Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle [Hardcover]

Jad Adams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2004

    Hideous Absinthe boldly 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.

Editorial Reviews

From The New England Journal of Medicine

Absinthe, a strongly alcoholic drink with a reputation of mythic proportions, is again in fashion, 90 years after it was banned in France and elsewhere as a cause of madness. The drink, a potent concoction of wormwood, herbs, and between 55 percent and 75 percent alcohol, continues to fascinate, and Hideous Absinthe is one of several recent books on the subject. Jad Adams, a writer of biographies of literary and political figures, focuses on two aspects of absinthe's history: its role in the bohemian literary and artistic movements of France and Britain and the efforts made to ban the drink. By the late 19th century, absinthe was not only a popular aperitif but, Adams neatly suggests, a drink of "display and provocation." Artists and writers celebrated its hallucinatory effects and referred to it affectionately as "the green fairy" or "holy water." Doctors, politicians, and social critics, citing medical research that indicated that one component of wormwood, thujone, caused hallucinations and madness, denounced the drink as "a quick coach to the madhouse" and, in the United States, "the green curse of France." Adams examines the development of these competing myths, which, he argues, were primarily the product of artistic, social, or political preoccupations. The book ends with an acerbic examination of the recent revival of absinthe and its myths, thanks to clever publicity, an increased public tolerance of drug use, and the Internet. Despite its sensationalist title and colorful dust jacket, Hideous Absinthe is a careful and considered account of a drink whose reputation has always exceeded its consumption. Adams examines the careers and often prodigious alcohol intake of such artists and writers as Paul Verlaine, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Oscar Wilde. He is, however, skeptical of claims that absinthe was the source of these artists' creativity or of their sometimes self-destructive drinking habits. Only in exceptional cases, such as Paul Gauguin's perceptions of color, does Adams discern any influence of absinthe. Rather, he stresses that artists and writers in Paris and London used absinthe as one of many symbols to express their defiance of traditional middle-class values. The banning of absinthe only added to its allure, and 20th-century writers such as Ernest Hemingway found the drink a useful device for fashioning an image of manly daring. Adams is equally skeptical of the scientific and medical evidence cited by those who sought to ban the drink. He argues that such supposedly objective evidence was, and in some cases continues to be, shaped by social or cultural influences. His prime example is the work of Valentin Magnan, France's foremost psychiatrist and a leading expert on alcoholism in the late 19th century. On the basis of laboratory experiments in which guinea pigs were injected with high doses of thujone, Magnan claimed that absinthe produced a distinct and dramatic form of madness called absinthism. Adams explores the dubious scientific basis of Magnan's experiments and their popularization in anti-absinthe campaigns. He is equally critical of more recent scientific research on thujone. Adams has read widely on his topic, from obscure poetry to the latest scholarship, and he can nicely juxtapose a scientific report on the supposedly devastating effects of absinthe with a minor poet's witty riposte. He is careful to acknowledge his scholarly sources, making this a useful book for those who want to read further. Historians or specialists on addiction will question some assertions, such as the extent to which women consumed absinthe or the impact of the drink's ban on later prohibition movements. France, after all, banned absinthe, but the French temperance movement was careful to distance itself from American Prohibition, which it judged excessive and puritanical. But even specialists will learn something from this balanced and informative account. Hideous Absinthe might also interest public officials contemplating a ban on reputedly harmful substances or those drinkers who, enticed by clever publicity, have tried absinthe and found its taste to be vile and its effects disappointing. As Adams observes, absinthe will always "fill the role required of it." Patricia E. Prestwich, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2005 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS.

Review

"Adams offers rich historical context, cultural perspective, anecdotes and pointed observations" "This book is as titillating as it is sobering." - New York Times "Adams, who has previously written a terrific biography of the little known decadent poet Ernest Dowson, is clearly the man for the job. He has a real feel for the period and there is a wealth of detail and insight here... These days I satisfy my interest (in absinthe) by reading about it, and I'm therefore grateful for this essential contribution to the growing literature of the green fairy." -Tom Hodgkinson, The Guardian "In this entertaining history, Jad Adams traces the emerald drink's astonishing popularity in post-Bonaparte France... A diligent social historian, Adams has conducted much excellent research in Pontarlier." -Ian Thomson, The Observer "Jad Adams is himself an extraordinary polymath... His research has been omnivorous and meticulous... Jad Adams has assimilated all this material...historical, medical, social, cultural - and melded it into a most beguiling book... he is the master of a classically lucid style enlivened by dashes of the colloquial and by entertaining detail... he gives marvellously evocative thumbnail sketches... salted with funny anecdotes... a model of how to convey the exhilaration of an exciting subject without getting all melodramatic... In reading it I almost experienced the hallucinations..." -Bevis Hillier, The Spectator "...this is a well-researched, often poignant, and always fascinating biography of a subject whose history, rather like the liqueur itself when added to seven parts water, has often been clouded and opaque." -Stephen Wood, The Lancet "Jad Adams has written a fascinating tale... the green devil, or fairy, has not lost its steely grip." -Illtyd Harrington, Camden Journal 'A splendidly detailed exploration of the subject' Ben Macintyre, The Times A Potpourri of Herb Books, November 1 2004. 'Beautifully illustrated with posters and paintings, this engrossing book is herbal history at its best.' -Connie Krochmal. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (April 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299200000
• ISBN-13: 978-0299200008
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,674,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Overrated and Pretentious, September 13, 2006

By 

Samuel Wells "'Pataphysician, Absintheur" (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle (Hardcover)

Adams covers the same info that Conrad and Baker discuss but with a tone of condescension and puritanism that blankets the text like a fine scum of oil over water. Halfway though the book I wanted to curse him; after listening to his boorish and uninspired NPR interview I wanted to punch his lights out. If you like feeling superior, this book is for you. Otherwise stick with Conrad.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but glossy, January 9, 2006

By 

Satia Renee "Satia Renee" (Altanta GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle (Hardcover)

After hearing the author on npr I was eager to purchase and read this book. The book is well researched and it is overflowing with gossip about those artists with whom absinthe has been so intertwined--Proust, Gaugin, et al. The author contends that the drink had little or no real impact on the creative abilities of the writers and painters of the 19th century who claimed that the Green Fairy was their great muse. The argument falls flat, however. Whether the drink spurred the creativity or not is not as clear as the belief of the artists that it did have a very powerful and empowering influence. It is all very "chicken or the egg" speculation but in the end, this book is a fun read if you want a little dish on the life and times of these absinthe influenced artists.

26 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Green Fairy Exposed, March 26, 2004

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle (Hardcover)

Different alcoholic drinks have reputations for appealing to different descriptions of people. The crowd of beer drinkers is different from those who favor cognac, as are those who like sherry different from those who drink single malts. There is no drink with so strong a reputation for a particular set of drinkers than absinthe. A cult drink in nineteenth century France, it has strong associations with poets and painters; the claims made for it have been extravagantly laudatory and condemnatory. It figures largely in literature and paintings of that time and place, which has only increased its reputation, good and bad. And it is still under prohibition in many countries, including the United States, which makes it forbidden fruit. Thus there is a good story, lots of good stories, to tell in _Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle_ (University of Wisconsin Press) by Jad Adams. It isn't too surprising that a main lesson of the book is that extravagant claims, positive and negative, for "the green fairy" are simply exaggerations.

Absinthe is a high-proof alcohol drink to which has been added essential oils of wormwood, plus aniseed or fennel, which taste like liquorice and gave the famous clear green color. It became particularly a drink for French Bohemian writers and artists. Adams shows, however, that the poets and painters who concentrated on absinthe as a subject were minor artists busy cultivating a bohemian atmosphere around themselves; the greater artists might have included it as part of their world, but had no particular fascination for it. Wormwood has a chemical called thujone within it, which might be a mild hallucinogen, but there is question that it would have had any significant effect at the dose provided in absinthe. What certainly would have had effect is the high amount of alcohol in the drink. Absinthe's widespread adoption scared the French government, which listened to the experts blaming it for everything from anarchy to population decline to the rise of Jews. A national ban was eventually enforced in 1915. In England, absinthe never had much of a hold, as it was seen as representing everything corrupt about France. In the US, those who provided alcohol during prohibition had little interest in this particular aperitif, and when prohibition was lifted, absinthe remained on the list of banned drugs. It was still available to American expatriates in different countries in Europe, and when the Cold War ended, tourism to such places as Prague brought a new boom in absinthe-drinking.

Except that there was little to match the extravagant reports of a century before. Absinthe became trendy with some rock stars (one ad campaign said, "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1899"), and it isn't surprising that their experiences of it did not meet those of the introverted Parisian artists that had gone before. Part of the problem is that they are not drinking the same thing. Absinthe from eastern Europe did not smell of aniseed, did not have oils so that it did not turn cloudy during the preparation ceremony, and did not have nearly enough wormwood to cause mental effects above those from the alcohol. Any chemical artistic inspiration just wasn't there. In a fascinating work of history with short biographies of famous drinkers of the time, Adams shows that the problem wasn't chemical. Absinthe met the expectations of a particular crowd of artists who gave it a particular reputation at a particular time. Even if the absintheur rock band Sugar Cubes (lead by the famous Björk) had the absinthe that Van Gogh drank, it would be a bit much to expect equivalent masterpieces.