Addiction, Culture, and Narrative During the War on Drugs
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--English English 2016 The Age of Intervention: Addiction, Culture, and Narrative During the War on Drugs Ashleigh M. Hardin University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2016.151 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Hardin, Ashleigh M., "The Age of Intervention: Addiction, Culture, and Narrative During the War on Drugs" (2016). Theses and Dissertations--English. 34. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/34 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the English at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--English by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Ashleigh M. Hardin, Student Dr. Alan Nadel, Major Professor Dr. Andrew V. Doolen, Director of Graduate Studies THE AGE OF INTERVENTION: ADDICTION, CULTURE, AND NARRATIVE DURING THE WAR ON DRUGS _________________________________________ DISSERTATION __________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. By Ashleigh Michelle Hardin Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Alan Nadel, Professor of English Lexington, Kentucky 2016 Copyright © Ashleigh Michelle Hardin 2016 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION THE AGE OF INTERVENTION: ADDICTION, CULTURE, AND NARRATIVE DURING THE WAR ON DRUGS While addiction narratives have been a feature of American culture at least since the early 19th century’s temperance tales, the creation of the Johnson Intervention in the late 1960s and the corresponding advent of the War on Drugs waged by U.S. Presidents have wrought significant changes in the stories told about addiction and recovery. These changes reflect broader changes in conceptions of agency and the relationship of subject to culture in the postmodern era. In the way that it iterates the imperatives of the War on Drugs initiated by Richard Nixon, the rhetoric of successive U.S. Presidents provides a compelling heuristic for analyzing popular and literary texts as reflective of the changing shape of addiction and recovery narratives over the last half century. Johnson, by defining addiction, not intoxication, as a break with reality, argued that confronting addicts with narratives of the potential crises could convince them to seek treatment before they hit bottom. Johnson’s version of “reality therapy” thus presented threatened or simulated crises, rather than real ones. Examining presidential rhetoric and popular culture representations of addiction—in horror movies, “very special episodes,” and reality television—this dissertation identifies features of the postmodern Intervention and recovery narrative in fiction by William Peter Blatty, Stephen King, Jay McInerney, Tama Janowitz, David Foster Wallace, and Jess Walter. I demonstrate how the Intervention is key to understanding the cultural products of the War on Drugs and its continued salience in American culture. KEYWORDS: Narrative, Addiction, Postmodernism, Presidential Rhetoric, War on Drugs Ashleigh Hardin _______________ 4/18/16_________ Date THE AGE OF INTERVENTION: ADDICTION, CULTURE, AND NARRATIVE DURING THE WAR ON DRUGS By Ashleigh Michelle Hardin __________Alan Nadel______________ Director of Dissertation ___________Andrew Doolen__________ Director of Graduate Studies _______________4/18/16________ ________ Date To the memory of Scott Rachford ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A dissertation seems like a lonely endeavor until it comes time to write the acknowledgements. Without the insights, feedback, and support of many individuals, this dissertation could not have been completed. My dissertation director, Alan Nadel, whose scholarship has so profoundly shaped my thinking and teaching, provided indispensible feedback on the project at every stage. He is a true advocate for his graduate students, and I have benefited in countless ways from working with him. I wish also to acknowledge the other members of my dissertation committee, Michael Trask, Virginia Blum, Kathi Kern, and Tim Melley for their insights and efforts to help me improve this dissertation. Dr. Trask’s supportive feedback at a crucial stage in this project is deeply appreciated. I was honored to have Dr. Melley, whose work I have long admired, acknowledge my work at the Narrative Conference in 2015 and subsequently agree to join the committee; the energy and critical insight he has brought to the project have been invaluable. The emotional and intellectual support of many friends, colleagues, and faculty mentors must also be acknowledged. I am grateful to the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies, especially Deborah Kirkman and Jim Ridolfo, for providing me with funding as well as teaching, administrative, and professional development opportunities. Thank you John Barbour, Andrea Holliger, Amanda Konkle, MaryKatherine Ramsey, Morgan Richardson, and Rachel Simon for reading drafts, suggesting books and films, and just working in the library with me listening to me talk about drugs and alcohol. I’m very lucky to have a fellow academic, Whitney Hardin, for a sister, and a maker of delicious ice cream and expert dog-caretaker, Zach Hardin, for a brother. My mother, Mary Figg Hardin, has more of my love and gratitude than I can adequately express; without her, I could not have even begun this work. Finally, I wish to thank my partner, Guy Spriggs, who listened, read, cooked, and cleaned far more than his share at the end of this project and whose love and support I cherish. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Chapter Two: A Brief History of Addiction Treatment in the United States before 1970 . 7 Social Reform Movements: Compassion for the Drunkard ......................................................... 8 Institutionalization for the Inebriate .......................................................................................... 11 State Control and Interventions: Containing the Criminal ........................................................ 13 Post-Repeal: The Modern Alcoholism Movement .................................................................... 18 Mutual Aid Societies .............................................................................................................. 19 Jellinek’s disease concept of alcoholism ............................................................................... 22 Occupational Alcoholism Programs: The Birth of Chemical Dependency ............................... 25 The Minnesota Model ................................................................................................................ 27 Personal Interventions and Recovery ........................................................................................ 30 Interventions in the War on Drugs ............................................................................................. 33 Addiction in Literary and Cultural Studies ................................................................................ 38 Chapter Three: Heroes, Heroin, and Horror: Interventions and Exorcisms during Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs ...................................................................................................... 52 Horror and Addiction ................................................................................................................. 59 “This is really happening”: Failed Interventions in Rosemary’s Baby ...................................... 63 Raising the Bottom: The Exorcist as Interventionist ................................................................. 71 The Shining: Self-Help for the Addicted/Possessed .................................................................