood Anderson, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Modernist authors had a deeply ingrained love affair with alcohol. While not necessarily their source of inspiration, alcohol served as a fuel for their creativity. Each of the novels included (The Sun Also Rises, The Beautiful and Damned, A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man, and Winesburg, Ohio) explore the protagonist’s relationship with alcohol and the role it plays in his or her life.

To visualize this, I created a metaphorical mixed drink for each author that is the “recipe” for each novel. On the back, a quote from the novel has been typed out as if on a typewriter. The typed page has been ruined by a spilled drink or empty bottle; the alcohol is gone and the work is done.