Soma and other substances in literature

February 28, 2008 10:06 AM

I am interested in literary works that discuss various substances like recreational drugs or pharmaceuticals. I am interested in anything with associations or references to philosophy, politics, religion, mind-expansion etc. Some examples of what I am looking for are Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' and Soma, or Dune and Melange. Any dystopia/utopia parallels, anticipations of the future, criticisms of drug culture, criticisms of pharmaceuticals, or allegories to anything substance related would be incredibly useful. This is a follow up of this thread: http://ask.metafilter.com/83142/Literary-works-anticipacting-the-future-trends
posted by Knigel to writing & language (31 answers total)

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posted by Knigel at 10:09 AM on February 28, 2008

Not sure if this is what you're looking for but how about The Basketball Diaries and his sequel, Forced Entries. He definitely discusses drugs, if not all the other things you're interested in.
posted by Melismata at 10:14 AM on February 28, 2008

Hunter S. Thompson. Almost ANYTHING, but especially "Fear & Loathing...". Whichever one.
posted by hal_c_on at 10:17 AM on February 28, 2008

Obligatory Philip K. Dick citation: A Scanner Darkly featured a police state which sold drugs undercover to arrest users, who often turned out to be the undercover cops selling. The cops would wear suits which blurred their identities, and the drugs would make them unable to distinguish between their cop identities and their user identities. The novel effectively satirized the 60s-70s drug culture in California.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:28 AM on February 28, 2008

The works you referenced in your question are science fiction...is that what you're looking for in specific, or...?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:28 AM on February 28, 2008

I'm looking for anything. Science fiction, fiction, even non-fiction. I'm mainly focused on all kinds of fiction or non-fiction about fictional works, but again, anything is useful. I'd like to stay broad to see what people share here. I think everything will b quite useful. Already some great suggestions.
posted by Knigel at 10:32 AM on February 28, 2008

Altered States.
posted by filmgeek at 10:34 AM on February 28, 2008

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace: massive, sprawling. Basically about addiction in general and unhealthy relationships to things both substantial and insubstantial with usual DFW zaniness thrown in.
posted by adoarns at 10:36 AM on February 28, 2008

Here's the Wikipedia list of fictional medicines and drugs.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 10:37 AM on February 28, 2008

May also want to try Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by de Quincey for that steampunk vibe.
posted by adoarns at 10:38 AM on February 28, 2008

This is really old (and non-fiction), but check out the annotated bibliography Drug themes in science fiction by Robert Silverberg. It's pretty comprehensive (up to 1973, anyway).

Also, Vurt and Flowerdust are probably good bets.
posted by cog_nate at 10:42 AM on February 28, 2008

Are you including children's books? In the Zilpha Keatley Snyder Green-Sky trilogy, people eat a berry that makes them dreamy and lethargic, and seems connected to the loss of the telepathic and telekinetic powers they've cultivated.
posted by kristi at 10:50 AM on February 28, 2008

As vague and broad as the question is, here is some good druggie fiction...

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Go Ask Alice, Junky, Naked Lunch, Valley Of The Dolls, Requiem for a Dream, A Scanner Darkly, Beauty Queen, Acid House, Trainspotting, Dope, Crank, Smack, Ecstasy, The Acid House, Acid Dreams and The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.
posted by sophist at 10:52 AM on February 28, 2008

just in case you havent already read it, Island is great.
posted by gcat at 10:56 AM on February 28, 2008

Neuromancer. Totally forgot about that.
posted by hal_c_on at 11:18 AM on February 28, 2008

Technically nonfiction, Food of the Gods has a (probably bullshit) theory that hallucinogens were what aided men in developing language, but also contains an overview of drugs in man's literate history, and possibilities for future legalization in the USA. And most of McKenna's other stuff is wacky philosophy/vision of the future/enlightenment through DMT/shrooms stuff.

LOTS of PKD stuff has drug use in it, although it's legal and all that. . Ubik, Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Now Wait for Last Year are books where the drugs are crucial to the plot. Sometimes they get you "high", sometimes they get you in another place, but sometimes you can't tell the difference. Even Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep has people using drugs just to get through the day, totally socially acceptably.

One exception is The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, about a preacher who thinks that Christ used mushrooms instead of bread in the Last Supper, present-day. In that realm also would be Valis, which is mostly autobiographical, but goes SF wacky at the end.
posted by herbaliser at 11:45 AM on February 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

The plot of Margret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake ultimately focuses on a recreational superdrug - sort of a combination Prozac/Viagra/Birth Control pill.
posted by bibliowench at 12:07 PM on February 28, 2008

Aslan in Franzen's The Corrections.
posted by TG_Plackenfatz at 12:15 PM on February 28, 2008

Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents involve two drugs that influence the plot heavily. One is called pyro and inspires users to light massive fires to get a high from the visuals. The other is a ritalin-like drug that when used by pregnant women gives their children super-empathic abilities (the children feel the physical pain of other people they see injured); it was used for a while as a very respectable way to increase productivity until the side-effect was recognized. The main characters is an empath and it affects her drive to found a new religion.

This is at least the third time I've recommended those books on AskMe. I read other stuff too, I swear.
posted by hippugeek at 12:20 PM on February 28, 2008

Um, The Illuminatus Trilogy?
posted by criticalbill at 3:05 PM on February 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

For a less literary example, a feature of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine television series is an alien empire called The Dominion which has genetically engineered a race of super-soldiers named the Jem'Hadar who are physiologically dependent on a drug called ketrucel-white to ensure their loyalty.

An episode of the Doctor Who series entitled “Nightmare of Eden” contained a generally addictive drug called vraxoin. Here's an entire college essay about it. Also in the episode “The Caves of Androzani” there was a drug called spectrox, valuable because of its life-prolonging effect.

In Larry Niven's Ringworld and other Known Space novels there is a similar drug called boosterspice which extends the human lifespan to hundreds of years.

And speaking of allegorical figures there's of course Marx's “opiate of the masses” remark about religion.

The film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind seems as though it may be implying that memory alteration would be addictive like a drug.
posted by XMLicious at 3:07 PM on February 28, 2008

Norstrilia, by Golden Age sci-fi author Cordwainer Smith, deals with a drug called "stroon" that indefinately extends human life and is harvested from enormous diseased sheep. I think the drug is referenced a few times in his other stories as well.
posted by elendil71 at 3:38 PM on February 28, 2008

Sadie Plant's Writing on Drugs is an interesting non-fiction overview of this subject and may well include some suggestions overlooked in this thread.
posted by KatlaDragon at 6:07 PM on February 28, 2008

Ann Marlowe's How To Stop Time: Heroin From A to Z is a fascinating--and fascinatingly constructed--memoir about heroin use, with plenty of references both to de Quincey and to early 90s indie bands in NYC.

Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son is, to my mind, the great drug novel (actually a collection of interconnected stories).

I used to teach a class called "The Rhetoric of Drugs," but others have already covered the rest of the syllabus!
posted by newrambler at 7:59 PM on February 28, 2008

Nthing Oryx and Crake. Also, in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, the droogies drink drugged milk, and in Orwell's 1984, Winston drinks Government Gin.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 9:41 PM on February 28, 2008

Most anything by William S Burroughs.
posted by juv3nal at 12:08 AM on February 29, 2008

One I forgot from Larry Niven's work is the droud, a cranial implant that electrically stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain, obviating the need for any chemical drug. Droud addicts are called wireheads.

The main character of the Ringworld novels, Louis Wu, is a skilled, degenerate adventurer who has fallen into addiction. He is kidnapped by an alien to perform a mission the alien considers too risky for himself. The alien uses Wu's addiction to manipulate him in various ways.
posted by XMLicious at 12:28 AM on February 29, 2008

And oh, duh, the Island of the Lotus-Eaters from the Odyssey.
posted by XMLicious at 12:31 AM on February 29, 2008

Kate Chopin's short story "An Egyptian Cigarette" is a first-person narrative of a woman in a drug-induced state. It showed up in Vogue in 1897.
posted by mediareport at 8:40 PM on February 29, 2008

Another category that I don't think has been brought up would be drug use among drug runners, see things like Goodfellas or Scarface. Not as analytical or inquisitive of drug experience as other film and literature but it's still a data point.

In H.P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle stories such as The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath his characters, who have developed the ability to travel to other worlds within their dreams, take unspecified drugs to prolong their periods of sleep.
posted by XMLicious at 10:54 PM on February 29, 2008

a bit late to answer this, but i can't believe no one mentioned mr. nice!
posted by messiahwannabe at 8:53 AM on March 1, 2008