592 Across the past two centuries, the Western Novel has propagated the narrow view of the addict as a toxic force bent on undermining the rationality, morality, and progressive spirit that have, since the Enlightenment, defined civilization in the West.
Addiction, Representation undertakes an investigation into an alternative literary tradition within which the addict is neither doomed to a horrific death nor sacrificed to the Twelve Steps so that the "recovering addict" might surviv. 592 Across the past two centuries, the Western Novel has propagated the narrow view of the addict as a toxic force bent on undermining the rationality, morality, and progressive spirit that have, since the Enlightenment, defined civilization in the West
