Bijeli prah: Slike kokaina u književnosti njemačkog govornog prostora 1920-ih godina
The White Powder: Images of Cocaine in German Language Literary Works of the 1920s

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the image of cocaine in German-language literary works in the years following the First World War. Literary depictions of cocaine are linked to the historical and cultural context—in particular, the role of medicine and the pharmaceutical industry in the spread of cocaine, the social crises, and the excesses of urban life. The aim of the paper is to show how large cities—in this case, Vienna and Berlin—become active agents in the narratives. The focus is on the works written by Walter Rheiner, Hugo Bettauer, and Max Pulver. In the texts selected, cocaine is not “idealized” as a means of attaining pleasure, but is portrayed as a drug that numbs, relieves pain, and embodies the social traumas of the postwar period.

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