Confessions of an English Opium-eater - Couverture souple

De Quincey, Thomas

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1605206911 ISBN 13 : 9781605206912

Editeur : Cosimo Classics, 2010

Synopsis

It is one of the first authoritative works on drug usage and addiction, and it was so influential that it inspired some contemporary writers to their own usage. Arthur Conan Doyle used it as the basis for one of his Sherlock Holmes stories. The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is a startling firsthand account by English translator and essayist THOMAS DE QUINCEY (1785-1859) of his addiction to opium, which he initially began taking to soothe the pain of his nerve disorders and eventually resorted to for its capacity to enhance his creativity. This series of essays-on everything from the pleasures and pains of opium use to the impact on a user's wallet-first appeared anonymously in the magazine London in 1821, and were such a hit that they were soon collected in this book, first published the next year. They remain a compelling look inside the mind of an addict.

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

"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)

Biographie de l'auteur

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.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Cosimo Classics
• Date d'édition: 2010
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1605206911
• ISBN 13: 9781605206912
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 88
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Allemagne