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The Road of Excess: A History of Writers on Drugs
by
Marcus Boon
From the antiquity of Homer to yesterday's "Naked Lunch," writers have found inspiration, and readers have lost themselves, in a world of the imagination tinged and oftentimes transformed by drugs. The age-old association of literature and drugs receives its first comprehensive treatment in this far-reaching work. Drawing on history, science, biography, literary analysis,...more
Paperback, 360 pages
Published
March 15th 2005
by Harvard University Press
(first published December 1st 2002)
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Fascinating, brilliantly researched, and entertaining - but this is definitely best enjoyed in parts. Read one section, read something else, and come back to it, otherwise it can get dense and become a case of information overload without enough conversation in the writing style to hold attention above being an essay or a thesis.
Feb 15, 2011
Amber Tucker
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Amanda, Brad (who probably knows it all anyway), members of Poets Mount Allison (hahaha)
Recommended to Amber by:
I love you, magical mysterious library shelves
I haven't had the opportunity yet to read Boon's remarkable history cover-to-cover. I've just read the first couple of chapters and browsed the rest. Enjoyable but for my lack of time to savour every "shocking" (?!?) detail. But whenever possible, I am totally going to put this thing in my pipe and smoke it.
didn't like it at first. too clinical. but as it went on, particularly after the astute Iceberg Slim references, i dug it.
DISCLOSURE: I didn't finish reading this book before I had to return it to the library.
But it's on my wishlist to buy! The subject matter is fascinating and deeply multi-layered. One of those layers that interests me most is the role of illness in how we perceive and relate our experiences of the world.
I thought this was going to be a simple, superficial, entertaining kind of book but it's way deeper and more complex than that.
But it's on my wishlist to buy! The subject matter is fascinating and deeply multi-layered. One of those layers that interests me most is the role of illness in how we perceive and relate our experiences of the world.
I thought this was going to be a simple, superficial, entertaining kind of book but it's way deeper and more complex than that.
This is a really fascinating history of many famous writers and the roles that different drugs played in their lives and on their writings. It covers everything from coffee and opium to LSD. Interesting stuff.
Great book. Great read. If anything, I'd ask for a longer version. Original study and very well written. Lots of interesting material and plenty of great stories and leads on further reading.
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