Miserable Miracle : LA Mescaline
by Henri Michaux
published
1991
by Schoenhofs Foreign Books
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binding
Paperback, 195 pages
isbn
207032608X
(isbn13: 9782070326082)
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When Henri Michaux was in his fifties he decided to try mescaline. As I understand it he was a veritable teetotaler up until that point, not even drinking coffee. But he was an adventurous sort, a natural psychonaut, so in the name of a worthy experiment he took mescaline. He didn't "enjoy" it, in fact it was rather torturous, but what it helped to open up in his mind he considered a miracle; hence Miserable Miracle.
I have yet to read this book in its entirety, frankly because it g...more
I have yet to read this book in its entirety, frankly because it g...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Andrew by:
Vincent Zompa
Michaux is 57 years old. He does not drink alcohol, tea, or coffee, nor smoke tobacco. He practices moderation--abstinence really--in the use of all excitants.
So he takes mescaline, then, in the interest of comparative analysis, he tries hashish... thereafter moving on to a massive dose of mescaline, which juices the ability to write or analyze right out of his nerd's body, and ultimately results in a compulsion to push innocents into the Seine.
His thoughts on the color pink are 5-star o...more
So he takes mescaline, then, in the interest of comparative analysis, he tries hashish... thereafter moving on to a massive dose of mescaline, which juices the ability to write or analyze right out of his nerd's body, and ultimately results in a compulsion to push innocents into the Seine.
His thoughts on the color pink are 5-star o...more
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Read in June, 2008
The "writer takes drugs and tells the tale" summary does not do this justice, particularly if that conjures visions of Hunter S. Thompson. This reads almost more like travel writing where the space is internal and the behavioral/built culture is formed from the pharmacological/philosophical aspect of a given drug ... comparative ethnography of Mescaline and Hashish. Hardly surprising since Michaux has also written some excellent travelogues. The writing is occasionally terrifying (and ...more
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