The road of excess: a history of writers on drugs
Choice Reviews Online July 1, 2003 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.5860/choice.40-6236 via OpenAlex
Summary
This book examines the relationship between drugs and literature, arguing that narcotics, cannabis, stimulants, and psychedelics have shaped literary creation and aesthetic experience. It explores how transcendentalist thought linked drug use to spiritual revelation, how cannabis influenced writers, how stimulants altered productivity and perception, and how psychedelics opened imaginal realms. The work traces these themes through American and British literature, with particular attention to magical realism and García Márquez, presenting a historical and theoretical analysis of substance-induced creativity.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Drugs have fundamentally influenced literary creation and aesthetic experience across American and British literature, from transcendentalist revelation to psychedelic imaginal realms. |
Abstract
Prologue 1. Addicted to Nothingness: Narcotics and Literature 2. The Voice of the Blood: Transcendentalism and Anesthetic Revelation 3. The Time of the Assassins: Cannabis and Literature 4. Induced Life: Stimulants and Literature 5. The Imaginal Realms: Psychedelics and Literature Epilogue Bibliography Notes Acknowledgments Illustration Credits Index