12. Opium statt Syphilis

A new biography, “Baudelaire in Chains,“ insists that intoxication, far from being the wellspring of the poet’s spirit, was “the root of all his problems.“ And that’s a lot of problems, observes the author, Frank Hilton, including Baudelaire’s “inability to manage his financial affairs, his unsatisfactory relationships, his bad health, his guignon“ — the demonic misfortune he believed plagued him — and, most important, his “chronic difficulty in getting down to any prolonged creative work.“ All of this Hilton attributes to Baudelaire’s opium addiction, which, he argues, other biographers have underestimated. Instead, they have blamed syphilis (a diagnosis that Hilton doubts) and other illnesses for his physical sufferings, the heartlessness of his intimates and the stupidity of the public for the rest. / Laura Miller, NYT*) 4.4.04