Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: Thomas de Quincey (Macmillan Collector's Library, 206) - Hardcover

Quincey, Thomas De

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1509899790 ISBN 13: 9781509899791

Publisher: Macmillan Collector's Library, 2019

Synopsis

Explosive and unforgiving, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater describes in searing detail the pleasure, pain and mind-expanding powers of opium.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by biographer, critic and academic Dr Frances Wilson.

Thomas De Quincey takes us on a journey from his grammar school childhood to his homeless adolescence in Wales, from befriending prostitutes during his nocturnal wanderings in London to enrolling at Oxford University only to drop out when his drug use overcomes him. Thrust into a disorientating world of extreme euphoria and vivid nightmares, De Quincey’s life story is both unpredictable and deeply personal. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is considered to be the first published autobiography to explore the lure and effects of addiction.

About 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 Source: 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 Source: Glasgow Herald

A stimulating cocktail: exotic dream sequences conjured up in baroque prose-poetry, camp Gothic effects worthy of Hammer Horror, classical quotations, London street-slang and sprawling footnotes on German philosophy Source: Mail on Sunday

The first – and still the finest – literary dope fiend Source: Guardian

It is one of the classics of nineteenth-century life writing and its influence is still felt Source: Observer

About the Author

Thomas De Quincey was born in Manchester in 1785. Highly intelligent but with a rebellious spirit, he was offered a place at Oxford University while still a student at Manchester Grammar School. But unwilling to complete his studies, he ran away and lived on the streets, first in Wales and then in London. Eventually he returned home and took up his place at Oxford, but quit before completing his degree. A friend of Coleridge and Wordsworth, he eventually settled in Grasmere in the Lake District and worked as a journalist. He first wrote about his opium experiences in essays for The London Magazine, and these were printed in book form in 1822. De Quincey died in 1859.

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan Collector's Library
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1509899790
• ISBN 13: 9781509899791
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128