Absinthe Opium Sin and Destruction!
Explore a curated book list exploring absinthe, opium, sin, and destruction—featuring fiction by Hermann Ungar, Arthur Rimbaud, and Théophile Gautier.
Book
Illuminations, and Other Prose Poems
by Arthur Rimbaud
Rimbaud, born in 1854, started to write at an early age. By 17 he had written his most famous poem, 'The Drunken Boat'. He then embarked on a turbulent homosexual relationship with the poet Verlaine, from which came some of their most original work, including A Season in Hell and Illuminations. Rimbaud rejected writing at the age of 20. After years of travelling and gun-running in Africa, he died in 1891, aged 37.
Book
The Maimed
by Hermann Ungar
Called by Thomas Mann a "sexual hell" as well as "pure artistry," The Maimed is set in Prague and relates the story of a highly neurotic, socially inept bank clerk who is eventually forced to have sexual relations with his widowed landlady. At the same time he must witness the steady physical and mental deterioration of his lifelong friend who is suffering from an unnamed disease. Part psychological farce, Ungar tells a dark, ironic tale of chaos overtaking one's meticulously ordered life. Having died young, Ungar wrote only two novels, in addition to a handful of plays and short stories; this is the first time his work has appeared in English.
