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The Dedalus Book of Absinthe by Phil Baker, Dedalus, £9.99, ISBN
1873982941

THAT vague atmosphere of decadence known as fin de siècle applies
strictly to the end of the 19th century. It had a powerful symbol: absinthe, the
green drink that subversive notables of the time such as Oscar Wilde, Paul
Verlaine and Ernest Dowson were alleged to swallow while engaging in nameless
practices.

According to Phil Baker, absinthe is making a comeback as a fashionable
drink. If so, are the drinkers on the slide to degradation, hallucinations,
mania and early death, as was popularly supposed?

The first section of The Dedalus Book of Absinthe is as sensational
as anyone could wish. Many of the famous drinkers, artists, poets and
mountebanks of the time did die young. Absinthe’s reputation became such that it
was eventually banned in France and many other countries. In fact, it is a
highly alcoholic concoction made with wormwood leaves, which give it its green
colour. Its dilution with water is something of a ceremony as the drink turns an
attractive pearly white, adding to its seductiveness.

A component of wormwood, a stimulant called thujone, seems responsible for
absinthe’s special properties—and is thoroughly discussed in the book’s
second section—though the drink’s unusually high alcoholic content must
play a part. This is a hair-raising and informative work with illustrations that
can still shock.