Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings -

Thomas De Quincey

Oxford University Press

2013

384 páginas

12h 48m

ISBN-13: 9780199600618

This edition presents De Quincey's three finest essays in impassioned autobiography, edited by leading De Quincey scholar and biographer Robert Morrison.

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater launched a fascination with drug use that has continued to our day. Here De Quincey invents recreational drug taking, but he also details both the lurid nightmares that beset him in the depths of his addiction as well as his humiliatingly futile attempts to renounce the drug. Suspiria de Profundis centers on the profound afflictions of De Quincey's childhood, and examines the powerful and often paradoxical relationship between drugs and human creativity. In The English Mail-Coach, the tragedies of De Quincey's past are played out with horrifying repetitiveness against a backdrop of Britain as a Protestant and an imperial power.

Robert Morrison's Introduction considers opium use in the nineteenth century, the confession genre, and the three works in detail, focusing on De Quincey's centrality to his own age and enduring relevance to our own. Morrison also provides detailed and comprehensive annotation, an extensive chronology of De Quincey's life, and the most up-to-date and thorough bibliography on the autobiographical works. Finally, the book features three appendices containing manuscript material related to the three texts, never before available in paperback.

Resenhas (2)

5 (Perfeito)

Curto e interessante

Pelo que li, o primeiro livro com uma descrição tão íntima dos efeitos e males do ópio na Europa. Interessante as explicações sobre a dependência e alívio da dor que tinha no estômago de outros tempos. Enfim, vale a pena quando a pessoa entende como era a Europa na época.