Narcotics

In the vein of the well-known drug writings of De Quincey and Baudelaire from a century earlier and those of his contemporaries Walter Benjamin and Jean Cocteau – and foreshadowing the later writings of Aldous Huxley and Carlos Castaneda on psychoactive drugs – Witkacy composed Narcotics in 1930 to discuss and document not only his own experimentation with different substances but the nature of addiction itself and the prevailing social attitude toward drugs, particularly those that were considered “acceptable.” As life became increasingly mechanized, Witkacy felt that a sense of the metaphysical could only be achieved by artificial means, and like Henri Michaux, he produced an extensive oeuvre of singular visual art while on a variety of substances.

Meandering, acerbic, and burlesque, rife with neologisms and expressions from German, French, English, and Russian, Witkacy dissects Polish society and the art world as well as himself via the hypocrisy surrounding drug use. Since it was first published in the 1930s, Narcotics has achieved a cult status in Poland where it is considered both a modernist classic and a paragon of Witkiewiczian madness. This edition, the first complete translation in English, includes a second appendix written later, passages from the novel Farewell to Autumn, and 34 color reproductions of a cross section of portraits to show how various substances impacted Witkacy’s art.

Pe linia binecunoscutelor scrieri de droguri ale lui De Quincey si Baudelaire de un secol mai devreme si ale contemporanilor sai Walter Benjamin si Jean Cocteau - si prefigurand scrierile ulterioare ale lui Aldous Huxley si Carlos Castaneda despre drogurile psihoactive - Witkacy a compus narcotice in 1930 sa discute si sa documenteze nu numai propria sa experimentare cu diferite substante, ci si natura dependentei in sine si atitudinea sociala predominanta fata de droguri, in special cele considerate „acceptabile”. Pe masura ce viata a devenit din ce in ce mai mecanizata, Witkacy a simtit ca simtul metafizicului nu poate fi realizat decat prin mijloace artificiale si, la fel ca Henri Michaux, a produs o opera extinsa de arta vizuala singulara pe o varietate de substante. plin de neologisme si expresii din germana, franceza, engleza si rusa, Witkacy diseca societatea poloneza si lumea artei, precum si el insusi prin ipocrizia din jurul consumului de droguri.