Confessions of an English Opium Eater
by De Quincey, Thomas
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- See description
- ISBN 10
- 0140439013
- ISBN 13
- 9780140439014
- Seller
-
Eureka, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
A masterpiece of autobiography, and perhaps the first literary memoir of an addict, the Penguin Classics edition of Thomas De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is edited with an introduction by Barry Milligan.
Confessions is a remarkable account of the pleasures and pains of worshipping at the 'Church of Opium'. Thomas De Quincey consumed daily large quantities of laudanum (at the time a legal painkiller), and this autobiography of addiction hauntingly describes his surreal visions and hallucinatory nocturnal wanderings through London, along with the nightmares, despair and paranoia to which he became prey. The result is a work in which the effects of drugs and the nature of dreams, memory and imagination are seamlessly interwoven, describing in intimate detail the mind-altering pleasures and pains unique to opium. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater forged a link between artistic self-expression and addiction, paving the way for later generations of literary addicts from Baudelaire to James Frey, and anticipating psychoanalysis with its insights into the subconscious. This edition is based on the original serial version of 1821, and reproduces two 'sequels', 'Suspiria de Profundis' (1845) and 'The English Mail-Coach' (1849). It also includes a critical introduction discussing the romantic figure of the addict and the tradition of confessional literature, and an appendix on opium in the nineteenth century. Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) studied at Oxford, failing to take his degree but discovering opium. He later met Coleridge, Southey and the Wordsworths. From 1828 until his death he lived in Edinburgh and made his living from journalism. If you enjoyed Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, you might like William S. Burroughs' Junky, available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'De Quincey was one of the first great autobiographers'Jonathan Bate
Synopsis
Confessions of an English Opium-eater is an autobiographical account written by Thomas de Quincey about his addiction to laudanum - a combination of opium and alcohol - and its effects. He first had it published anonymously in the London Magazine in 1821, but it was released as a book the following year.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Eureka Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 345700
- Title
- Confessions of an English Opium Eater
- Author
- De Quincey, Thomas
- Format/Binding
- Trade Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0140439013
- ISBN 13
- 9780140439014
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2003
Terms of Sale
Eureka Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item is not as described or it arrives damaged.
About the Seller
Eureka Books
About Eureka Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Trade Paperback
- Used to indicate any paperback book that is larger than a mass-market paperback and is often more similar in size to a hardcover...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...