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In the 19th century, opium was everywhere. From seedy opium dens to your average pharmacies: opium and opium-based medicine was widely available. It was given to children, the sick, the elderly – and to help with menstrual cramps. But it also featured in literature, where it served different purposes. Many authors were known consumers, be it Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Dickens or Walter Scott. “In the world of the opium vision, British consciousness is the theatre and the Orient is the terrifying actor of the fantasies dramatized there” (Milligan 1995, 20). In this seminar, we will have a look at the symbolic meaning of opium in Victorian and Edwardian fiction. We will start with one of the most prominent works about the topic – de Quincey’s “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater” – and conclude with Dickens’ very last novel “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”. Literature will be made available in the first session. |
