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, and ethnography, Marcus Boon shows that the concept of drugs is fundamentally interdisciplinary, and reveals how different sets of connections between disciplines configure each drug's unique history.

In chapters on opiates, anesthetics, cannabis, stimulants, and psychedelics, Boon traces the history of the relationship between writers and specific drugs, and between these drugs and literary and philosophical traditions. With reference to the usual suspects from De Quincey to Freud to Irvine Welsh and with revelations about others such as Milton, Voltaire, Thoreau, and Sartre, The Road of Excess provides a novel and persuasive characterization of the "effects" of each class of drug--linking narcotic addiction to Gnostic spirituality, stimulant use to writing machines, anesthesia to transcendental philosophy, and psychedelics to the problem of the imaginary itself. Creating a vast network of texts, personalities, and chemicals, the book reveals the ways in which minute shifts among these elements have resulted in "drugs" and "literature" as we conceive of them today.

Genres: Nonfiction, Drugs, History, Philosophy, Literature

360 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Marcus B. Boon is a Professor of English teaching contemporary literature and cultural theory at the University of York, Toronto, Canada. His interests include literature in the digital age, critical theory, the Beats and other alternative and countercultures, popular music, and the cultural study of spirituality and religion.

Reviews

[Trux · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Luka · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://twitter.com/billyraycyrus/sta...

[Millie · Rating 5 out of 5]

genuinely so useful for me but also so interesting. it’s written so easily to digest but also has such good breadth.

[Amber Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Cypress Butane · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[RK Byers · Rating 4 out of 5]

didn't like it at first. too clinical. but as it went on, particularly after the astute Iceberg Slim references, i dug it.