Confessions of an English Opium Eater (Dover Thrift Editions: Biography) - Softcover

Thomas De Quincey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486287424 ISBN 13: 9780486287423

Publisher: Dover Publications, 1995

Synopsis

Although he was an acute literary critic, a voluminous contributor to Blackwood's and other journals, and a perceptive writer on history, biography, and economics, Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859) is best known for his Confessions of an English Opium Eater.
First published in installments in the London Magazine in 1821, the work recounts De Quincey's early years as a precocious student of Greek, his flight from grammar school and subsequent adventures among the outcasts and prostitutes of London, studies at Oxford University and his introduction to opium in 1804 (he hoped that taking the drug would relieve a severe headache). It was the beginning of a long-term addiction to opium, whose effects on his mind are revealed in remarkably vivid descriptions of the dreams and visions he experienced while under its influence.
Describing the general style of the Confessions, an English critic of the period wrote in the London Monthly Review: "They have an air of reality and life; and they exhibit such strong graphic powers as to throw an interest and even a dignity round a subject which in less able hands might have been rendered a tissue of trifles and absurdities."
In later years, De Quincey revised and expanded the first edition of the Confessions into a much longer, more verbose work which lacked the readable intensity of the original. The present edition reprints the first version, generally considered more impressive, and admired for its introspective penetration and journalistic astuteness.

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About the Author

Thomas De Quincey was a journalist and essayist who became famous for his account of being addicted to opium in Confessions of an English Opium Eater. The son of a successful merchant, Quincey's education and reading in early life enabled him to author what was among the first entries in 'addiction literature'. It was only the vast debts caused by his addiction to opium that encouraged his prolific writing career - he would wield his capable literacy in journalism, which helped him meet the amounts he owed to creditors. Although Quincey's compelling account of addiction was published in 1821, his use of opium would persist until late in life. His finances improved thanks to the his daughters helping administrate his limited funds. Quincey died in Edinburgh in 1859 at the age of 74.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0486287424
• ISBN 13: 9780486287423
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80