British Literature (Master Year 1 / Spring)

This course will explore how representations of opium have evolved from the 19th century to the present day. Opium’s powerful presence in our collective imagination conjures up images of opium dens in port cities like London, Shanghai, or New York, and usually go hand in hand with fantastic visions conjured up the opiated imagination. This key scene was brought to life by the writing of Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Oscar Wilde, and has carried on travelling through the popular imagination ever since. It has never ceased to be reconstructed by the technologies of the different eras it passed through – from mass-produced novels to engravings, photographs, films, amusement machines and video games. However, the production and reproduction of this key scene means that the smoke of the opium
den has long obfuscated the complex and multi-layered history of opium. As Amitav Ghosh’s recent historical novels demonstrate, opium was also a flower harvested in the poppy fields of India, a product being transformed in the Ghazipur opium factory, a merchandise being
smuggled into Chinese ports, an intoxicant creating millions of addicts, and a commodity associated with British imperial expansionism. We will study poems, engravings, paintings, photographs, films, and a variety of other media to uncover the fascinating journey of this seed which has changed the course of world history.