In combating myself I can only report one bloody defeat after another.

Etching by Attila Sassy (1880-1967) for his Opium Dreams, 1909. Published under the pseudonym Aiglon. Same info for all images. Click for larger versions

Diary entry by Géza Csáth, Jan. 13, 1913.

In combating myself I can only report one bloody defeat after another. Not even in this respect is fortune willing to smile at me. The week started well with daily quantities of 0.044 and 0.046 which I divided into 3-4 portions. But yesterday and today I reached again that awful vicious circle which is the source of the most shameful remorse. The trouble always starts with not having the strength to wait for my mid-morning stool. Because when I succeed in doing this and the morphine leaves the intestines, then it is followed by a pleasant, all-day-long hunger which can be satisfied with the regular amount. But if the first sin takes place in the morning, still in bed or before the bowel movements, the same amount doesn't work properly, and causes no euphoria. To commit sin, to harm myself without enjoying it, this is the bitter thought tormenting me. If I had a gun near me, at times like this, I would blow my brains out, right away.

What do I do instead? Usually before the time is up, 3–4 hours after the first portion, I take the next one. This usually gives euphoric feelings lasting 20–30 minutes, followed by the most miserable, pitiful low, during which:

1. All human endeavors, industriousness, diligence, work, seem to be ridiculous and only hate-provoking.
2. All talk is tiring and stupid.
3. All plans are unrealizable and terrible.
4. All great, beautiful, and noble things are unattainable and futile.

At times like this I smoke one cigarette after another until I no longer feel the taste of the smoke. I eat oranges till I get tired of them. Disgusted, I play the piano. I wash. Visit Olga. Find life insufferable. I make an effort to entertain her, but I lack the true sexual interest, and, therefore, I am just getting bored there. To make my stay bearable I put in 0.02–0.03 in the toilet, hating it. This is followed after dinner by 0.02, then 0.01 and 0.01 again. The last one under the pretext that it already belongs to tomorrow's portion.... This is an immeasurably loathsome and despicable life. I am so disgusting, weak, and pitiful that I have to wonder why Olga still loves me, and hasn't become unfaithful to me. That my weak and forever veiled voice, my steady staring in the mirror, my cynical and shrunken penis, my drawn face, my witless conversation, my impotent, lazy life, my suspicious behavior, my insolence with which I lengthily disappear into the WC, my stupidity haven't disgusted her yet, for ever and ever. I also think that I stink, because with my sense of smell impaired I can no longer smell the stench of my poorly-wiped asshole or the mouth-odor caused by my rotting teeth.

Found in Marianna Birnbaum's introduction to The Magician's Garden and Other Stories by Géza Csáth, trans. Jascha Kessler and Charlotte Rogers (Columbia Univ. Press, 1980). This was reprinted as Opium & Other Stories by Penguin in 1983 as part of their series "Writing from the Other Europe." I usually grab anything in this series because I discovered Bruno Schulz through it. (I don't know if the Penguin edition includes the etchings, but it does include a preface by Angela Carter.) In 2002, Corvina released Opium: Selected Stories, trans. Judith Sollosy.

This will be my next purchase: Diary of Géza Csáth, translated by Peter Reich (Angelusz & Gold, 2004). Based on a quick search, it appears this is the only publication from Angelusz & Gold.

Wikipedia page (in English) for Géza Csáth (1887 - 1919).

Info on Sassy at the bottom of this post.

(Sorry about the tear in this scan. Cropping it would have removed the figure on the right. Note also the skull circle at the bottom.)

Attila Sassy was a contemporary of Csáth, and Columbia included the etchings for purposes of illustration. While Sassy has an obvious affinity with the work of Beardsley and others of Art Noveau (as Birnbaum points out in her note on him), I think he works his own magic.

In a sign of the out-of-control growth of AJRMS, when googling Sassy I stumbled upon an older post featuring two of his bookplates. See the two amazing works at the bottom of the post Ex Libris Dr. (Von) Robert. I should have researched him back in April.