..The Myth of the Green Fairy
Distilling the Scientific Truth about Absinthe

Author: Cargill, Kima

Source: Food, Culture and Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Volume 11, Number 1, March 2008 , pp. 87-99(13)

Publisher: Berg Publishers

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Abstract:

In spite of its history and illegality, the use of absinthe, the aperitif made famous in fin de siècle Parisian cafés, is on the rise again in the United States and abroad. Writers and artists like Baudelaire, Verlaine, Wilde, van Gogh, Hemingway, Degas, Picasso and Gauguin all prominently featured absinthe in their writing and art, often attributing their creativity, as well as emotional instability, to the effects of la fée verte, or the green fairy. Consequently, absinthe has earned a reputation as a mysterious and dangerous substance capable of inducing all manner of psychosis, violence and passion. Yet contemporary science shows that the absinthe myth cannot be accounted for by the pharmacological reality. This article describes the history of absinthe and recent scientific developments, and uses a psychoanalytic framework to explain why the absinthe myth endures.

Keywords: ABSINTHE; VAN GOGH; THUJONE; WORMWOOD; GREEN FAIRY

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/155280108X2276069

Publication date: 2008-03-01

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Formerly, The Journal for the Study of Food and Society (ISSN: 1528-9796). Click here to see all previous issues.
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