Historian and publisher Robert Dickins runs the official Breaking Convention book and merchandise stall.

He is a historian and founder of the Psychedelic Press. His research focuses on the medical, religious and literary history of Modern Britain.

Power, Psychedelics & the Sublime

When author Aldous Huxley used the term ‘sublime’ to poetically describe the effect of psychedelics in a letter, he invoked far older questions about aesthetics and the nature of power. Indeed, these were questions he had explored throughout his career. This talk traces the sublime in Huxley’s drug writing, focusing on the profound impact he foresaw psychedelics having on society, and how his aesthetics of power underscores the pharmasocial relationship between individuals and authority.