Issue 551 PDF - Varsity

A18 January 2002www.varsity.cam.ac.ukARTSLITERATURE37Taking drugsSepia-tinted successRichard Pearce reads soberly and says noPeople talking about drugs, interms of the amount they drank,dropped, ingested, or took anally,are not talking about an interestingsubject. Drugs are fine (well, that’sprobably not necessarily true, but this isnot an anti-drug rant nor am I antidrugsper se) and booze has enrichedand even informed my Cambridge life.My advice is simply to take somethingand enjoy it. Do something for its ownsake, and not because you think itmakes you a more interesting person.These are my prejudices, and I shouldbe honest and say I brought each andevery one to Richard Rudgley’s collectionWildest Dreams, An Anthology ofDrug-Related Literature. It is dividedinto seven parts which are broadlylinked historically and thematically,beginning with Second Centuryaccounts of witchcraft and ending withan Irvine Welsh extract set in a BowlsMembers’ Club. The latter is strongestin showing the parsimonious in liferather than being a strict ‘drug piece’.I make this point because while thebook sells itself as ‘drug-related’, theapproach they take – simply recountingdrugs and what they do – is reallytedious. I think the book overstretchesin its aims and what Rudgley believedthat, if he put in a few bits of Burroughsand Howard Marks, their elan woulddiffuse into the boring bits. All of thisleaves little space for writers who usedrug literature as a way into interestingquestions or even just good prose, suchas Baudelaire, Huxley, and IrvineWelsh, all of whom are underused.I should be fair to the book and pointout that the discussions of the variousaspects of drug-use in aboriginal societiesare very-well researched. Again,the point is that the book doesn’t sellitself on those terms. I think the use ofdrugs in non-industrial societies is andwould be extremely interesting, butRudgley has simply collected differentaccounts of drug taking and truncatedthem to the extent where any uniqueflavour they might have is diluted,beyond both real academic interest andaccomplished writing. Will Self’srestrained (I know, but here he really isrestrained) debunking of Burroughsputs Western appropriation of drugreverenceinto perspective.Collections of pieces can be excellentand even exquisite if they are of sufficientquality. The collection here is ofjust too mixed value to be worth considering.If you’re interested in drug-literature,there are better things writtenabout drugs, either appreciated on theirown terms or as windows into life. Idon’t buy Burroughs’, Hunter’s, orMarks’ fixations and there’s not enoughhere to counter their poor writing. Justsay no.Sarah Penn reads and recommends Isabel Allende’s Portrait in SepiaIwould wholeheartedly recommendthis immensely readable familysaga, viewed through the eyes ofAurora, an Anglo-American-Chilean-Chinese girl, which takes place overthe years 1862-1910. It is most definitelynot just a historical drama, buta two-way journey back into therecesses of Aurora’s background, andat the same time forwards through heryouth and married life. We see imagesof the past flash by which are intenseyet fragmented; they originate in thedark corners of myth and memory asshe attempts to reconstruct her ancestry.Here, in the disparate scenes ofturn of the century San Francisco,Edwardian London and war-tornChile, Allende’s characters radiateenergy and life, and a vast yet intimatecanvas of her diverse heritage beginsto emerge.Aurora herself provides the necessaryconstant as she attempts to grasp theelusive threads of her past and weavethem together into some cohesiveidentity. I was gradually drawn moreand more towards Aurora; a measureof Allende’s masterful ability to portraycharacters with tenderness andmaintain a sympathy that never slipsbeyond a realistic sense of humanbehaviour. The members of her familyare likewise drawn with an effectivemixture of the hypnotic magic of legendand an affectionate intimacy. Hergigantic Aunt Paulina rises prominentamongst them as the domineeringmatriarch of the Chilean family,whose massive Florentine bed startsthe novel with its progress across threecontinents. Sexuality and femininityare powerful presences throughout thenovel as Allende confronts issues stillvery much alive today in her nativeChile and in the Western world.The political backdrop also plays animportant role, from the child prostitutesof San Francisco’s China Town tothe civil war and women’s suffragemovement in Chile. Just as Auroramust face the obscure demons of heryouth, so too must Chile come toterms with its own turbulent historyof social unrest and inequality. What Ifound most impressive in Allende’swriting was her skill in painting such awide panorama that stretches throughthree continents and many more cultures,over a period of fifty years, butat the same time maintains a captivatingreality in each tiny detail of personalityand emotion.want to get your creative writing published?want to have it introduced byAndrew Motion andNick Cave?the deadline for submissions to the MayAnthologies 2002 is this Monday, 21 Janentries will not be accepted unless they comply with the following specifications...poetry: up to 5 poems of any lengthfiction: up to 3 pieces of no more than 10,000 words eachyour name should not appear anywhere on the work...please submit a cover sheet with your name,college, email address, home address and the titles of your submissions...send 5 copies of each pieceand each piece on a disk clearly labelled with your name...all submissions to Ed Hall, 11- 12Trumpington St , by 21 Jan 2002.