Writing on drugs
Choice Reviews Online March 1, 2001 DOI: 10.5860/choice.38-3963 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mescaline |
| Keywords | Modernity Deed Criticism Literature Aesthetics Hallucinogen Epistemology Pharmacology Law |
| Citations | 52 |
| Key points | Argues that narcotics, stimulants, and hallucinogens have been integral to modern cultural life, shaping philosophies and providing economic wealth. |
Abstract
Through a series of close, fascinating examinations of writing on drugs via, among others, Coleridge on opium, Freud on cocaine, Michaux on mescaline, and Burroughs on all of them, Writing on Drugs combines literary criticism with both socio-cultural history and pharmacological science to show how and why drugs have so thoroughly invaded modernity in ways precise and various, profound and unique. Right or wrong, safe or dangerous, Plant illustrates that narcotics, stimulants, and hallucinogens have actually been integral to the cultural life of modern times. They have shaped some of the era's most fundamental philosophies and provided much of its economic wealth. They have even exposed the neurochemistry of the human brain, which, like society itself, has never been drug-free. Writing on Drugs fully and compellingly explores the pervasive and ongoing influence of drugs on contemporary thought, word, and deed.