Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821) 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...."
First published anonymously in September and October 1821 in the London Magazine, the Confessions was released in book form in 1822, and again in 1856,...
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Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821) 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...."
First published anonymously in September and October 1821 in the London Magazine, the Confessions was released in book form in 1822, and again in 1856, in an edition revised by De Quincey.
As originally published, De Quincey's account was organized into two parts:
Though De Quincey was later criticized for giving too much attention to the pleasure of opium and not enough to the harsh negatives of addiction, The Pains of Opium is in fact significantly longer than The Pleasures. The problem is that even when trying to convey darker truths, De Quincey's language can seem seduced by the compelling nature of the opium experience:
From its first appearance, the literary style of the Confessions...
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