Excerpt from the opening statement: “I here present you, courteous reader, with the record of a remarkable period in my life: according to my application of it, I trust that it will prove not merely an interesting record, but in a considerable degree useful and instructive. In that hope it is that I have drawn it up; and that must be my apology for breaking through that delicate and honourable reserve which, for the most part, restrains us from the public exposure of our own errors and infirmities. Nothing, indeed, is more revolting to English feelings than the spectacle of a human being obtruding on our notice his moral ulcers or scars, and tearing away that “decent drapery” which time or indulgence to human frailty may have drawn over them.”

Product Description: Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859), uno de los mejores prosistas en lengua inglesa, debe su fama universal a estas Confesiones de un inglés comedor de opio. No obstante, resulta paradójico que un carácter original y provisto de una extraordinaria sensibilidad como el de Thomas De Quincey convirtiese su adicción al opio en factor determinante de su vida...read more

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Some portions of this Introduction have been taken from the Athenaeum Press Selections from De Quincey ;many of the notes have also been transferred from that volume. A number of the new notes I owe to a review of the Selections by Dr. Lane Cooper, of Cornell University. I wish also to thank for many favors the Committee and officers of the Glasgow University Library. If a word by way of suggestion to teachers be pertinent, I would venture to remark that the object of the teacher of literature is, of course, only to fulfill the desire of the author to make clear his facts and to bring home his ideas in all their power and beauty. Introductions and notes are only means to this end. Teachers, I think, sometimes lose sight of this fact; I know it is fatally easy for students to forget it. That teacher will have rendered a great service who has kept his pupils alive to the real aim of their studies, to know the author, not to know of him.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org

A true and nightmarish journey to the heart of opium addiction as told by an educated 19th century addict. The author Thomas De Quincey was an English essayist who studied at Worcester College, Oxford, where, we are told, "he came to be looked upon as a strange being who associated with no one." During this time he began to take opium. He became an acquaintance of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, having already sought out Charles Lamb in London. His acquaintance with Wordsworth led to his settling in 1809 at Grasmere, in the Lake District. He died in Edinburgh and is buried in St Cuthbert's Churchyard. His book on opium addiction is broken down into three main parts; The Pleasures of Opium, which discusses the early and largely positive phase of the author's experience with the drug. Introduction to the Pains of Opium, which delivers a second installment of autobiography, taking De Quincey from youth to maturity; and The Pains of Opium, which recounts the extreme of the author's opium experience insomnia, nightmares, frightening visions, and difficult physical symptoms.

Product Description: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is an autobiographical account written by Thomas De Quincey, about his laudanum (opium and alcohol) addiction and its effect on his life. The Confessions was "the first major work De Quincey published and the one which won him fame almost overnight...read more