Date: 1992

"The smell of cocaine assailed him and he felt his nerves stretching like piano wires."

— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)

Date: 1998

"But belligerence was a poor aid to concentration, as were the three gins and a bottle of wine, and three hours later he was still staring a the score on the piano, in a hunched attitude of work, with a pencil in his hand and a frown, but hearing and seeing only the bright hurdy-gurdy carousel of...

— McEwan, Ian (b. 1948)