Items related to Confessions of an English Opium Eater (English Library)

Confessions of an English Opium Eater (English Library) - Softcover

 
9780140430615: Confessions of an English Opium Eater (English Library)
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
It may be said without heaitation that there is no foim of literature more certain to pique the curiosity of a reader tliui the form known as Confessions. As the world grows older, it seems that amateurs of the belles-lettres grow ever more inclined to give in their adherence to Popes dictum that the proper study of mankind is man. And hence volumes of Memoirs, of Reminiscences, ever more and more abound. But if Autobiography be a more intimate or sustained form of reminiscence, then, in their turn, Confessions are the quintessence of autobiography. For the tenn implies nothing less than the receiving of a reader into the writei sclosest confidence, than an unrnling of that writers inner self In a word, Confessions come as near to the bald human document as considerations ofthe literary art allow. A voiumeof letters may, of course, reveal much of its writers personality. But correspondence, after all, is conditioned, not only by tlie special occasion which calls it forth, but also by the character of the person to whom it is addressed. Of these conditions the writer of Confessions is independent. He wtites not for the moment, hut for the ages ;and addresses himself to no single limited human creature, but to that ideal reader who enjoys a subjective existence in the mind of every wielder of the goose-quilL Self-revelation, selfvindication, this is the sole animating purpose of the genuine writer of CoufiGS iions. For every volume of Confessions is, in truth, an A pologia. There are two principal ways of writing Confissiions, either of them consecrated by the example of a great modem master; and, given the necsary conditions, by either of these methods a fascinating volume may be produced. The first is that employed by Rousseau who, beginning with a solemn adjuration addressed to the Deity, pledges himself to truth and to the whole truth. This method, to judg
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
"Among the best essayists of the romantic era... De Quincey may be viewed as a proto-Burroughs, as well as a British cousin to Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Baudelaire, he might with a stretch even be seen as an ancestor of the J.G. Ballard...turn immediately to this excellent, detailed and often harrowing biography" (Washington Post)

"Thomas de Quincey was the original cosmonaut of inner space, his Confessions of an English Opium Eater predating the wave of drug buddy literature from William Burroughs to Irvine Welsh by half a century or more" (Glasgow Herald)

"A stimulating cocktail: exotic dream-sequences conjured up in baroque prosepoetry, camp Gothic effects worthy of Hammer Horror, classical quotations, London street-slang and sprawling footnotes on German philosophy. De Quincey served up this heady concoction of high-culture and low-life in all of his finest writings... At his best, however, he is one of the finest English prose stylists for sheer variety and opiumtinted vividness" (Mail on Sunday)

"The first - and still is the finest - literary dope fiend" (Guardian)

"It is one of the classics of 19th-century life writing and its influence is still felt" (Observer)
Book Description:
The original drug memoir - a true nineteenth century account of the pleasures and pains of addiction

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherPenguin Classics
  • Publication date1973
  • ISBN 10 014043061X
  • ISBN 13 9780140430615
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages240
  • Rating

Shipping: £ 9.11
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom

Destination, rates & speeds

Add to Basket

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781551114354: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: And Related Writings (Broadview Editions)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9781551114354
Publisher: Broadview Press, 2009
Softcover

  • 9781523766345: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

    Create..., 2016
    Softcover

  • 9780007920655: Confessions of an English Opium Eater (Collins Classics)

    Harper..., 2012
    Softcover

  • 9781443733670: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

    Pomona..., 2008
    Hardcover

  • 9781788884327: Confessions of an English Opium Eater (Arcturus Classics, 102)

    Arcturus, 2019
    Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Thomas De Quincey
Published by Penguin Classics (1995)
ISBN 10: 014043061X ISBN 13: 9780140430615
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Ergodebooks
(Houston, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # DADAX014043061X

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 31.77
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 9.11
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

De Quincey, Thomas
Published by Penguin Classics (1971)
ISBN 10: 014043061X ISBN 13: 9780140430615
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_014043061X

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 19.22
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 22.19
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds