The Language of the Heart: A Cultural History of the Recovery Movement from Alcoholics Anonymous to Oprah Winfrey

376 Pages·2009·3.48 MB·English

by  Trysh Travis

The Language of the Heart
The Language
of the Heart
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trysh travis
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∫ 2009 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
the university Travis, Trysh.
of north carolina The language of the heart : a cultural history of the
press recovery movement from Alcoholics Anonymous to Oprah
All rights reserved Winfrey / Trysh Travis.
Designed by p. cm.
Kimberly Bryant Includes bibliographical references and index.
Set in Arnhem and isbn 978-0-8078-3319-3 (cloth: alk. paper)
The Sans by Keystone 1. Alcoholics Anonymous—History. 2. Recovery movement—
Typesetting History. I. Title.
Manufactured in hv5278.t79 2009
the United States of 362.292%86—dc22
America 2009018549
The paper in this book The excerpts from Alcoholics Anonymous literature are
meets the guidelines for reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World
permanence and durabil- Services, Inc. (‘‘aaws’’). Permission to reprint these excerpts
ity of the Committee on does not mean that aaws has reviewed or approved the
Production Guidelines contents of this publication, or that aaws necessarily agrees
for Book Longevity of the with the views expressed herein. aa is a program of recovery
Council on Library from alcoholism only—use of these excerpts in connection
Resources. with programs and activities which are patterned after aa,
but which address other problems, or in any other non-aa
The University of
context, does not imply otherwise. Additionally, this
North Carolina Press
publication is not affiliated with the aa Grapevine
has been a member
publication The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine
of the Green Press
Writings.
Initiative since 2003.
Portions of this work appeared earlier, in somewhat
different form, as ‘‘‘Handles to Hang on to Our Sobriety’:
Commonplace Books and Surrendered Masculinity in
Alcoholics Anonymous,’’ Men and Masculinities (doi:
10.1177/1097184X08318182): 1–26; and ‘‘‘It Will Change the
World If Everybody Reads This Book’: New Thought Religion
in Oprah’s Book Club,’’ American Quarterly 59, no. 3 (Fall
2007): 1017–41. They are used by permission.
13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1
For my mother,
who taught me the language of both heart and head
It is not a thing of a day; it is not confined to a few;
it is not local. It is true that many failures are recorded,
but that only adds to the argument. There must be many
and striking successes to counterbalance the failures,
otherwise the failures would have ended the delusion.
—H. H. Goddard, ‘‘The Effects of Mind on Body as Evidenced by Faith Cures,’’
American Journal of Psychology, 1899
contents
Gratitude xi Abbreviations xvii
introduction: The Sex Addict, the Dry Drunk, and the
Ubiquitous Recovery Movement 1
part one: addiction and recovery
1: The Metaphor of Disease 21
2: The Antidote of Surrender 61
part two: alcoholics anonymous and print culture
3: Reading the Language of the Heart 107
4: The ‘‘Feminization’’ of aa Culture 143
part three: politics and spirit
5: The Varieties of Feminist Recovery Experience 187
6: Oprah Winfrey and the Disease of Difference 229
afterword: Recovery as a ‘‘Populist’’ Culture 265
Appendix A: Alcoholics Anonymous Membership 273
Appendix B: Reprintings and Distribution of Alcoholics
Anonymous 275
Notes 279 Bibliography 319 Index 347

figures
1.1 Locally produced pamphlet literature
helped to spread the idea of alcoholism as
disease 51
2.1 The ‘‘man on the bed’’ as he appeared in
the Saturday Evening Post, 1941 89
2.2 Robert M.’s interpretation of the man on
the bed for the aa Grapevine, 1955 90
2.3 Stained glass interpretation of the man on
the bed from the Akron aa Archives,
2001 91
3.1 Regionally produced flyer encouraging
active Big Book reading 108
3.2 Big Book page with highlighting and
marginalia 109
3.3 Hand-tooled leather Big Book cover
showing ‘‘Stepping Stones’’ 110
3.4 ‘‘Lady’s’’ Big Book cover in needlepoint,
ribbon, and fabric 111
4.1 Tom P. Jr.’s ‘‘cowd aa’’ 177
4.2 Mose Y.’s Grateful Thoughts 178
5.1 Lesbian sobriety inscribed at the center
of feminist space 188
5.2 Cartoon suggesting that alcohol is a tool
of patriarchal oppression 208