Advanced Search Request a Book

ORDERS

Readings Orders 0

DEMANDS

Readings Demands 0

Confessions Of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings
[Paperback - 2003]
thomas de quincey
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: Rs.1245 Rs.1120
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.125
Sub-category: Autobiography-others
Additional Category: Classics
Publisher: Penguin Black Classics Uk | ISBN: 9780140439014 | Pages: 350
Shipping Weight: | Dimensions:
Notify

Description

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

About the Author

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. Barry Milligan is Professor of English at Wright State University and author of Pleasures and Pains (Virginia UP, 1995).

Bestsellers in Bio & Autobiography

View All
Tuesdays With Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, And Life's Greatest Lesson
[Paperback - 2006]
mitch albom
In Stock
List Price: $8.99
Our Price: Rs.1195 Rs.1075
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.120
The Letters Of Vincent Van Gogh (Translation)
[Paperback - 1996]
van gogh
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: Rs.2295 Rs.2065
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.230
Long Walk To Freedom
[Paperback - 2013]
nelson mandela
In Stock
List Price: £14.99
Our Price: Rs.2995 Rs.2695
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.300
Letters To Milena
[Paperback - 2018]
franz kafka
In Stock
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: Rs.2245 Rs.2020
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.225
Night
[Paperback - 2006]
elie wiesel
Out of Stock
Availability in 4-6 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: $12.99
Our Price: Rs.2195 Rs.1975
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.220
Crying In H Mart: 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Winner
[Paperback - 2022]
michelle zauner
In Stock
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: Rs.2145 Rs.1930
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.215
Ecce Homo
[Paperback - 2004]
friedrich nietzsche
In Stock
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: Rs.2195 Rs.1975
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.220
Diana: Her True Story-In Her Own Words
[Paperback - 2019]
andrew morton
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £10.99
Our Price: Rs.2745 Rs.2470
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.275
Mr & Mrs Jinnah: The Marriage That Shook India
[Paperback - 2022]
sheela reddy
In Stock
List Price: Rs.1395
Our Price: Rs.1395 Rs.1255
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.140
Spare: The Duke Of Sussex
[Hardback - 2023]
prince harry
In Stock
List Price: £28
Our Price: Rs.4995 Rs.2497
Standard Discount: 50%
You Save: Rs.2498