Samuel Taylor Coleridge sits in his study, opium coursing through his veins as he struggles to complete "Christabel." The brilliant poet who gave the world "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" battles demons both chemical and creative. His friendship with William Wordsworth grows strained as Coleridge's dependencies deepen. Sara Hutchinson occupies his thoughts while his marriage crumbles. He lectures to packed halls one day and disappears into laudanum dreams the next. The man who coined "suspension of disbelief" cannot suspend his own torment. Between flashes of transcendent insight and periods of paralysis, Coleridge searches for redemption through philosophy, poetry, and human connection. His notebooks fill with fragments of unfinished masterpieces as he races against time and his own nature.
Genres: biography, literary-fiction, addiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, academic
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Period: 19th-Century
Hardcover · MacMillan Pub Co
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use