Not more I could write, I would take drugs again

Mr. Boyle, have you adjusted the "Bicycle Day" – the bike ride from LSD-inventor Albert Hofmann in Basel?
no. I love the story, and there are thousands of Reports. To me, the idea was to tell the bike ride from the perspective of the assistant of Hofmann liked. It's almost a kind of fairy tale. That is why I have separated you from the Rest of the book; as a kind of prehistory.

What was the starting point for your book? LSD or Timothy Leary, the drug guru?
I always wanted to write something about the "Bicycle Day". It was only me, it is not clear in what context. It could have been a short story ... I thought then for a while, until I heard six years ago or so, the LSD was back in the recovery; and while in its first, original Form: in order to be in psychotherapy, used to defuse all the defense mechanisms we have. Leary, for me, is only a starting point. He interested me less than the question of how the LSD found its way out of the lab and into society.

LSD can really be eye-opening miracle drug, when Leary and his people had not lost control of it?
Hm. It is hard to think of history differently. It is what it is. But you will have noticed that in the beginning, in the ' 60s, the desire was there to take really hard drugs like Heroin or LSD, to go really far away in the Trips. And then we woke up Hippies and began to meter the consumption of something. Finally, we ended up at cocaine, because we thought: That's for sure! You draw a couple of lines, goes home, goes to bed. But it didn't work. But LSD certainly has inspired a large part of the art, the music of this time.

The intentions at the beginning were fair: These professors wanted to discover something, in the spirit of the people, the patients. This is not to condemn, per se, or?
no. And now we are back. The drug is again applied clinically. So it should always be. But she is also very seductive.

Was that Leary and his friends aware of it?
Ahhhh. (hesitates) What makes me really interested in: Making LSD, it is possible to see God? Is it true that LSD has this power? If Yes, then God just is an invention, nothing more than a Stimulation of nerve cells. A part of the material I read for this book, claiming that all religions go back to the cult or cults who have worked with any mind-altering substances.

The writing in the book. You quote yourself just for yourself.
Correctly. Basically, it's in all of my books, a question: Is there a way to extend our five senses? We have a control mechanism that allows us, sitting here together and talking to each other. We filter everything. My dog was sitting here and the world in a different way. For him, everything is smell. He would be able to perceive a different dog three streets over. I am a Materialist. I believe only what I see, hear, touch. But there is much more to it than that. LSD is a way to understand this?

at the end of the book there is a scene early in the morning on a lake. A strong experience of nature. This is not your way to say to the reader: "you have need of all this drug stuff!"
no. Not at all.

I have interpreted them incorrectly.
no, that's not true either. I tell the reader nothing. I create fiction, a work of art, to interpret for you, as you want. Now, I could write a Dissertation about what I mean by that. However, that is not fair. Not fair to the reader. Because that's the beauty of a book: It is interactive. The story develops as I write. And I write without a Thesis, or a kind of script. – You know that I experimented with drugs?

Yes, I read it.
I took Heroin, tried LSD, but I had nothing else in life. I was angry. The opium addiction within the working class of the United States today as a result. These people are desperate, they have nothing to do. They would say to me: "From tomorrow you are not allowed to write!", then I would go and take drugs. In my case, and this may sound cheesy, it was so that I discovered the Letter from the drugs, got away.

Because you had a goal?
After 9000 nights to the hilt in a Bar, I thought to myself: Maybe there's something else in life? I submitted a story, it was published, because I wrote myself into this Iowa-Writers-Workshop, and I went to the West. I was for the first Time to the West of the Hudson River. It was a kind of demarcation line: you brought me away from the New York drug scene. I was in Iowa, 25 years old, a bit grown-up, and replaced it for me at all.

you may call this corny, But not even a good book can seem mind-expanding?
of Course. Art is like a monkey on the shoulder. You can get rid. When I'm Writing, I lose myself, it's a rush. It is syringes, such as Heroin. And the next day you are addicted. And you are looking for this noise again and again. So for me it is.

that's Why they are so productive.
Yes, probably. It is my pleasure. Me has often been suggested, to work for the Film. What would I do there? Make more money? For what? I don't need more money. I also write never with the idea in your head, whether this will sell well or not.

we get a bit further: Why is rampant in American society, the consumption of drugs?
We can make it even more General: Why we all need drugs, or alcohol? Because our consciousness is so depressing. We need to escape it. Especially in our always-stöpselten society. How many people have nature experiences? You go out, pull the plugs out of your ears! You smell how good it smells.

city-dwellers more susceptible to the drug are, Therefore, as the people in the country?
no, it is not. If you look at the Numbers in the US, the grass, the drugs, based on the country even stronger.

Why?
Because of boredom, because of the lack of prospects. Then you start to drink or take drugs.

Has led to the same Future absence of Donald Trumpals President?
Absolutely. Yes. And the Propaganda. Our working class has limited access to news sources, and is easy to manipulate. I can allow myself to say so, because I'm in contrast to the intelligentsia, also from the working class. I was the First one in our family has ever attended College. I know these people and respect them. But they choose against their best intentions. You are voting against Healthcare they are Healthcare need.

What concerns me is the break in the American society. You are no longer listening to each other.
you are right. I'm very bad at politics to predict. I was here before the elections in 2016, and said, this Clown will never be chosen. The day after the election, the press wanted to know what was my reaction. And I said: "I'm the Problem!"

you? Why?
Because there is no common ground anymore. The other side believes in the control of large companies. The fact that we are allowed to be milked. I believe in the rights of women, protection of the environment, to public schools. Take a look at who is in the White house responsible for parenting! Betsy DeVos. A billionaire who has dedicated her whole life to the negation of Public Education. I don't see this common ground.

How does this division of the country?
It feels almost like a civil war. And no matter whether Liberal or Conservative: We are all servants of the big corporations that control everything. That is the Problem. Because these companies are melting the polar ice caps no matter. All you care about are the numbers of the next quarter.

literature Is a weapon against all of this?
Yes. Any kind of art and education is a weapon, because it was ignorance that Donald Trump is a choice of helped.

T. C. Boyle: The light. Roman. From the English by Dirk van Gunsteren. Hanser, Munich, 2019. 380 p., approximately 36 Fr.

(editing Tamedia)

Created: 12.02.2019, 17:57 PM