Book description
"Thou has the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty
opium!" Determined to counter the lies about opium that had been
told by travellers to the Orient and the medical profession, De Quincey
describes his addiction, the consciousness alteringproperties of the
drug, its pleasures and its pains. 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).
