OPIUM FIEND: A 21ST CENTURY SLAVE TO A 19TH CENTURY ADDICTION

Book ID/图书代码： 01240012B55589

English Summary/英文概要： A renowned authority on the secret world of opium recounts his descent into ruinous obsession with one of the world’s oldest and most seductive drugs, in this harrowing memoir of addiction and recovery.

A natural-born collector with a nose for exotic adventure, San Diego–born Steven Martin followed his bliss to Southeast Asia, where he found work as a freelance journalist. While researching an article about the vanishing culture of opium smoking, he was inspired to begin collecting rare nineteenth-century opium-smoking equipment. Over time, he amassed a valuable assortment of exquisite pipes, antique lamps, and other opium-related accessories—and began putting it all to use by smoking an extremely potent form of the drug called chandu. But what started out as recreational use grew into a thirty-pipe-a-day habit that consumed Martin’s every waking hour, left him incapable of work, and exacted a frightful physical and financial toll. In passages that will send a chill up the spine of anyone who has ever lived in the shadow of substance abuse, Martin chronicles his efforts to control and then conquer his addiction—from quitting cold turkey to taking “the cure” at a Buddhist monastery in the Thai countryside.

At once a powerful personal story and a fascinating historical survey, Opium Fiend brims with anecdotes and lore surrounding the drug that some have called the methamphetamine of the nineteenth-century. It recalls the heyday of opium smoking in the United States and Europe and takes us inside the befogged opium dens of China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The drug’s beguiling effects are described in vivid detail—as are the excruciating pains of withdrawal—and there are intoxicating tales of pipes shared with an eclectic collection of opium aficionados, from Dutch dilettantes to hard-core addicts to world-weary foreign correspondents.

A compelling tale of one man’s transformation from respected scholar to hapless drug slave, Opium Fiend puts us under opium’s spell alongside its protagonist, allowing contemporary readers to experience anew the insidious allure of a diabolical vice that the world has all but forgotten.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 強有力的筆觸，深入地記錄了一位外籍唯美主義者與鴉片的糾葛。

記者馬丁 (2007年出版的《鴉片的古董藝術》一書的作者）用嫺熟的技巧構建了一幕不同尋常的回憶錄，讓文字在收集和成癮之間的相似之處游走。隨着在聖地亞哥童年和自己曾在海軍服役一段時期裏，對"任何可以產生美妙幻覺"事物興趣的誘惑，馬丁在發展自己一個晦澀專業前，成為了一位收集紡織品，撰寫曼谷旅行指南的作家：當鴉片在在亞洲、美國和法國氾濫時，精美的鴉片配件也從19 世紀末和 20 世紀初開始盛行。自那時以起，抽鴉片的機會逐漸變得少之又少。有組織犯罪開始大面積地轉向了種植罌粟到海洛因生產，而亞洲各國政府對任何死灰復燃的毒品市場交易行動的打擊，也演變成了一個個令人尷尬的歷史污點。通過作者本人熱衷的收集，馬丁最終遇見了幾個曾接近過純鴉片的信徒。自那時起，他開始擁有一個獨特古董吸食收藏工具的吸煙儀式，他穩定的男人間友誼首先導致了他揮霍無度的頹廢吸食進程，通過鴉片的獨特中毒幻覺似乎讓他對這種物質有了深入的瞭解，但隨之也讓他沉溺於其中無法自拔。他被鴉片的奇妙感覺和他在研究中所描述的那種依賴性的恐懼感所錯愕。最終，耗完了所有的錢財和親朋好友的關係，馬丁成功地在一所佛教寺院內痛苦地戒掉了毒癮。作者詳盡和清晰地敘述；雖然他的一些鴉片遐思看起來猶似荒謬，但他以生動、具體的名詞，抓住了現代東南亞一場超現實主義的歷險之旅。然而他對鴉片成癮的危害是來自於自己本身的痛苦經歷的描述，在當前的大環境下，他看似勇敢的直率表述，使得這本書在近期出版的回憶錄中脫穎而出。 這是一部值得一贊的，和獨具見解的作品，通過提升有關毒品、吸毒成癮和富有爭議的文化故事，成功地融合了個人和社會的複雜問題。(Sandy)

Awards/获奖情况：“Steven Martin’s fascinating memoir runs so much deeper than the standard literature about drugs. Whereas most writers never move beyond obsessive descriptions of physical effects, Martin’s true interests are cultural and intellectual: He connects the urge of the drug addict with the compulsion of the art collector. By the end of this book you’ll have a new sympathy for both kinds of fiend.”—Peter Hessler, author of River Town and Country Driving

“Steven Martin writes with a wit and style every bit as intoxicating as his subject. Entwining endlessly fascinating exotic detail with soul-searing personal revelation, this remarkable author has produced a driving, powerful autobiography unlike any of the countless narco-memoirs cluttering the shelves today. One warning to potential readers: Opium Fiend is the kind of book that makes the rest of the world disappear. It draws you in from the very first page, until you stagger out, blinking at the sun, not sure you ever wanted it to end. Dim the lights, lock the doors, and prepare to be addicted. The kick’s a bitch, but the high is like nothing else in the world.”—Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight

“Opium Fiend is the most engaging memoir of the year. What begins as Steven Martin’s search into the lost history of opium—whose trade was once as consequential to empires as oil is today—becomes a harrowing exploration of the liberating, enlightening, and enslaving ecstasies of a forbidden pipe. It’s a tale not so much of addiction but of self-immolating obsession. While crafting a spellbinding literary read, Martin never loses focus on his original aim. Opium Fiend stands as a fascinating, never-before-told social history of the poppy blossom’s central place in the rise and fall of nations. As addictive as its subject matter, Opium Fiend should come with a warning that it may lead to lost nights and weekends of intensely pleasurable reading.”—Evan Wright, author of Generation Kill and Hella Nation

“This is a beautiful book. Opium Fiend is clear and honest. I don’t know that I have ever been invested in anything with the intellectual and emotional intensity that Martin has for his subject, and there is great romance and literary truth in how the object of his desire is also his undoing.”—Karl Taro Greenfeld, author of Speed Tribes, Boy Alone, and Triburbia

About the Author/作者介绍： 史蒂文·馬丁在聖地亞哥出生和長大。在美國海軍服役四年後，他移居泰國。作為一位自由撰稿人，為美聯社、法新社和《時代雜誌》亞洲版撰寫文章。他還為《寂寞星球》和《旅遊指南》出版社撰寫過旅行指南。馬丁彙集了世界上規模最大、種類最多的鴉片吸食古董收藏用具之一，並撰寫了關於這個問題方面的插圖書籍，《古董鴉片藝術畫冊》。他的專業知識為博物館和電影提供參考價值，最近為 HBO/美國家庭影院的歷史劇《大西洋帝國》提供諮詢服務。

Steven Martin was born and raised in San Diego. After four years in the U.S. Navy, he moved to Thailand. A freelance writer, he has written articles for the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and the Asian edition of Time. He has also contributed to guidebooks for Lonely Planet and Rough Guides. Martin has gathered one of the world’s largest, most diverse collection of antique opium-smoking paraphernalia, and has written an illustrated book on the subject, The Art of Opium Antiques. His expertise has led to consulting work for museums and films, most recently for HBO’s period drama Boardwalk Empire.

Format:照片

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