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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781682750018 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Chicago Review Press, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 05/09/2017 |
| Pages: | 144 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d) |
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CHAPTER 1
EXQUISITE to the Eye and Mind
Absinthe is a word that invokes a cacophony of sordid imagery and anecdotes. The liquor itself carries a legacy as a bohemian panacea — one that is praised and demonized in written works and immortalized in imagery. There has been a shared belief through history that the Green Fairy inspired artists and writers alike to bursts of creative genius as a reward to those willing to step into her world.
Absinthe is forever immortalized in the colorful writings of those who found themselves seduced by its power to fuel creativity, a virtue with which it was often credited. And in the pigments and paints that one glimpses across the passage of time and through the harsh lens of reality, haunting figures emerge from the past, illustrating the full palette of color associated with the café culture of the Belle Époque — the Beautiful Period.
It is in the smoky, bustling cafés of Paris that many an irreverent idea emerged, giving birth to a new genre of artists that shunned the old norms of Realism in favor of embracing the freedom of Impressionism.
Absinthe Is Mightier Than the Pen
The mists of absinthe curl through the very zeitgeist of Paris's Bohemian Period. The tapestry of colors, the richness of language — the liquor was considered an artistic muse during the decadence that marked the age. From sculpture to paint, and prose to poetry, the creative works of the time bear its unmistakable imprint.
One such poet, Symbolist Charles Baudelaire, became enveloped in the fashionable excesses of intoxicants requisite for a bohemian existence in Paris. And while the city provided a wealth of subject matter for his musings, he scoffed at its culture, referring to it as "a center radiating universal stupidity." Baudelaire's angst often found him at odds with the public and critics alike. His work, Les Paradis Artificiels, disparaged the fake mysticism that was riding a wave of popularity. In an era that Baudelaire viewed as plagued by a desire to seek shortcuts to spiritual enlightenment, he praised drugs and alcohol as the most convenient route to an instant paradise, insisting, "Be drunk always!" The subversive znature of his works drew legal action to suppress what were deemed attacks upon morality. Eventually, he would come to terms with his addictions, noting that he had felt "a breath of wind of the wings of madness." However, he would eventually succumb to the consequences of his indiscretions in 1867 at the age of forty-six.
Poetry through Clouds of Chaos and Passion
Another member of the Symbolist poetical movement was lauded French poet Paul Verlaine. Like Baudelaire, Verlaine applied symbolic meaning to imagery and objects. And like Baudelaire, Verlaine was an absinthe drinker. In 1870, the twenty-six-year-old Verlaine married a young woman about ten years his junior, who became pregnant soon thereafter.
Following two years of marriage, Verlaine's life became unduly complicated when he relinquished regular employment in favor of a career in drinking. It would become only more so upon receiving a letter from a rambunctious young poet named Arthur Rimbaud. A free-spirited youth of sixteen, Rimbaud's poetic genius and disregard for social convention fascinated Verlaine, who introduced him to his circle of bohemian friends and their absinthe-drinking lifestyle. Eventually the two would become lovers, which had the effect of adding even more upheaval to Verlaine's troubled world.
With Verlaine becoming increasingly fixated upon Rimbaud and absinthe, he all but lost interest in his wife and child, whom he physically abused and soon abandoned. Common sense had been replaced by violence and debauchery. To further this trend, Rimbaud's cavalier abandonment of all social convention tested the moral standards of even the most liberal of Verlaine's bohemian associates. Rimbaud's pursuit of perpetual derangement challenged the tolerance of those around him. Rimbaud's recklessness and Verlaine's inability to restrain him became a constant source of turbulence and quarreling.
The two traveled to London in 1872 amidst a cloud of tension, and scratched together an impoverished living. The situation soon became unbearable for Verlaine, who returned to Paris in 1873. Unable to abandon his longing for Rimbaud, Verlaine traveled to Belgium, inviting Rimbaud to join him. The reunion would reignite the old quarreling, and Verlaine took refuge in drink. Soon thereafter, while in a fit of rage, Verlaine fired a pistol at Rimbaud, which caused a superficial wound.
Rimbaud handled the incident calmly, but decided to leave. This had the effect of enraging Verlaine, giving Rimbaud sufficient cause to contact the police. An investigation soon revealed the homosexual nature of their relationship, and Verlaine was sentenced to two years in prison. Upon his release, he found himself estranged from his family and friends. Swearing off the evil absinthe, Verlaine soon traveled again to England, where he resumed his life as an educator.
In 1877, Verlaine returned to France, where he became an English teacher in Paris. It is during that time that he met a pupil, Lucien Létinois, who inspired Verlaine to write more poetry. When Létinois suddenly died from typhus in 1883, Verlaine was shattered. In his latter days, he became a destitute alcoholic and addict. He was frequently spotted milling about the cafés of the Quartier Latin in tatters, having become reduced to a rather pathetic muse to a curious public. Verlaine's ragged lifestyle would soon get the better of him, as by his own admission, "For me, my glory is a humble, ephemeral absinthe." He died in 1896, at the age of fifty-one.
Upon his departure from the world of Paul Verlaine, Rimbaud briefly indulged himself in writing, composing several notable works. In 1876, he abandoned writing and joined the Dutch Colonial Army, traveling to the Dutch East Indies. Shortly thereafter, he deserted and returned to France. Rimbaud assumed a life as a trader and merchant, spending most of his time in East Africa. In 1891, he returned to France for treatment for a lesion on his knee. It turned out to be bone cancer. He would die in Marseilles later that year at the age of thirty-seven.
Oscar Wilde
Perhaps the most famous of Great Britain's absinthe imbibers was a young Irish playwright who was already decorated for his skill in verse even before attending Oxford. A man of physical stature and a flare for style, Oscar Wilde founded the Aesthetic Movement, which promoted the value of purely aesthetic art, literature, and music, sometimes described with the maxim, "Art for art's sake."
Wilde's razor-sharp wit and skill in both written verse and conversation vaulted him into notoriety. He is credited with forging quips such as, "What difference is there between a glass of absinthe and a sunset?" and "Absinthe makes the tart grow fonder." His expertise in Aestheticism earned him an invitation to travel to America on a lecture tour, where he is recorded to have had experiences as diverse as drinking whiskey with miners in Colorado and visiting the Old Absinthe House in the Paris of the New World, New Orleans. Similarly, Wilde enjoyed extensive stays in Paris, where he indulged in the irreverent bohemian culture and his writings, only to return to London upon running out of money. It is during his time in Paris, circa 1882, that one evening at the Café François Premier Wilde was brought vis-à-vis with Paul Verlaine. It was a rather memorable incident, with the flamboyant Wilde being somewhat dumbstruck with pity at the relatively tattered Verlaine. An account of the meeting noted that Wilde's pleasantries went largely unheeded, as Verlaine kept nodding to his (empty) absinthe glass. Wilde was so distressed by his interaction with Verlaine that he remarked that he could not bear to meet him again.
Wilde was no stranger to the virtues of extended café visits, where he occasionally indulged in the liquid green lubricant. In London, Wilde is known to have been a patron of the famous Café Royal, which remains in operation at its original location at 68 Regent Street in the Piccadilly district. It is in this venue that Wilde is said to have made a fateful decision that would forever change is life.
A man of reasonable means, Wilde had married Constance Lloyd in 1884 with whom he had two children. His interest in his marriage waned after several years, however — particularly upon meeting and beginning an affair with a young Canadian by the name of Robert Ross. Over the course of the next several years, Wilde penned children's books, hit plays, and what became a popular novel. In 1895 Wilde was left a calling card by John Douglas, the Marquess of Queensberry, which bore the accusation, "For Oscar Wilde posing Somdomite [sic]," letting Wilde know that the Marquess had become aware of the affair Wilde was having with his son, Lord Alfred Douglas. It was in the Café Royal, under the admonishment of the younger Douglas and against the advice of his friends, that Wilde decided to pursue legal action for libel.
Wilde's fateful decision resulted in damning evidence being brought forth that demonstrated Wilde was a practicing homosexual, which resulted in charges of sodomy and gross indecency, and a subsequent jail term. Following two years of incarceration, Wilde was released and promptly traveled to Naples to meet Douglas before relocating permanently to Paris. Wilde's existence in Paris would be short-lived, as he became critically ill from cerebral meningitis. As Wilde convalesced in a hotel that would be his final stop, his last words are said to be something to the effect of, "This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I go." He succumbed to his illness shortly thereafter, dying bankrupt at the age of forty-six.
Speaking Truth to Power through the Absurd
The literary world has produced few characters as colorful as Surrealist and Symbolist Alfred Jarry. As a schoolboy, Jarry couldn't help but poke fun at a bumbling teacher, which evolved into a play involving marionettes. The caricatures invoked in this pastime would give birth to one that became the bizarre character known as Ubu, the star of Jarry's most famous work, Ubu Roi (1896).
Jarry would soon discover the wonders of absinthe, which he affectionately referred to as the "green goddess." Upon being discharged from the army amidst a gaggle of laughs, Jarry took up residence in Paris, where he indulged in writing clever absurdities. He was viewed as an intelligent, albeit bizarre and unpredictable character, which no doubt caused minor controversy in social settings. Furthermore, given Jarry's disdain for water as a poison (in part because fish urinate in it), he would take his absinthe without it, seemingly confirming the age-old wisdom that only a lunatic would take it neat. Like fellow Symbolists who preceded him, Jarry also adopted the philosophy that intoxication was the path to artistic purity.
The evening of December 10, 1896, saw the opening of his play Ubu Roi, the production of which was a feat in itself, given the absurdity of the work. Of particular note was the opening line, "Merdrel" — a humorous twist on the expletive shit. The effect was a solid fifteen minutes of audience pandemonium — a blend of laughter, cheers, boos, and whistling. Despite an evening of such interruptions, the spectacle vaulted Jarry into fame, something he capitalized on by immersing himself in his absurd world.
Jarry's mockery of Parisian society led him to adopt the absurdities expressed by his fictitious characters, undoubtedly to the annoyance of those he encountered. He was known for pronouncing every silent letter in the French language — with emphasis. He named his bicycle Clément, and carried a loaded pistol. His apartment was configured such that the ceiling was just high enough for his small five-foot stature, which necessitated that his guests stoop or crouch. Perhaps Jarry's most amusing "accomplishment" came through his invention of pataphysics, a pseudoscience of bizarre explanations, in which every event in the universe, no matter how mundane and repeatable, is deemed extraordinary.
Jarry's antics fortified his heroic status among his peers, but his lifestyle of intoxicants, complicated by the ravages of tuberculosis, brought about an early end. His penchant for the absurd was seemingly uninterrupted by the deathbed, where it is said that his last request was, oddly enough, for a toothpick. Jarry died in 1907 at the age of thirty-four.
Ernest Hemingway
The works of Ernest Hemingway frequently reference absinthe, and it's no surprise that the author was a lifelong aficionado of the drink. From For Whom the BeLL Toils to The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway's characters frequently turn to and savor absinthe as a drink of choice.
The author likely first encountered absinthe after he relocated to Paris at the admonishment of novelist Sherwood Anderson, who described it as where "the most interesting people in the world live."
His association with Gertrude Stein and acquaintance with famous Parisian writers and artists during his stay in Paris (1921 — 1928) ensured that he became well versed in the role absinthe played during the Belle Epoque — but being born in 1899, he was a bit late to the party. France, however, served as a convenient launching point for excursions into Spain, and it is there that Hemingway cultivated his penchant for the green muse, sipping it with friends in Barcelona, and going so far as to note in his short story The Strange Country (1946) that surviving stocks of pre-ban absinthe in those times were preferable to the contemporary Spanish versions of pre-ban French brands being produced under license.
Upon returning to the Western Hemisphere in 1928, Hemingway relocated to Key West, Florida, during the terrible period known as Prohibition, where he evidently procured bottles of absinthe while on fishing trips to nearby Cuba.
In a 1931 letter, he remarks,
"Got tight last night on absinthe and did knife tricks. Great success shooting the knife underhand into the piano. The woodworms are so bad and eat hell out of all the furniture that you can always claim the woodworms did it."
Eventually, Hemingway's association with absinthe would be widely known, as an absinthe-laced champagne cocktail from the period was dubbed Death in the Afternoon, clearly in homage to his nonfiction account of Spanish bullfighting of the same name, first published in 1932. After a lengthy, distinguished career in writing, Hemingway would take his own life in 1961, following episodes of heavy drinking and depression.
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Sips
Until the mid-nineteenth century, the art world was subject to standards of content and style that largely restricted fine art to the subjects of religious events, mythological scenes, and portraits. In France, the Académie des Beaux-Arts upheld these standards, going so far as to scrutinize art based on the attention to finishing details; few observable traces of the artist's individuality, such as brushstrokes or technique, remained. Such was the pattern of Realism, which aimed to depict scenes most objectively, without the influence of supernatural elements or dramatic color.
Édouard Manet hailed from a family of respectable social status, and opened his own Parisian art studio in 1856 following travels around Europe to study various works of art. Having clearly followed the standards of Realism in his earlier days, Manet undertook a deliberate departure from those rules. He favored instead an unorthodox style, one that discarded traditional tones and exhibited an unusual technique in which his brushstrokes remained distinct, infusing his works with an individualistic texture. Such brazen unconventionality simultaneously drew the admiration of young bohemian artists and the criticism of the Académie.
It is the notorious rejection of Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (The Luncheon on the Grass, 1862) that some credit as the launch of the Impressionist age. The Académie was appalled by Manet's use of vivid colors and "slapdash" brushstrokes — not to mention, the subject matter of a completely nude woman having a picnic luncheon with two fully dressed men seemed contrary to propriety. However, it is his first original and first important work, Le Buveur d'absinthe (The Absinthe Drinker), from 1859, that showcases Manet's departure from "good taste," which was reinforced upon its rejection that same year from the Salon, the annual exhibition by the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Manet was known to frequent the popular Tortoni's Café at the time, where his peers included contemporary figures such as fellow artist Gustave Courbet and Baudelaire. Manet and Baudelaire were good friends, which suggests the influence of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal in Manet s choice of subject for his painting — a man by the name of Collardet, a beggar who frequented the Louvre.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Absinthe"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Betina J. Wittels and T.A. Breaux.
Excerpted by permission of Fulcrum Publishing.
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Maxwell Britten, ix,
Introduction by Betina J. Wittels, xiii,
Exquisite to the Eye and Mind, 1,
The Ascension and Demise of the Green Fairy, 23,
The Dark Ages, 51,
The Long Road Home: Absinthe Returns, 65,
Accoutrements and Antiques, 75,
Absinthe and the Craft Cocktail Revival, 97,
Absinthe Reviews, 115,
Select Bibliography, 137,