SOURCE: “Chemistry Set,” in New York, Vol. 29, No. 32, August 19, 1996, pp.48–9.

In the following review, Kirn looks at each of the three novellas contained in Ecstasy, preferring “Fortune's Always Hiding,” because Welsh resists his urge to evangelize on behalf of his favorite drug in this story.

What if it turns out that drug culture is culture? That literature, when you boil it down, is chemical? Take away Balzac's coffee, Faulkner's bourbon, or Kerouac's pep pills, and what would you have left? We’ll never know. Separated from their drugs of choice, certain writers and movements make little sense. And the equation works the other way, too: Opium without De Quincey, and heroin without Burroughs, are just strong cough suppressants. Cocktails without Fitzgerald are just sweet drinks. Of course, not every substance finds its genius (airplane glue remains unclaimed), and not every genius finds his substance (I think of Norman...