Scan barcode
dori_anne's review against another edition
2.0
It had on my soul the effect of a friendly smile that understands the deepest feelings.
His thoughts about theatre bored me though. Probably because I don't care about it. Didn't try to understand everything and check out every of his references. It would be as absurd as someone trying to decifer my notebooks. What we had in common made me feel warm and less alone. That's enough for me.
This is genius by the way : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-t1Wo8JEdQ&ab_channel=iomicrab
His thoughts about theatre bored me though. Probably because I don't care about it. Didn't try to understand everything and check out every of his references. It would be as absurd as someone trying to decifer my notebooks. What we had in common made me feel warm and less alone. That's enough for me.
This is genius by the way : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-t1Wo8JEdQ&ab_channel=iomicrab
margztgz's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Cocteau confuses me, but I think the fragmented and erratic style of this book is engaging although the structure is so random. I mostly just skimmed the second half of this book. But clearly he had a visionary mind, and it's cool watching his films along with this book.
One of the best parts of this was his drawings at the end though. They're so cool and surrealist, he's just like me fr when I hit the bong and go non verbal <3
One of the best parts of this was his drawings at the end though. They're so cool and surrealist, he's just like me fr when I hit the bong and go non verbal <3
grassandrogers's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
partypete's review against another edition
5.0
there is an extensive history of authors and their drug use. this is one of the more interesting ones. tracing a roughly two month period, he passes through rehab, beginning with an obsessive meditation on opium use, distancing his discussion to the realm of dreams, and ultimately ending on the people he knew around town (Proust, Picasso, &c.)
claudiaamteixeira's review against another edition
4.0
"Wisdom is to be mad when circumstances are worthwhile"
"One more thing still delights me and takes me back instantaneously back to childhood: Thunder. A thunderstorm assured a house full of people, a fire, games,a day that was intimate without deserters. It is undoubtedly the old sensation of intimacy that governs the delight I feel when I listen to thunder"
A serious of different texts combined into what was meant to be a journal of a Cure to an Opium addiction, it is rather intriguing how we see the growth of the writer, his own personal growth as an artist. He portraits that any form of art, like drawing and writing can be an escape, it is a roller coaster for an artist, with the intensity to create and the worthless feeling when he can't create anymore.
It relies on important questions aside from the opium, question we even ask ourselves: what is individualism? what is self-expression? There's also the question of how opium improves or not an artist's work.
I've enjoyed every page from it, it is different, there's no narrative, there's just notes from his days battling to cure his addiction, and within those notes his pain is so imminent.
"One more thing still delights me and takes me back instantaneously back to childhood: Thunder. A thunderstorm assured a house full of people, a fire, games,a day that was intimate without deserters. It is undoubtedly the old sensation of intimacy that governs the delight I feel when I listen to thunder"
A serious of different texts combined into what was meant to be a journal of a Cure to an Opium addiction, it is rather intriguing how we see the growth of the writer, his own personal growth as an artist. He portraits that any form of art, like drawing and writing can be an escape, it is a roller coaster for an artist, with the intensity to create and the worthless feeling when he can't create anymore.
It relies on important questions aside from the opium, question we even ask ourselves: what is individualism? what is self-expression? There's also the question of how opium improves or not an artist's work.
I've enjoyed every page from it, it is different, there's no narrative, there's just notes from his days battling to cure his addiction, and within those notes his pain is so imminent.
gildius's review against another edition
4.0
Read my review on my blog:
http://www.50ayear.com/2013/02/09/3-opium-by-jean-cocteau/
http://www.50ayear.com/2013/02/09/3-opium-by-jean-cocteau/
rosa44's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
<Jean Cocteau se destacó en distintas esferas del arte. Su personalidad multifacética y creativa también muestra otra arista, la adictiva. Su adicción al opio derivó en una internación para desintoxicarse entre los años 1928-1929. El libro Opio. Diario de una desintoxicación publicado en 1930 es el crudo relato de esos días de sufrimiento necesarios para Jean Cocteau. Estos relatos fragmentario se alternan con dibujos y collages de su estancia en la clínica Saint-Cloud.
En este libro Cocteau aborda muchos temas. Si bien el opio y todas las implicancias de esta droga constituyen el elemento central de sus apuntes, Cocteau narra muchas anécdotas, sucesos de su infancia, historias con otros artistas reconocidos, compara libros, critica películas, habla de sus lecturas, de la génesis y hechura de algunas de sus propias obras, etc. El espectro de temas es amplio pero la mirada es siempre artística, reflexiva, crítica e indagatoria.
Sus dibujos reflejan de manera contundente su estado físico, mental y psicológico. El segundo dibujo representa una mano que sostiene al mismo tiempo un lápiz y un cigarrillo; mientras que en el último dibujo la mano está abierta, libre, no sostiene nada. Las manos, el corazón, los ojos y la cabeza son partes del cuerpo que en sus dibujos se muestran cercenados y expuestos, sangrantes, desorbitados, atravesados por elementos lacerantes, Así como el texto es fragmentario, también esa fragmentación se traslada a sus dibujos de una manera impactante para el lector. Cuerpos torturados, yacientes, desesperados, clamantes, desintegrados, y en plena agonía pueblan el texto. Como dice Cocteau: "Dejo al dibujo la tarea de expresar las torturas". Como el dolor y el sufrimiento es difícil de narrar, el lenguaje visual es mucho más eficiente y representativo que las palabras. Después de dos semanas las reacciones críticas de su cuerpo se aplacan y un solo dibujo tranquilizador ilustra ese momento: un hombre acostado en la cama con los brazos detrás de la cabeza en estado pacífico y con el cuerpo sin marcas ni torturas de ningún tipo.
A pesar de la crudeza del relato del autor en primera persona, Opio. Diario de una desintoxicación es un libro que no se puede dejar de leer por lo intrincado pero, al mismo tiempo, interesante y entretenido en otros momentos. Cocteau considera que su experiencia tortuosa debe quedar plasmada en la escritura y que , incluso, puede servir de ejemplo para otras personas en su misma situación: "Deseo que éste informe encuentre un sitio entre los folletos de los médicos y la literatura del opio. Acaso pueda servir de guía a los neófitos que no reconocen, en la lentitud del opio, una de las figuras más peligrosas de la velocidad">.
More...