Henri Michaux first discovered mescaline in 1956. This encounter proved a lasting influence on the work of the writer who, for at least ten years, struggled to circumscribe, then tried to explain the nature of the terrible shock he had received from the mind-altering chemical. The event was so important for the poet that in due time, it brought about a veritable conversion, a total and uncompromising revision of his most fundamental relationships towards the function of language and thought, and towards the basic premises of existence in general. Signs had hinted, previously, at this sudden transfiguration of his vision. His relationships with other drugs (ether, opium) betrayed his hidden desire to go beyond the limits ordained by his tragically caustic and defiant mind. Yet mescaline alone, as a weapon, proved strong enough to overcome Michaux's chronic insubordination, and clear the prolific way that led him toward the realisation and acceptance of that obscure other whose presence he had hitherto only felt, and which had been asleep within him forever.

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