Hideous Absinthe

by Adams, Jad

• ISBN13: 9780299200008
• ISBN10: 0299200000
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Summary

Hideous Absintheboldly combines the art, literature, science, and social history of the nineteenth century to produce the story of a drink that came to symbolize both the high points of art and the depths of degeneration. Jad Adams looks at the myths of absinthe and examines its influence on the artistic movements of the nineteenth century. He considers the work of Degas, Manet, and Picasso, who painted what are now considered masterpieces depicting absinthe drinkers. He examines the mystery of van Gogh's absinthe addiction and asks whether absinthe truly did contribute to the poetic vision of Verlaine, Rimbaud, and other writers. Adams looks back at absinthe's contribution to the hedonistic culture of the French Second Empire and to Toulouse-Lautrec's Paris of the 1890s and details the outraged English reaction to absinthe in the context of resistance to French art. Absinthe was seen as a foreign poison undermining the national resolve just as the decadence of Oscar Wilde and his circle was seen to undermine national culture. The story continues through thrill-seeking American and English absinthe drinkers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Copublished with I.B. Tauris. The Wisconsin edition is for sale only in North America.

Author Biography

Jad Adams is a television producer and author whose last book, Madder Music, Stronger Wine, received resounding critical praise. He has also written biographies of Tony Benn and of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. He lives in London and on the Greek island of Leros.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
Introduction: The Devil Made Liquid	p. 1
Bitter Beginnings	p. 15
The Green Hour and the New Art	p. 24
Absinthe for the People	p. 46
Poets Breaking the Rules	p. 65
Madmen of Art	p. 87
The Absinthe Binge	p. 123
English Decadence and French Morals	p. 138
Anglo-Saxon Attitudes	p. 159
Absinthe Paranoia	p. 177
Twilight of the Fee Verte	p. 196
Green in the USA	p. 216
Pop Goes the Fairy	p. 236
'Lendemain'	p. 251
Notes on the Text	p. 253
Select Bibliography	p. 275
Index	p. 283
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.