Quotes from book
A Night of Serious Drinking

Name: A Night of Serious Drinking
Author: René Daumal

René Daumal

A Night of Serious Drinking is an allegorical novel by the French surrealist writer René Daumal detailing what is ostensibly an extremely simple plot in which the narrator overly imbibes alcohol; what unfolds however is a novel which explores the extremities of heaven and hell.

“Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared experiences, all our pronouncements are cheques drawn on insufficient funds.”

René Daumal book A Night of Serious Drinking

Foreword
A Night of Serious Drinking (1938)

“It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content … it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble and from babble to confusion.”

René Daumal book A Night of Serious Drinking

Foreword
A Night of Serious Drinking (1938)

“What is least distinct cannot be named; what is clearest is unutterable.”

René Daumal book A Night of Serious Drinking

Foreword
A Night of Serious Drinking (1938)
Context: Words are made for a certain exactness of thought, as tears are for a certain degree of pain. What is least distinct cannot be named; what is clearest is unutterable.