#CoffeexLiterature: everyone’s pick-me-up drink according to literary artists

So, what’s with coffee and writers?

Or coffee and the art of writing itself?

What’s the deal?

coffee, a source of motivation; books, outlet and channel for inspiration

“Don’t stir all the warmth out of your coffee; drink it.”
― Kate Chopin, The Awakening

Would you believe that counted are over 200 mentions of and references to coffee and caffeine in all of Haruki Murakami’s novels put together?

And imagine, he’s just one of those writers who stir coffee into their masterpieces.

“It was a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old water-proof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a café au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.”
— Ernest Hemingway

coffee and writing :: reading and coffee, when prepping coffee leads to the inception of writing

“You need some coffee, don’t you?”
“Yes, I’ve only had a gallon.”
― John Grisham, The Confession

Truly, quite noticeably, several of the most prolific and successful authors, whose works prove to go beyond time and era as they are passed down from one generation over to the next, have some affinity toward coffee and are up until now being associated with the caffeine-infused drink.

Either coffee serves as their writing fuel – you know how rumor still has it that Honoré de Balzac drank 50 cups of coffee everyday almost throughout his entire life, right? – or coffee poses as their muse, making important “cameo” appearances in their writings, very intentional, almost metaphoric and almost always has a particular underlying significance and representation to it.

And you think only Balzac has this reputation with coffee and the number 50? It seems that writer-slash-philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s name is also linked up to this day to 50 cups of coffee. However, multi-hyphenate Danish was rather the picky one. Abuzz still in the philosophy and literary world is that it was exactly 50 cups of coffee he had to be presented with before he would chose one that he would drink at any given time. Could there have been some rationale behind every selection?

These literary geniuses just had unique, if not excessive and exacting, ways with their choice of habit, don’t you think? Although, well, if it was coffee that drove them to leave us with ageless and invaluable tomes of literary treasures, then the equally famous mood-boosting drink seems like one priceless asset which we all very much benefit from, too!

Quoted from author Nancy Kress

coffee and literature, a beautiful love affair

“What the hell makes you smart?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t go for coffee with you.”
“Listen – I wouldn’t ask you.”
“That,” she replied, “is what makes you stupid.”
― Erich Segal, Love Story

How about you? Have you recently come across a book that throws in the coffee or the caffeine element into one or two of its story’s scenarios? Let us know and drop us a comment below! 😉👇