On Wine and Hashish (On Series)
by Charles Baudelaire
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Book Summary Information
Author: Charles BaudelaireForeword: Margaret Drabble
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); French (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-01-01
ISBN: 1843916088
Number of pages: 112
Publisher: Hesperus Press
Book Reviews of On Wine and Hashish (On Series)
Book Review: The destruction of the will
Summary: 3 Stars
On Wine and Hashish is a collection of two essays that are roughly contemporary to the poems of Baudelaire's best known work, The Flowers of Evil. The essays are "On Wine and Hashish" (1851), and "The Poem of Hashish" (1860).
"On Wine and Hashish" contrasts the personal and social effects of the two intoxicants. Baudelaire praises wine extravagantly, saying that it invigorates, energizes, and socializes drinkers. He especially notes that it is a domestic product whose benefits are readily available to the working classes. But whereas the author paints the effects of hashish in radiant terms as well, he concludes that the drug is an evil. It destroys the will and renders its user both inert and withdrawn.
The second and longer essay, "The Poem of Hashish," expands upon the observations from the first. Baudelaire even reuses passages verbatim. He goes into the origins and history of hashish and its various methods of preparation and dosage. He quotes from several users whom he has interviewed, describing in detail their reactions to the drug, their various states of hilarity, euphoria, good will, remorse, and inertia, as well as the physical effects: intense cold, thirst, hunger, bulging eyes, and drawn lips. As before, his descriptions of the hallucinatory effects of hashish are so vivid as to be enticing, even as he deplores the drug for these very effects.
As a poet, Baudelaire was especially interested in the effect of the drug on those such as himself with an artistic imagination. Hashish may give its users enhanced poetic vision, but it saps them of the will to make any creative use of that vision. It is the destruction of the will, rather than any physiological side-effects, which the author considers the most damning characteristic of hashish. Indeed, he barely addresses the phenomenon of addiction, leaving the impression that hashish is more seductive than addictive.
One of the more interesting aspects of On Wine and Hashish is the literary context in which Baudelaire himself places it. He relates hashish use and the notion of the destruction of the will to the writings of De Quincey, Hoffmann, Balzac, Poe, and others. Finally, Baudelaire offers poetry as a "drug" with all the benefits but none of the side-effects of hashish.
The nice Hesperus Press edition includes very useful introductions by Margaret Drabble and the translator Andrew Brown, as well as end notes and biographical material.
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