Opium Den - References in Fiction

References in Fiction

• Rudyard Kipling's short story "The Gate of a Hundred Sorrows" tells the history of a Chinese opium den in India.
• In Charles Dickens's final and uncompleted novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, an opium den is a critical element of the story.
• In the Sherlock Holmes story "The Man with the Twisted Lip" by Arthur Conan Doyle, Dr. Watson goes to an opium den in the East End of London to find Isa Whitney.
• Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin contains a short story where the main character finds herself within an opium den.
• In Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian visits the opium dens of London when indulging in the pleasures of life whether moral or immoral, subject to the influential character Lord Henry and his hedonistic outlook on life.
• In Around the World in Eighty Days, Fix attempts to delay Fogg by giving Passepartout a pipe in a Hong Kong opium den.
• In The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (1913), Nayland Smith and Dr Petrie enter Singapore Charlie's Thames-side opium den in search of Dr Fu Manchu and his henchmen.
• In the 1923 Agatha Christie magazine short story The Lost Mine, Hercule Poirot is forced, much against his will, to conduct part of his investigation in a Limehouse opium den. The story appeared in book form in the American version of Poirot Investigates (1925) and in the UK in Poirot's Early Cases (1974).
• In Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, the main character Tom tells his religious mother that he goes to an opium den.
• In the The Adventures of Tintin story The Blue Lotus, the main character Tintin is involved in infiltrating opium dens.
• In the 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America, the character Noodles (Robert De Niro) frequents an opium den.
• In the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mina Murray finds aged adventurer Allan Quatermain in an opium den. "Singapore Charlie's" den is the setting of their first encounter with the "Devil Doctor".
• In the film adaptation of From Hell the main character frequents opium dens.
• In the Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror XV Ralph and Mr. Burns are shown smoking opium in an opium den in 19th century London.
• In Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, Sally is depicted fainting in an opium den
• In Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Prince Will visits an opium den where a farie version of the drug is smoked. The characters still refer to it as an opium den.
• In the anime and manga Kuroshitsuji, one of the main side characters, Lau, owns an opium den.
• In the 1993 film Tombstone (film), the character, William Brocius aka Curly Bill Brocius played by (Powers Boothe), is seen smoking opium in an Old West opium den before exiting to the street and shooting the town marshal, Fred White (marshal). In reality, Curly Bill was intoxicated by alcohol rather than opium.