Morphine/My Lady Opium

by Claude Farrère, John Baxter (Translator), Jean-Louis Dubut de Laforest

“[John Baxter is] a man with a great appreciation of what makes Paris tick.”
— Newsday A “flip book” featuring two classic novels about drugs, decadence—and Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—translated from French by John Baxter ( Immoveable Feast, We’ll Always Have Paris ): Morphine , a rollicking novel about a handsome cavalry officer who introduces morphine to the aristocrats of 1889 Paris... and sleeps his way through town; and My Lady Opium , a fevered tour through the romantic and mysterious world of opium at the turn of the 20th century.

Genres: Fiction, Drugs, Erotica

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1891

About the author

Claude Farrère, pseudonym of Frédéric-Charles Bargone, was a French author of novels set in such exotic locations as Istanbul, Saigon & Nagasaki. One of his novels, Les civilisés (The Civilized) won the 1st Prix Goncourt, for 1905. He was elected for a chair at the Académie Française on 3/26/35. Initially, however, he imitated his father, an infantry colonel who served in the French colonies: enlisting with the naval academy in 1894, he was made lieutenant in 1906 & was promoted to captain during 1918. He resigned in 1919 to concentrate on his writing career.

His works have become largely disfavoured, even by French readers. To date, fewer than five websites on the World Wide Web offer his works, and fewer than 100 websites give him even a cursory mention.

Reviews

[Ivan]

Parfait métaphore de la fascination européenne par des us et coutumes des nations de l'extrême orient.

[Povilas Šulcas]

The book takes you through many opium powered stories where reality mixes with psychedelic experience. As someone that has experimenter with various drugs I found this book amusing and somewhat relatable. The ending ties this whole trip pretty well. Easy and fun read.

[Thierry Chauderlot]

Livre étrange et envoutant. Un must si on aime l'asie

[Timár_Krisztina]

„Nagyon régen olvastam, de életem leghatalmasabb benyomása volt az „Opium”. Érdekes, hogy ez is egy Claude Farrere regény. Olvasd el ezt a könyvet, de akármi módon is, mert egyike a legeredetibb és legcsodásabban megírt könyveknek (csak ne képzeld magad hétfejű sárkánynak és engem csinos rablóvezérnek.)”

Ezeket a sorokat nem kisebb személy írta le, mint Rejtő Jenő. Az aktuális szerelméhez írt levélben, keltezés nélkül, de a kontextusból valószínűsíthetően 1923-ban, tehát körülbelül tizennyolc éves korában. Egyébként ma százhúsz éve, 1905. március 29-én született.

Amit pedig a Farrère-kötetről írtam, itt olvasható:
https://gyujtogeto-alkoto.blog.hu/202...

[PinkyB]

Morphine is the jewel in this two book for one deal. An fun and trashy read of the French version of the penny dreadful. I would imagine it was very scandalous for the times, it still is, LOL! MY Lady Opium was so-so, I didn't finish it, but maybe I'll try again to revive my interest in it.