Onechte paradijzen : opium en hasjiesj

Blurb

Charles Baudelaire was great admirer of American writer Thomas De Quincey, author of the pioneering Confissões de um comedor de ópio (Confessions of an opium eater), so much so that he had it translated into French. In 1860, Baudelaire gathered his own essays breaking wine, hashish and opium myths in Os paraísos artificiais (The artificial paradises). In this book, translated by José Saramago, the French writer makes a digression on the effects of hashish, illustrating his thinking with facts narrated by real or imaginary characters. In order to speak of opium, he dissects Confissões de um comedor de ópio, by De Quincey, analyzing each phase of the report. When talking about the wine, he clearly shows his bias, hidden in a submission to the moral and religious notions of the time. Baudelaire suggests that the man seeks drugs in his divine essence, but with this he only evokes the most bestial of his ?natural depravity' and his ?Spirit of Evil', stressing some characteristics that he already has.