“Not the opium-eater, but the opium, is the true hero of the tale,” wrote Thomas De Quincey in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, one of many books that explore the Victorians’ fascination with drug use.
The links between the 19th century literary world and opiates can be seen in the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Shelley, and William Wordsworth, in which the drugs are taken for medicinal and recreational reasons alike. In this panel chaired by John Mitchinson, and featuring authors Sharon Ruston and Stephen Carver, we will explore how these celebrated writers lived and worked in a world steeped in laudanum.