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Page:Drug Themes in Science Fiction (Research Issues 9).djvu/22

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Author: Huxley, Aldous
Title: Brave New World
Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London, England
Pages: 214 pp.
Date: 1932
Format: Novel
Descriptor: Drugs as panaceas
Annotation:In mechanized, standardized utopian world of the future, where human beings are synthetically produced in incubators and conditioned for optimum social stability, a drug called soma serves as the utopiate of the masses, distracting and tranquilizing those who might otherwise become restless in their too-comfortable lives.




Author: Keller, David H.
Title: The literary corkscrew
In: Wonder Stories, Vol. 5. No. 8, 867-873
Publisher: Continental Publications, New York
Date: March 1934
Format: Short story
Descriptor: Drugs as intelligence enhancers
Annotation:Satiric story. A professional writer discovers he can write only when in physical pain, and requires his wife to drive a corkscrew into his back to get him started. But the pain of the corkscrew is impossible to sustain for long, and they seek medical help. The doctor they consult discovers that it isn't the pain itself but rather certain hormones secreted as a response to the pain that encourages literary production, and synthesizes a drug that makes writing easier. Doctor takes his own drug and writes a best-seller.






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