Fitz Hugh Ludlow
Fitz Hugh Ludlow (born September 11, 1836 in New York City , † September 12, 1870 ) was an American writer .
Life
He was born the son of an anti-slavery preacher and received a thorough humanistic education as a boy.
Perhaps this knowledge enabled him to describe his intoxication so eloquently, but also so distantly. One of the reasons that prompted the young writer (and friend of Mark Twain ) to experiment with hashish was the assumption that it would open up a sesame full of imagery and ingenuity, as reflected in 1001 Nights . Hashish was mentioned in these stories, and so he believed that their invention might be due to their use of the drug.
In the apocalypse of hashish , Ludlow reveals himself to be a herald of Pythagorean philosophy, which was seldom as clear to him as under the influence of the drug. Pythagoras is said to have traveled to Egypt and India, and Ludlow assumed that his mentor himself was a hashish eater: don't tell me he brought his secret from Phenicia ... No! The two motherlands of Nepenthe (the intoxicant of antiquity described by Homer ) , there is no doubt that he drank his apocalyptic quantum and, through the terribly invigorating effect, became aware of this omnipresent and flowing harmony .
His work The Hashish Eater or Excerpts from the Life of a Pythagorean was published anonymously for the first time in 1857. With it he wrote the thick book that, according to Théophile Gautier, was necessary to depict a hashish hallucination .
Publications (selection)
- The heart of the continent: a record of travel across the plains and in Oregon, with an examination of the Mormon principle , first edition 1870
- Little brother: and other genre-pictures , first edition 1867
- On horseback into Oregon , first edition 1864
- The hashish eater - classic of intoxicated world literature. Foreword by Mathias Bröckers , Nachtschatten Verlag, Solothurn 2001, 260 pages, ISBN 3-907080-72-6 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Fitz Hugh Ludlow in the WorldCat bibliographic database
- Literature by and about Fitz Hugh Ludlow in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ludlow, Fitz Hugh |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 11, 1836 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 12, 1870 |