“Some
people distill alcohol from fermented holum root, for drinking. They say it gives the unconscious free play,
like brainwave training. Most people
prefer that, it’s very easy and doesn’t cause a disease. Is that common here?”
“Drinking is. I don’t know about
this disease. What’s it called?”
“Alcoholism, I think.”
“Oh, I see…. But what do working people do on Anarres for a bit of
jollity, to escape the woes of the world together for a night?”
Shevek looked blank. “Well, we …
I don’t know. Perhaps our woes are
inescapable?”
(from The Dispossessed
by Ursula K. Le Guin)
.
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