Writing on Drugs
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| - | ''[[Writing on Drugs]]'' is a book on [[drugs and literature]] by [[Sadie Plant]] first published in [[1999]]. | + | ''[[Writing on Drugs]]'' (1999) is a book by [[Sadie Plant]]. It explores the link between [[drugs and literature]] and, amongst other things, makes the causal connection of the wide availability of opium in [[19th century England]] with the rise of [[industrialization]]. |
| + | ==Criticism== | ||
| + | :Barthes’ ‘[[death of the author]]’ is oddly implicit in ‘Writing on Drugs’. Sadie Plant is almost totally invisible throughout the text (rather than those she examines.) Her academic style is thick in [[quotation]]s and references but often lacks cohesion and direction; the result is a bewildering tour of culture through drugs that lacks originality. Nearly the whole book is regurgitation and the manner of its construction, although seemingly thorough, tends to obscure any possible original meaning. [http://psypressuk.com/2009/10/20/literary-review-‘writing-on-drugs’-by-sadie-plant/] | ||
| - | From the publisher: | + | ==From the publisher== |
| :Sadie Plant traces the [[history of drugs]] and [[drug use]] through the work of some notable writers. Rather than exploring drug use as an avenue to spiritual transcendence, Plant focuses on the way that drugs themselves make precise, recognizable [[intervention]]s in [[consciousness]], in [[cultural life]], in politics. She argues that the use, production, and trafficking of drugs--[[narcotic]]s, [[stimulant]]s, and [[hallucinogen]]s--have shaped some of the era's most fundamental philosophies and provided much of its economic wealth. | :Sadie Plant traces the [[history of drugs]] and [[drug use]] through the work of some notable writers. Rather than exploring drug use as an avenue to spiritual transcendence, Plant focuses on the way that drugs themselves make precise, recognizable [[intervention]]s in [[consciousness]], in [[cultural life]], in politics. She argues that the use, production, and trafficking of drugs--[[narcotic]]s, [[stimulant]]s, and [[hallucinogen]]s--have shaped some of the era's most fundamental philosophies and provided much of its economic wealth. | ||
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| :"The reasons for the laws and the motives for the wars, the nature of the pleasures and the trouble drugs can cause, the tangled webs of chemicals, the plants, the brains, machines: [[ambiguity]] surrounds them all. Drugs shape the laws and write the very rules they break, they scramble all the codes and raise the stakes of desire and necessity, [[euphoria]] and [[pain]], [[normality]], [[perversion]], [[truth]], and [[artifice]] again." | :"The reasons for the laws and the motives for the wars, the nature of the pleasures and the trouble drugs can cause, the tangled webs of chemicals, the plants, the brains, machines: [[ambiguity]] surrounds them all. Drugs shape the laws and write the very rules they break, they scramble all the codes and raise the stakes of desire and necessity, [[euphoria]] and [[pain]], [[normality]], [[perversion]], [[truth]], and [[artifice]] again." | ||
| - | Through examinations of post-Romantic writers on drugs, including [[Thomas de Quincey]] and [[Coleridge]] on [[opium]], [[Freud]] on [[cocaine]], [[Michaux]] on [[mescaline]], and [[Burroughs]] on them all, ''Writing on Drugs'' exposes this most profound and pervasive influence on contemporary culture. | + | :Through examinations of post-Romantic writers on drugs, including [[Thomas de Quincey]] and [[Coleridge]] on [[opium]], [[Freud on cocaine]], [[Michaux]] on [[mescaline]], and [[Burroughs]] on them all, ''Writing on Drugs'' exposes this most profound and pervasive influence on contemporary culture. |
| ==Table of contents== | ==Table of contents== | ||
| - | Prelude | + | ===Prelude=== |
| - | Private Eyes 3 | + | ===Private Eyes 3=== |
| - | Artificial Paradises 32 | + | :''[[opium]], [[opium and Romanticism]]'' |
| - | Unconscious 54 | + | ===Artificial Paradises 32=== |
| - | White Lines 61 | + | :''[[hash]], [[photography]], [[Artificial Paradises]], [[Charles Baudelaire]]'' |
| - | Magicians 93 | + | ===Unconscious 54=== |
| - | Pilots 119 | + | :''[[general anaesthesia]]'' |
| - | Ghosts 139 | + | ===White Lines 61=== |
| - | Dancers 174 | + | :''[[cocaine]], [[Freud]], [[Holmes]]'' |
| - | Gray Areas 182 | + | ===Magicians 93=== |
| - | Trade Wars 217 | + | :''[[ergotism]], [[LSD]]'' |
| - | Black Markets 222 | + | ===Pilots 119=== |
| - | Double Agents 251 | + | :''[[benzedrine]], [[speed]], [[Philip K. Dick]], [[Walter Benjamin]]'' |
| - | Bibliography 267 | + | |
| - | Index 279 | + | ===Ghosts 139=== |
| - | ==Bibliography== | + | :''[[Antonin Artaud]], [[Alexander Trocchi]], [[Tom Wolfe]], [[William Burroughs]], [[Gilles Deleuze]], [[Félix Guattari]]'' |
| + | |||
| + | ===Dancers 174=== | ||
| + | :''[[MDMA]]'' | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Gray Areas 182=== | ||
| + | :''[[Henri Michaux]]'' | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Trade Wars 217=== | ||
| + | :''[[drug trade]]'' | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Black Markets 222=== | ||
| + | :''[[black market]]'' | ||
| + | ===Double Agents 251=== | ||
| + | :''[[double agent]]'' | ||
| + | ===Bibliography 267=== | ||
| + | ===Index 279=== | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==References== | ||
| *''[[Writing on Drugs]]'' (2001, [[Picador]]) ISBN 0-312-27874-8 | *''[[Writing on Drugs]]'' (2001, [[Picador]]) ISBN 0-312-27874-8 | ||
| == See also == | == See also == | ||
| + | *[[Jean Cocteau]], ''[[Opium, Journal d'une désintoxication]]'' | ||
| *[[Drugs in literature]] | *[[Drugs in literature]] | ||
| + | *[[Sherlock Holmes]], [[Giovanni Morelli]], [[Carlo Ginzburg]] (''[[Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath]]''), [[Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow]] | ||
| + | |||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
| + | [[Category:WLL]] | ||
Current revision
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Writing on Drugs (1999) is a book by Sadie Plant. It explores the link between drugs and literature and, amongst other things, makes the causal connection of the wide availability of opium in 19th century England with the rise of industrialization.
Contents |
[edit]
Criticism
- Barthes’ ‘death of the author’ is oddly implicit in ‘Writing on Drugs’. Sadie Plant is almost totally invisible throughout the text (rather than those she examines.) Her academic style is thick in quotations and references but often lacks cohesion and direction; the result is a bewildering tour of culture through drugs that lacks originality. Nearly the whole book is regurgitation and the manner of its construction, although seemingly thorough, tends to obscure any possible original meaning. [1]
[edit]
From the publisher
- Sadie Plant traces the history of drugs and drug use through the work of some notable writers. Rather than exploring drug use as an avenue to spiritual transcendence, Plant focuses on the way that drugs themselves make precise, recognizable interventions in consciousness, in cultural life, in politics. She argues that the use, production, and trafficking of drugs--narcotics, stimulants, and hallucinogens--have shaped some of the era's most fundamental philosophies and provided much of its economic wealth.
- "The reasons for the laws and the motives for the wars, the nature of the pleasures and the trouble drugs can cause, the tangled webs of chemicals, the plants, the brains, machines: ambiguity surrounds them all. Drugs shape the laws and write the very rules they break, they scramble all the codes and raise the stakes of desire and necessity, euphoria and pain, normality, perversion, truth, and artifice again."
- Through examinations of post-Romantic writers on drugs, including Thomas de Quincey and Coleridge on opium, Freud on cocaine, Michaux on mescaline, and Burroughs on them all, Writing on Drugs exposes this most profound and pervasive influence on contemporary culture.
[edit]
Table of contents
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Prelude
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Private Eyes 3
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Artificial Paradises 32
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Unconscious 54
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White Lines 61
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Magicians 93
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Pilots 119
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Ghosts 139
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Dancers 174
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Gray Areas 182
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Trade Wars 217
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Black Markets 222
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Double Agents 251
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Bibliography 267
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Index 279
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References
- Writing on Drugs (2001, Picador) ISBN 0-312-27874-8
[edit]
See also
- Jean Cocteau, Opium, Journal d'une désintoxication
- Drugs in literature
- Sherlock Holmes, Giovanni Morelli, Carlo Ginzburg (Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath), Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Writing on Drugs" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
