The Dedalus Book of Absinthe

by Baker, Phil

  Various individuals gave me their time and effort, and responded with great kindness to my requests for help or information, including Liz Brooks, Kathy Brunner, Nishi Chaturvedi, Geoffrey Elborn, Ben Fernee, Dr Edward Fetherstone, Richard Hutton, John Moore, Ian Pindar, Ray Russell, Max Rutherston, and Gavin Semple.

  In Appendix One, the extract from The Flight of Icarus by Raymond Queneau is reprinted by permission of Calder Publications (London). The extract from Wormwood by D.J.Levien is reprinted by permission of Allison and Busby (London). The extract from Of Human Bondage by W.Somerset Maugham, published by William Heinemann, is reprinted by permission of the Random House Group Ltd. Antonin Artaud’s poem ‘Verlaine Boit’ is copyright Editions Gallimard, 1976 and is reprinted by permission of the publisher. The author and publishers have tried to trace the copyright holders of R.Thurston Hopkins without success, and would be glad to hear from them.

  ‘L’Absinthe’ by Benasset appears by permission of the Musée Carnavalet. The William Rothenstein portrait of Ernest Dowson appears by permission of Lucy Dynevor, and the photograph is copyright of the National Portrait Gallery. The picture of Verlaine in the Café Procope appears by permission of the Bibliothèque Nationale. William Orpen’s ‘The Absinthe Drinker’ appears by permission of Kit Orpen. The photograph of Toulouse-Lautrec’s absinthe cane appears by permission of the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec at Albi. ‘L’Absinthe’ by Apoux, and the poisoned guinea-pig, appear by permission of Roger-Viollet, Paris. The photograph of Victor Berlemont in Soho’s French Pub appears by permission of Hulton- Getty. Félicien Rops’ picture ‘La Buveuse de l’Absinthe’, the cartoon of a man throwing an absinthe out of the window, and the two labels before Appendix Two all appear by permission of Marie-Claude Delahaye.

  INDEX

  Absinthe

  banning of, (1), (2), (3); in America, (1); in Switzerland, (1); and Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, (1)

  Britain, image in, (1), (2), (3), (4)

  and Eighteen-Nineties, (1)

  Gothic in America, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

  home-made, (1), (2)

  illegal for U.S. Service personnel abroad, (1)

  and insanity, (1), (2), (3), passim

  and inspiration, (1), (2)

  intoxication, particular quality of, (1), (2)

  manufacture of, (1)

  as memento mori, (1)

  methods of drinking, (1), (2), (3)

  paradoxical aspects of, (1)

  pharmacology of, (1)

  potentiating effect of, (1)

  price of, (1)

  revival of, 161ff

  rituals of, (1); with fire, (1); with water, (1)

  as ‘social problem’, see Working classes and women, (1), (2), (3)

  Absinthe Bus, (1); see also Charenton Omnibus

  Absinthe Hotel, (1)

  Absinthe Murders, see Lanfray

  Absinthism, (1), (2), (3); and fears of degeneration, (1)

  Absynthites, wormwood wine, (1)

  Academy, a café, (1)

  Achard, Professor, (1)

  Ackroyd, Peter, on the Nineties, (1)

  Adams, Brooks, on Picasso, (1)

  Adams, Jad, on Dowson, (1), (2), (3)

  Adler, Jules, (1)

  Agrippa, Cornelius, (1)

  Alastair (Hans Henning Voigt), (1), (2)

  Alcohol, (1), (2), see also alcoholism

  Alcoholism, (1), (2), (3)

  Algerian Wars, (1), (2), (3)

  Allais, Alphonse, (1)

  Allen, H.Warner, (1)

  Allen, Keith, (1)

  Amarinth, Mr (Oscar Wilde), (1)

  Amis, Kingsley, (1)

  Anderson, Elizabeth, (1)

  Andrée, Ellen, (1)

  Apollinaire, Guillaume, (1)

  Applegate, Bergen, on Verlaine, (1)

  Arnold, Wilfred Neils, (1)

  Artaud, Antonin, (1)

  Association, power of , (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8)

  Balesta, Henri, Absinthe et Absintheurs, (1), (2); on women as absinthe drinkers, (1)

  Barrio Chino, (1), (2)

  Barthes, Roland, on ideal drink, (1)

  ‘Bat d’Af’ (Bataillon d’Afrique), (1), (2)

  Bat, Mordantia, (1)

  Baudelaire, Charles, (1), (2); ‘Drink’, (1); influence on others: Eugene Lee-Hamilton, (1); Rimbaud, (1); Manet, (1); Harry Crosby, (1); on inspiration, (1); Beardsley, Aubrey, (1), (2), (3); dislike of Dowson, (1); Wilde compares work to absinthe, (1)

  ‘beat’, (1)

  Beaumont, Keith, on Jarry, (1)

  Beckett, Samuel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women, (1)

  Beerbohm, Max, (1)

  Benvenuto, Passenger’s Dialogues, (1)

  Berenson, Bernard, (1)

  Bett, W.R., (1), on Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec

  Bibi-la-Purée, (1)

  Bigelow, Josephine, mistress of Harry Crosby, (1)

  Biography, now inseparable from work (Breton), (1)

  Blair, Tony, (1)

  Bohemia, (1), (2), (3), (4); as career stage, (1); as place, (1); see also Green Bohemia

  “Bohemian monster” (Lawrence Alloway on), (1), (2)

  Bougeois, Edmond, on Alfred de Musset, (1)

  Bovril, (1)

  Brasher, C.W.J., (1)

  Brel, Jacques, (1)

  Breton, André, on Rimbaud, (1); on Charles Cros, (1); on Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, (1); on Jarry, (1), (2); on art and life, (1); on waking and dreaming, (1)

  Brite, Poppy Z., (1)

  Brompton Oratory, (1)

  Browning, Robert Dowson compares himself with marital happiness of, (1)

  Buchanan, Robert Williams, (1)

  Bun House, The, public house on Strand, (1)

  Burke, Edmund, A Philosophical Enquiry into Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, (1)

  Burnand, Robert, (1)

  Cafard, (1)

  Café Rat Mort, (1)

  Café Royale, (1), (2), (3), (4)

  Callias, Hector de, (1)

  Callias, Nina de, (1)

  Camphor, (1), (2), (3)

  Cannabis, absinthe erroneously compared with, (1)

  Carco, Francis, (1); on female absinthe drinkers, (1)

  Carjat, Etienne, (1)

  Catholicism, (1), (2); Lionel Johnson and, (1); Ernest Dowson and, (1); Rimbaud and, (1), (2); Verlaine and, (1); Yeats on, (1)

  Charenton Omnibus, (1), (2)

  Chateau Rouge, see Absinthe Hotel

  Chat Noir, café, (1)

  Chernobyl, (1)

  Chlorodyne, (1), (2)

  Clement-Janin, M.H., biographer of Desboutin, (1)

  Clinical Toxicology Review, (1)

  Clinton, Hillary, (1)

  Cock, public house on Shaftesbury Avenue, (1), (2)

  Collardet, a ragpicker, (1)

  Conder, Charles, (1), (2)

  Connolly, Cyril, on alcoholism, (1)

  Conrad, Barnaby, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7); on how to drink absinthe, (1)

  Cooper’s Thesaurus, (1)

  Coppée, François, (1), (2)

  Coppola, Francis Ford, Dracula, (1)

  Corelli, Marie, Wormwood, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6); Wilde and Dowson on, (1)

  Cornutti, obscure poet, (1)

  Couture, Thomas, (1), (2)

  Cowley, Malcolm, (1)

  Cros, Antoine, (1), (2)

  Cros, Charles, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5); as genius and inventor, (1); friend of Verlaine, (1), (2); on preparation of absinthe, (1)

  Crosby, Harry, (1)

  Crosby, Caresse (Polly Peabody), (1), (2), (3)

  Crowley, Aleister, (1), (2)

  Crown, public house Charing Cross Road, (1); Verlaine visits, (1)

  Culpeper, Nicholas, (1)

  Czech absinthe, (1); taste criticised, (1); French object to, (1)

  Dardis, Tom, (1), (2)

  Daudet, Alphonse, (1)

  Daudet, Leon, (1)

  DDT insecticide, recreational abuse of, (1), (2); as GABA- bloc
ker, (1)

  Dead Rat Café, see Café Rat Mort

  Debord, Guy, (1), (2)

  Degas, Edgar, L’Absinthe, (1)

  Degeneration, (1), (2), (3), (4); see also Nordau

  Delahaye, Marie-Claude, (1), (2)

  Del Castillo, J., (1)

  Delirium tremens, (1), (2)

  Delius, Frederick, and Strindberg, (1)

  Depp, Johnny, (1)

  De Quincey, Thomas, (1); on Dark Sublime, (1); Musset translates, (1); Baudelaire translates, (1); Jarry admires, (1)

  Desboutin, Marcellin, (1)

  Dioscorides, on wormwood as remedy for drunkenness, (1)

  Dornac, Jules, photographer, (1)

  Douglas, Lord Alfred, (1)

  Dowson, Ernest, (1), (2); and passim; poetry of, (1); feels troglodytic, (1); Jekyll-and- Hyde character of, (1); on absinthe, (1), (2); ‘Absinthia Taetra’, (1); meets Verlaine, (1); has news of Lautrec, (1); and Corelli, (1)

  Dubied, Major, (1)

  Ebers papyrus, (1)

  Eighteen-Nineties Society, (1)

  Ellis, Havelock, (1)

  Ellman, Richard, (1), (2)

  Elms, Robert, (1)

  Ethel, aunt of Dowson, (1)

  Ether, (1), (2), (3)

  Etoile-Absinthe, (Jarry journal), (1)

  Exley, Frederick, on drinking, (1)

  Faulkner, William, (1)

  Fields, W.C., (1)

  First World War, (1), (2), (3), (4)

  Fitzgerald, F.Scott, (1)

  Flaubert, Gustave, (1)

  Ford, John, (1)

  Fosca, François, (1)

  Fothergill, John, (1)

  Fournier, Professor, (1)

  France, idea and image of, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6); French novels, (1), (2)

  Franco-Prussian War, (1), (2)

  Fraser, Robert, (1)

  Freedom, idea of, (1)

  French Pub, Soho, (1)

  Frey, Julia, (1)

  GABA, (1)

  Gachet, Dr., (1)

  Galen, (1)

  Gamma-aminobutyric acid, see GABA

  Gauguin, Paul, (1)

  George III, (1)

  Germany and Germans, (1), (2)

  Gide, André, (1)

  Gilbert, W.S., (1), (2)

  Gill, André, (1)

  Girod, Alfred, French politician, (1)

  Glatigny, Albert, (1)

  Gogarty, Oliver St.John, (1)

  Goncourt brothers, Edmond and Jules, Journals, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)

  Goniobombukes, a devil, (1)

  Goodhart, Charles, friend of Dowson, (1)

  Gorey, Edward, (1), (2)

  Gosse, Edmund, meets Verlaine, (1)

  Gottlieb, Adam, Legal Highs, (1)

  Goulue, Jeanne La, (1), (2)

  Grafton Gallery, (1)

  Green Bohemia (company), (1), (2)

  Grosvenor Gallery, (1), (2)

  Groux, Henry de, on Verlaine, (1)

  Guaita, Stanislas de, (1)

  Gull, Ranger, (1)

  Gumbopages.com, (1)

  Guy, François, on Czech absinthe, (1)

  Guyot, Yves L’absinthe et le délire persécuteur, (1), (2)

  Hamnet, Nina, (1)

  Hamsun, Knut, Hunger, (1)

  Hancock, Tony, (1)

  Harris, Frank, (1), (2), (3)

  Heilig, Sterling, (1)

  Heine, Heinrich, (1)

  Hemingway, Ernest, (1), (2); accident prone, (1); on absinthe, (1); on alcohol, (1)

  Henriod Sisters, (1)

  heure verte, l’, (1), (2), (3)

  Hichens, Robert, The Green Carnation, (1)

  Hill’s (brand), (1), (2); taste of, (1); see also Czech absinthe

  Hippocrates, (1)

  Hirst, Damien, (1)

  Hodgkinson, Tom, (1), (2), (3), (4)

  Hold, Karin M., (1)

  Home Office, (1)

  Hopkins, R.Thurston, (1); ‘A London Phantom’, (1)

  Hugh, H.P, on ‘Green Hour’, (1)

  Huysmans, J.K., (1), (2), (3), (4)

  Idler, The (magazine), (1)

  Idlers, bourgeois, (1); neurasthenic, (1)

  Isherwood, Christopher, on Baudelaire, (1)

  Jacob, Max, (1)

  Jarry, Alfred, (1); admired by Picasso, (1)

  Johnson, Lionel, (1), (2), (3)

  Joyce, James, (1), (2), (3)

  Kahn, Gustave, (1)

  Karr, Mary, on drinking, (1)

  Keats, John, (1)

  Kernahan, Coulson, ‘Two Absinthe Minded Beggars’, (1)

  Kingsley, Charles, (1)

  Klein, Richard, on the Sublime, (1)

  Knapp, Carolyn, Drinking, (1)

  ‘Kurt’, (1)

  Laborde, Dr J.A., on female absinthe drinkers, (1)

  La Fée (brand), (1)

  Lalou, Dr., (1), (2)

  Lancereaux, Emile, (1)

  Lancet, The, (1), (2), (3)

  Lane, John, publisher, (1), (2)

  Lanfray, Jean, (1)

  Lanier, Doris, (1), (2), (3)

  Lautrec, Vicomte de, (1)

  Ledoux, Dr., on democratistion of absinthe, (1)

  Lee-Hamilton, Eugene, on Baudelaire, (1)

  Le Gallienne, Richard, (1)

  Legrain, Dr., on working class drinking, (1)

  Leibniz, (1)

  Lemerre, bookseller in Passage Choiseul, (1)

  Lepelletier, Edmond, (1), (2)

  Letinois, Lucien, (1)

  Lettrists, (1)

  Leverson, Ada, ‘The Sphinx’, (1)

  Levien, D.J., (1), (2)

  Lindestolophe, Johan, De Veneris, (1)

  Liszt, Franz, (1)

  Literature, Curse of, (1)

  Livrada, see St.Wilgefortis

  Lost Club, The, (1)

  ‘louche’, of absinthe, (1), (2)

  Lowry, Malcolm, (1)

  Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, (1)

  MacColl, D.S., art critic, (1)

  McDonough, Glen, ‘Absinthe Frappé’, (1)

  McGrath, Patrick, The Grotesque, (1)

  Machen, Arthur, (1)

  Maeterlinck, Maurice, (1)

  Magnan, Valentin, (1), (2)

  Mallarmé, Stephane, Verlaine writes to, (1); Jarry attends funeral of, (1)

  Manet, Edouard, The Absinthe Drinker, (1)

  Manolo, sculptor, (1)

  Manson, Marilyn, (1), (2)

  Marce, Dr.Louis, (1)

  Mathilde, wife of Verlaine, (1), (2)

  Matisse, Henri, “drives you mad”, (1)

  Maugham, Somerset, The Magician, (1); Of Human Bondage, (1)

  Maurer, Alfred, (1)

  Mendes, Catulle, (1)

  Metonymy, (1), (2), (3); see also association

  Meyer, Michael, on Strindberg, (1)

  ‘Mickey Slim’, DDT cocktail, (1), (2)

  Modigliani, Amedeo, (1)

  Monson, Nicholas, (1)

  Moore, Arthur, (1), (2), (3)

  Moore, George, (1), (2)

  Moore, John, (1), (2)

  Moreau, Gustave, on Lautrec, (1)

  Morphine, (1), (2)

  Morrow, William Chambers, ‘Over an Absinthe Bottle’, (1)

  Morwyng, Treasure of Evonymous, (1)

  Motet, Dr.Auguste, (1), (2)

  Murger, Henri, (1)

  Musset, Alfred de, (1), (2)

  Nadelson, Regina, (1)

  Napoléon III, (1)

  Nerval, Gerard de, (1)

  Newby, Eric, (1)

  New England Journal of Medicine, (1)

  New Orleans, (1), (2), (3), (4)

  Nicotine, (1)

  Nine-Inch Nails, (1)

  Nordau, Max, Degeneration, on Verlaine, (1);, (1)

  Notre Dame des Victoires, (1)

  Nouvelle Athènes, café, (1)

  O’Neill, Eugene, (1)

  Opium, (1), (2); internal, (1); see also De Quincey

  Ordinaire, Dr. Pierre, (1)

  O’Riordan, Connell, (1)

  Orpen, Sir William, T
he Absinthe Drinker, (1), (2); The Café Royale, (1)

  Orwell, George, on George Saintsbury, (1)

  O’sullivan, Vincent, on Dowson, (1); book jacket by Beardsley, (1)

  Oxygénée, brand, (1)

  Pagnol, Marcel, on absinthe preparation, (1)

  Paracelsus, (1)

  Paranoia, (1), (2), (3), (4)

  Paregoric, (1)

  Parisot, Jocelyn, (1)

  Pastis, (1); banned, (1)

  Pater, Walter, (1), (2); Wilde on, (1)

  Péladan, Joséphin, (1), (2)

  Pepys, Samuel, (1)

  perfume drinking, (1)

  Pernod, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6); advertising, (1); factory, (1); instructions from, (1); moves to Tarragona after ban, (1)

  Pernod, Henri-Louis, (1)

  Petronius, (1), (2)

  Phylloxera, infestation of grapes, (1)

  Picasso, Pablo, (1)

  Pickvance, Ronald, (1)

  Pinto-Scognamilio, W., (1)

  Planets, communication with, (1)

  Plarr, Victor, (1)

  Pliny, (1), (2)

  Poe, Edgar Allan, (1); Baudelaire prays to, (1); influences Harry Crosby, (1)

  Ponchon, Raoul, (1)

  Porphyria, (1)

  Pound, Ezra, (1)

  Prague, (1)

  Pratz, Claire de, (1)

  Pretor-Pinney, Gavin, (1)

  professors, absinthe, (1)

  Prohibition, (1)

  Proust, Marcel, (1), (2)

  Punch, (1)

  Purple Haze, (1)

  Pythagoras, (1)

  Queneau, Raymond, (1), (2)

  Rachilde, Madame, (1), (2)

  Reed, Lou, (1)

  Revelations, Book of, (1), (2)

  Reznor, Trent, (1)

  Ricard, Paul, pastis magnate, (1)

  Rice, Anne, Interview with the Vampire, (1)

  Richardson, Joanna, on Charles Cros, (1)

  Richter, Jean-Paul, (1)

  Rieu, Marie, ‘Chien Vert’, (1)

  Rimbaud, Arthur, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

  Rohmer, Sax, (1)

  Rops, Félicien, (1); La Buveuse d’Absinthe, (1), (2)

  Roseyre, Louis, on Verlaine, (1)

  Ross, Robbie, (1)

  Rothenstein, William, (1), (2), (3), (4)

  Rowley, George, (1)

  Rubies, artificially synthesized, (1)

  Saint Albans Book of Hawking, (1)

  Saint-Denys, Marquis Hervey de, Orientalist, (1)

  Saintsbury, George, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5); on absinthe and its preparation, (1); and gemstones, (1)

  Salis, Theodore, (1)

  Salvanol, (1)