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“That Vast Quantity of Laudanum I Have Been Known to Take”Globalization, Empire, and the Performance of Addiction in the Eighteenth Century

“That Vast Quantity of Laudanum I Have Been Known to Take”Globalization, Empire, and the... An impostor who claimed to be a refugee from Formosa (present-day Taiwan) named George Psalmanazar (1679?–1763) embodied two key aspects of addiction in eighteenth-century Europe: its connections to globalization and imperialism, and the complex interplay between the concept of “positive” addictions (such as addiction to study, devotion, or duty) and the growing attention paid to “negative” ones (addiction to superstition, sexuality, or intoxicating substances). Constantly changing his identity in response to his audience’s expectations, Psalmanazar lived a life of continual performance—performance that hinged on trading one set of addictions for another. As he abandoned his falsified persona as an opiate-addicted, sexually licentious Taiwanese aristocrat, Psalmanazar embraced a postimposture persona as a pious scholar of religion who, like the holy men he studied, was “addicted to the reading . . . [of] sacred writings.” Strikingly, however, this second life as a humble scholar was sustained by regular opiate use. What had changed was how Psalmanazar thought about his use of the drug: no longer in the service of “vanity” or “extravagance” but instead in the service of God. With their blend of introspection and self-deception, Psalmanazar’s Memoirs (1764) index the changing social and cultural roles of opiates and the concept of addiction in eighteenth-century Europe and beyond. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png English Language Notes Duke University Press

“That Vast Quantity of Laudanum I Have Been Known to Take”Globalization, Empire, and the Performance of Addiction in the Eighteenth Century

Breen, Benjamin; Lemon, Rebecca
English Language Notes , Volume 60 (1) – Apr 1, 2022
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19 pages

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Copyright
Copyright © 2022 Regents of the University of Colorado
ISSN
0013-8282
eISSN
2573-3575
DOI
10.1215/00138282-9560232
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

An impostor who claimed to be a refugee from Formosa (present-day Taiwan) named George Psalmanazar (1679?–1763) embodied two key aspects of addiction in eighteenth-century Europe: its connections to globalization and imperialism, and the complex interplay between the concept of “positive” addictions (such as addiction to study, devotion, or duty) and the growing attention paid to “negative” ones (addiction to superstition, sexuality, or intoxicating substances). Constantly changing his identity in response to his audience’s expectations, Psalmanazar lived a life of continual performance—performance that hinged on trading one set of addictions for another. As he abandoned his falsified persona as an opiate-addicted, sexually licentious Taiwanese aristocrat, Psalmanazar embraced a postimposture persona as a pious scholar of religion who, like the holy men he studied, was “addicted to the reading . . . [of] sacred writings.” Strikingly, however, this second life as a humble scholar was sustained by regular opiate use. What had changed was how Psalmanazar thought about his use of the drug: no longer in the service of “vanity” or “extravagance” but instead in the service of God. With their blend of introspection and self-deception, Psalmanazar’s Memoirs (1764) index the changing social and cultural roles of opiates and the concept of addiction in eighteenth-century Europe and beyond.

Journal

English Language Notes – Duke University Press

Published: Apr 1, 2022

References

  • Morality and Medical Science: Concepts of Narcotic Addiction in Britain, 1820–1926
    Berridge, Virginia
  • No Man Is an Island: Early Modern Globalization, Knowledge Networks, and George Psalmanazar’s Formosa
    Breen, Benjamin
  • The Psalmanazar Affair and the Birth of Taiwan Studies in Europe: A Reassessment of the Historic Hoax
    Chien, Hung-yi
  • Ch’ing Changing Images of the Overseas Chinese (1644–1912)
    Ching-Hwang, Yen
  • Unpublished Notes on the Romantic Poets by Isaac D’Israeli
    Cline, Clarence Lee
  • Protestant Evangelicals and Addiction in Early Modern English
    Cree, J. M.
  • George Psalmanazar, Impostor and Saint
    De Costa, B. F.
  • Literary Impostures
    D’Israeli, Isaac
  • ‘The Tender Frame of Man’: Disease, Climate, and Racial Difference in India and the West Indies, 1760–1860
    Harrison, Mark
  • Some Account of the Learned Mr. George Psalmanazar
  • Table-Talk
  • Tales Tobacco Told in Sixteenth-Century Europe
    Mancall, Peter C.
  • Plant Economy and Territory Exploitation in the Alps during the Neolithic (5000–4200 cal BC): First Results of Archaeobotanical Studies in the Valais (Switzerland)
    Martin, Lucie
  • The Etymology and Early History of ‘Addiction.’
    Rosenthal, Richard J. Faris, Suzanne B.
  • The Opium Poppy in Europe: Exploring Its Origin and Dispersal during the Neolithic
    Salavert, Aurélie Martin, Lucie Antolín, Ferran Zazzo, Antoine
  • George Psalmanaazaar
  • Plant Economy at a Late Neolithic Lake Dwelling Site in Slovenia at the Time of the Alpine Iceman
    Tolar, Tjaša Jacomet, Stefanie Velušček, Anton Cufar, Katarina
  • Exotic Drugs and English Medicine: England’s Drug Trade, c. 1550–c. 1800
    Wallis, Patrick
  • Intoxicants and the Invention of ‘Consumption.’
    Withington, Phil
  • Where Was the Coffee in Early Modern England?
    Withington, Phil
  • Morality and Medical Science: Concepts of Narcotic Addiction in Britain, 1820–1926
    Berridge, Virginia
  • No Man Is an Island: Early Modern Globalization, Knowledge Networks, and George Psalmanazar’s Formosa
    Breen, Benjamin
  • The Psalmanazar Affair and the Birth of Taiwan Studies in Europe: A Reassessment of the Historic Hoax
    Chien, Hung-yi
  • Ch’ing Changing Images of the Overseas Chinese (1644–1912)
    Ching-Hwang, Yen
  • Unpublished Notes on the Romantic Poets by Isaac D’Israeli
    Cline, Clarence Lee
  • Protestant Evangelicals and Addiction in Early Modern English
    Cree, J. M.
  • George Psalmanazar, Impostor and Saint
    De Costa, B. F.
  • Literary Impostures
    D’Israeli, Isaac
  • ‘The Tender Frame of Man’: Disease, Climate, and Racial Difference in India and the West Indies, 1760–1860
    Harrison, Mark
  • Some Account of the Learned Mr. George Psalmanazar
  • Table-Talk
  • Tales Tobacco Told in Sixteenth-Century Europe
    Mancall, Peter C.
  • Plant Economy and Territory Exploitation in the Alps during the Neolithic (5000–4200 cal BC): First Results of Archaeobotanical Studies in the Valais (Switzerland)
    Martin, Lucie
  • The Etymology and Early History of ‘Addiction.’
    Rosenthal, Richard J. Faris, Suzanne B.
  • The Opium Poppy in Europe: Exploring Its Origin and Dispersal during the Neolithic
    Salavert, Aurélie Martin, Lucie Antolín, Ferran Zazzo, Antoine
  • George Psalmanaazaar
  • Plant Economy at a Late Neolithic Lake Dwelling Site in Slovenia at the Time of the Alpine Iceman
    Tolar, Tjaša Jacomet, Stefanie Velušček, Anton Cufar, Katarina
  • Exotic Drugs and English Medicine: England’s Drug Trade, c. 1550–c. 1800
    Wallis, Patrick
  • Intoxicants and the Invention of ‘Consumption.’
    Withington, Phil
  • Where Was the Coffee in Early Modern England?
    Withington, Phil