Kitson, Peter (2021) Opium and Addiction in a Cross-Cultural Context: De Quincey’s ‘Confessions’ (1821) and the Chinese novel, Romantic Illusions of the Fool of Yangzhou (Fengyue meng) (c. 1848). Romanticism, 27 (3). pp. 309-321. ISSN 1354-991X

Preview

PDF (Kitson_Opium_and_Addiction_in_a_Cross_Cultural_Context) - Accepted Version Download (475kB) | Preview

Abstract

This essay examines De Quincey’s representation of opium ‘addiction’ in the cross-cultural context of Britain and China in the light of recent revisionist medical discussions of addiction and dependence, and revisionist historical writing about opium use in nineteenth-century China. De Quincey’s representation of the opium user is compared to that of China’s first ‘city novel’, Courtesans and Opium: Romantic Illusions of the Fool of Yangzhou believed to have been written in 1848 (trans 2009). In this complex fiction, opium smoking is presented as a largely pleasurable and common pastime which has the potential for danger if abused by the unwary. It is not connected with dreams and nightmares, or figured as a stimulus of, or analogy for, the creative imagination. It offers a fascinating view of the leisure world of nineteenth-century China, where recreational opium smoking is common and not problematic when undertaken moderately.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	de quincey opium china
Faculty \ School:
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	08 Jul 2021 00:06
Last Modified:	25 Oct 2021 00:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/80430
DOI:	10.3366/rom.2021.0524

Actions (login required)

View Item