Quest for paradise

Charles Baudelaire presented the collection Les Paradis artificiels ('Artificial Paradises') for publication in 1860. By that time, the poet had already overcome his opium addiction, but he returned to the theme, which was not tabooed at the time, to systematize knowledge. This is a genuine study, partly scientific, partly based on the ordered empirical experience of the poet himself and other well-known participants (such as J.-J. Moreau, Théophile Gautier, and, of course, Thomas De Quincey). Baudelaire is objective, describing all the affects, thoughts, and consequences without embellishments or exaggerations. The work remains worthy in the genre of a psychedelic diary, similar to the notes of Théophile Gautier, Thomas De Quincey, or Aldous Huxley's 'The Doors of Perception.'