Literature and Psychedelics: a Pharmacological Subversion of Authentic Life. With an example from William S. Burroughs
Revue française d’études américaines December 4, 2018 Pierre-Louis Patoine 1 citation
This article explores how 'authentic life' is constituted through a normalized style of consciousness, which the practice of literature and certain psychotropics challenge. Focusing on psychedelic hallucinogens and William S. Burroughs's 1971 novel The Wild Boys, the comparative analysis uses the Platonic notion of pharmakon and considers the neurophysiological specificities of literature and psychedelic substances. It concludes that Burroughs's use of ekphrasis acts like a psychedelic drug, disrupting habitual sequential consciousness and liberating sensation and desire from the normative constraints of production and reproduction promoted in the modern era.