Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies Teaching English Language and Literature for Secondary Schools Be. Jakub Váša The Rebirth of Psychedelic Substances in British Literature Master's Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph. D. 2016 i / declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. Author's signature 2 I would like to thank my supervisor Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. for his advice and help. 3 Table of Contents Introduction 5 1 The Fourth Force of Psychology 8 1.1 The Holy Trinity 10 1.2 Ostracization 11 1.3 Psilocybin 14 1.4 Mescaline 16 1.5 Lysergic acid diethylamide 19 2 A History of Psychedelic Literature 21 2.2 The Guru and the Freak 25 2.3 The 50s-70s Psychedelic Era in the UK 29 2.4 Huxley's View: Doors of Perception & Island 32 3 Britain's Second Take on Psychedelic Literature 41 3.1 The Past is the Future 43 3.2 Retrospection: Albion Dreaming and Psychedelic Renaissance 46 3.3 New Perception: Erin 50 Conclusion 60 Works Cited 63 English Resume 67 Resume 68 4 Introduction Psychedelic substances have been part of society for a long time. A state of mind they can induce is a response to one's need for higher truth that would explain the purpose of one's existence. Some of the ancient civilizations used various substances of natural origin such as mescaline or psilocybin but despite their historical and traditional use were banned before it was possible to utilize their potential. Despite various efforts, their harmful effects have not been validated over the course of last eighty years. On the other hand, there is plenty reports both historical and recent that psychedelic substances can actually help human mental health. Psychedelic substances contributed to development of specific areas of literature, most notably by their potential to extend the mind of the user beyond normal perceptions. There is a considerable number of works in literature that challenge the negative perception psychedelics gained over the years. Such advocates of the use of psychedelic substances as a device enhancing one's imagination through which one can access areas of human psyche unreachable in normal conditions and as such represent the effort to readopt psychedelic substances in the British literature. The United Kingdom has always played a crucial role in the adoption of psychedelic substances but it has been outshined by the revolution of consciousness in the United States. This caused its contribution to the world of psychedelics has not been properly recognized which is something the British authors attempt to redefine in the 21st century with their production of literary works devoted to psychedelics. For this reason, this thesis focuses on the representation of psychedelic substances in literature produced in the United Kingdom in the second half of the 20th century and its reception and presentation during the 21st century, with occasional comparison to the development of the similar culture in the United States, mostly during 5 the second half of the 20 century. Its aim is twofold. Firstly, it seeks to validate the beneficial factor and contribution psychedelic substances have made to the culture and society of the selected period. Secondly, it aims to define the cultural and a spiritual dimension of these substances as per the literature analyzed. The thesis does not focus on the clinical aspect of psychedelics but rather on their recreational use among the human population and its reflection in literature. In other words, it aims to address the free use of such substances, and its fruits, rather than controlled use and experiments within laboratory environment. For this reason, the works analyzed will be mainly those of Aldous Huxley, Hunter S. Thompson, Ben Sessa, Andy Roberts and Robert Dickins with the help of Stanislav Grof and David Lenson and Timothy Leary among the others. The structure of the thesis is chronological. It progresses from the earlier stages of the development of psychedelics and psychedelic sub-culture with respect to the clinical aspects of their nature and effects to provide the reader with necessary background. It further advances to selected authors and analyses of their key works in respect to the effects and use of psychedelic substances. The first part of the thesis introduces the topic and explains the basic substances that present the basis of psychedelic experience and literature (mescaline, psylocibin and LSD). It also briefly mentions transpersonal psychology which is directly linked to psychedelic experience. The second part then elaborates on the development of psychedelics between 1950s-1970s and features analyses of two works of philosopher and writer Aldous Huxely (1894-1963). These works are Island and Doors of Perception. The third part describes the current situation in regard to psychedelics in the UK. It examines three works by three different authors: Andy Roberts is a historian of 6 psychedelic use in the United Kingdom - his work Albion Dreaming is extremely useful in terms of uncovering the history of psychedelic substances in the UK and defining the context of the psychedelic renaissance. Ben Sessa is a psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist experimenting with various substances (MDMA among others) to cure some of mental illnesses such as PTSD. His work Psychedelic Renaissance presents and interesting insight into the development and potential of psychedelics, the more valuable for his scientific background. Robert Dickins is a journalist and an author of the novel Erin which is analyzed here as well. Erin is important for two reasons: First, it demonstrates the continuity of the rebirth of British psychedelic literature. Second, it connects the British literary works to Thompson via a concept called contact high that will be further explained in the thesis. The thesis raises several questions towards the influence of the psychedelic substances on the selected literary works, most importantly questions in regard to position of such literature within the British literature of the second half of the twentieth century and today. It tries to identify the link between 1960's psychedelic literature and its current renaissance as well as it attempts to define the current situation in regard to the use of psychedelic drugs. 7 1 The Fourth Force of Psychology Before the respective substances are discussed, it is important to make a couple of points on the subject of transpersonal psychology mainly because it is crucial to the understanding of psychedelic drugs from the perspective of human mind and unconsciousness. The development in the field of transpersonal psychology during the 1960-70s and the era provided a springboard for future research efforts. Moreover, it is heavily involved with the research done on psychedelic drugs and some of its aspects are directly connected with psychedelic literature produced during 1960-1970 as well as with contemporary works. Donald Moss states that according to Abraham Maslow who marked it the "fourth force of psychology" the transpersonal psychology "was inspired by social and political changes happening in the United States during the 1960s" (Moss in Ruzek, 153) which puts it directly in connection with psychedelic substances. Transpersonal psychology is one of the components of psychology that concerns spiritual aspects in terms of human experience. In its broadest sense it can be said that all the experience acquired via psychedelic drugs is part of this. However, it goes far beyond this simple statement. Transpersonal psychology as developed by Stanislav Grof and Michael Washburn directly draws on the Jungian understanding of collective unconscious, more precisely on Jungian archetypes (Sharma 16-23) which is a concept that echoes through the literature since its beginning. Transpersonal psychology is therefore crucial for psychedelic literature as the altered states of mind directly link to the archetype of the rite of passage. The rite of passages in literature, as Campbell explains, is usually described as series of events the main hero has to undergo in order to transcend or gain wisdom (A Hero With a Thousand Faces 23) is no different than what Stanislav and Christina Grof coined as psychospiritual crisis. According to them it is an episode of unusual experience 8 including change of mind and changes of perceptual, emotional, cognitive and psychosomatic functions that extend beyond usual limits of own self (Grof and Grof 24). There are many examples of how the literature interacts with human psyche or precisely, how the psyche is reflected in it. One example is Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland where the underlying theme is already mentioned rite of passage (among others), another can be found, according to Thomas Roberts in the story of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves". Roberts observes that the story of Snow White can be accessed as a way of plumbing our mind (T. Roberts 29-45) when he reads the story as one's journey to resolution of a psychospiritual crisis. Naturally, it is not just this single archetype that the reader should stick to. Rereading the psychedelic works on the background of transpersonal psychology allows explanation of themes that can occur during the states of altered mind and provides an interesting and valuable explanations on the outcomes of consumption of psychedelic substances and their interpretation. In the literature, however, the rite of passage is indeed a recurring theme. In connection with psychospiritual crisis it answers the question on multiplicity and uniqueness of the experience and the way a psychospiritual crisis is achieved. Transpersonal psychology is not a study guide to a psychedelic experience. As Joseph Campbell observes: "If there is a path it is someone else's path and you are not on the adventure" (Campbell 7). Transpersonal psychology merely offers a subtle hint how psychedelic substances interact in wider context of human psyche.