The Diary of a Drug Fiend
A nonfiction counterpart from the artistic drug culture Crowley romanticized.
Read our take
Opium: Diary of a Cure
by Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau records withdrawal, dreams, art, memory, and the uneasy bargain between opium and creativity.
- 1930
About Jean Cocteau
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeWritten during treatment for opium addiction, Cocteau’s fragmentary diary moves through withdrawal, artists, lovers, drawings, aphorisms, beauty, and suffering.
What's inside
A writer and artist documents opium withdrawal while reflecting on creativity, memory, desire, and the cost of intoxication.
Why we recommend it
An actual artist’s opium diary
Cocteau writes from inside withdrawal while asking what intoxication gives to art and what it takes away.
What this book explores
Book editions
- Paperback
- Random House
- 9780394177373
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
If you like Jean Cocteau
Explore authors with a similar voice, perspective, and influence.
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
The doctor of the Paris slums who wrote the century's blackest, funniest novel — and changed the sound of French prose.
View author
Gertrude Stein
Writer, collector, and host of the rue de Fleurus salon where modern art and the Lost Generation were curated in the same room.
View author
Colette
The French novelist who wrote the Claudine books under Willy’s name, earned her independence on the music-hall stage, and made women’s private lives a serious literary subject.
View author
References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document Opium: Diary of a Cure, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1Opium: Diary of a Cure
MemoirJean Cocteau, 1930Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
2Opium: Diary of a Cure
Official recordGoogle BooksUsed forOfficial record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
3Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) — Bibliographie
WebsiteBibliothèque nationale de FranceUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the Opium: Diary of a Cure page.
4Jean Cocteau — Les immortels, fauteuil 31
Official recordAcadémie françaiseUsed forOfficial record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
5Encyclopaedia Britannica — Jean Cocteau
WebsiteUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the Opium: Diary of a Cure page.
i
Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
Explore more resources