„Zu tief im Hirn, zu schmal im Traum“ Rausch und Ekstase in der Literatur

Opening event of the 39th Antiquaria Ludwigsburg and the 62nd Stuttgart Antiquarian Book Fair

According to Thomas de Quincey, drugs are no guarantee of literary inspiration. He should know, as he founded European drug literature in 1821 with his "Confessions of an English Opium Eater". In the 1950s and 60s, the beatniks conducted their own experiments with speed writing and
-consumption, the beatniks conducted their own experiments in drug input and language output. At least as interesting as the question of the effects of drug experiments on writing is a look at the texts themselves. How do writers try to capture the non-linguistic experience of intoxication in text? And for what purpose do they do this? What function does the drug fulfill in the text structure? Yvonne Pörzgen, professor at the Ruhr University Bochum, will explore these questions in her lecture at the start of the week of the two antiquarian book fairs in Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart. In addition to looking back to the 19th century at the French "Club des Hachichins", she will focus on texts from the 20th and 21st centuries, with an emphasis on Russian and Polish literature. With M. Agejew's "Novel with Cocaine", Dorota Masłowska's "Snow White and Russian Red" and many other texts, the Slavicist will show how drug use can become the pivotal point of the plot in the texts beyond social description and characterization.
With excerpts from early 20th century German-language literature by Walter Rheiner and Gottfried Benn, the focus is not only on intoxication and ecstasy but also on the destructive side of drugs. Smoking is not the only thing that kills - and what about literature?

In cooperation with the 39th Antiquaria Ludwigsburg and the 62nd Stuttgart Antiquarian Book Fair