Confessioni di un oppiomane

If there is reincarnation I want them to put a hold on mine until humanity has invented drugs that don't have a down-side to them. No tiresome side effects, like early death. And they'll be cheap. And you'll still be able to fire up your jet pack and get to the office and do your job and impress you Leggi tutto

3.5 stars. One can see why Confessions was such a favorite among the drug-addled youngsters of the 60s and 70s. The title is catchy but--surprise!--its not primarily a book about drug experiences. Only the last 20 or so pages plumb that. It's about suffering, homelessness, and penury. There were pas Leggi tutto

“Oh! just, subtle, and mighty opium! that to the hearts of poor and rich alike, for the wounds that will never heal, and for 'the pangs that tempt the spirit to rebel,' bringest an assuaging balm; eloquent opium!” While it is somewhat interesting to learn the path Thomas De Quincey took before his ad Leggi tutto

If I published under my own name a book that was this bad, I’d fall through the floor for shame. With fewer than 20 pages drearily sketching the use of opium, what’s left is a mind-numbing autobiography of atrocious prose in service to pathological vanity. How does this writer get away with it? The Leggi tutto

A fascinating insight into a different life from the one I've led, so far at least. It only seems right to read The Doors of Perception next! Thomas de Quincey really landed on his feet when the Wordsworths moved out of, what was to become later, Dove Cottage in Grasmere and he moved in. The book no Leggi tutto

•Το φαινόμενο αποκαλύφθηκε στη στιγμή, ήταν μια μεγάλη πόλη - και άφοβα θα ‘λεγα - μια ερημιά κτιρίων, που βούλιαζε μακριά Και απομακρυνόταν σε ένα θαυμάσιο βάθος, βούλιαζε μακριά στο μεγαλείο, χωρίς τέλος! Φαινόταν φτιαγμένη απο διαμάντια και χρυσό. Με αλαβάστρινους θόλους και ασημένιες στέγες. Και λ Leggi tutto

Centoundici There was a young man who feared odium So he spent fifty years eating opium His excuse was his stomach But that was just bollocks There was always le bicarbonate de sodium A sinistra... / A destra... .

"First published in 1821, it paved the way for later generations of literary drug users, from Baudelaire to Burroughs." Whee! While this is maybe not indispensable, it's also not more than 100 pages, so it gets five stars based on its ratio of awesomeness vs. time commitment. And it is pretty awesome Leggi tutto

This classic of drug literature has supposedly influenced people from Baudelaire to Burroughs, so I was surprised that the autobiographical text is pretty...well: boring. The narrator tells us about his time as a teenage runaway in London, his opium habit that started with laudanum as pain medicatio Leggi tutto