Biographical Essays

Thomas De QuinceyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 475K words
Chapters: 48

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Biographical Essays by Thomas De QuinceyAuthor: De Quincey, Thomas, 1785-1859,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Aug 1, 2004

Editor's review

This collection of biographical essays gathers De Quincey's periodical pieces on literary figures and displays the hallmark manner of the great Romantic essayist: judgment interwoven with narrative, dense association, and an expansive, rhythmic syntax. Its value lies not in a systematic, complete chronology of lives but in restating persons through a strongly subjective gaze, letting readers see how biography is shaped by the writer's temperament and the tastes of the age. For readers familiar with English Romantic prose, it is an important specimen for understanding De Quincey's style and literary interests; for general readers, it can also serve as a window onto the nineteenth-century English essay. Read it slowly, following the syntax, without seeking information density. Overall, this is a text suited to close reading and annotation rather than a popular biography for quickly acquiring historical facts.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary specialists studying English Romantic prose and the evolution of the essay genre
English learners who need English biographical and critical texts as reading material
Readers interested in nineteenth-century literary life and literary anecdotes
Writing learners who wish to practise long-sentence analysis and close reading

Not a good fit for

Rigorous biography readers expecting a systematic, complete chronology and source-based research
Beginners with limited English reading experience who find nineteenth-century complex syntax difficult
Fast-paced leisure readers seeking tight plotting and brisk narrative

Reading tips

Read essay by essay, one at a time, and after each, restate in your own words the outline of the figure and the author's attitude
When encountering a long sentence, first mark the main clause and insertions, then return to see how the author uses syntax to develop judgment
Prepare a brief chronology of the writers' lives for comparison, distinguishing historical fact from the author's personal commentary
Use annotations to record the author's words of praise and blame, and compile them into a note on writing style

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a complete biography or essayistic criticism?

It is a collection of essayistic biographical pieces. Each piece takes a figure as its thread, but the focus is on the writer's impressions, judgments, and associations rather than systematic chronology and source comparison. Readers can treat it as literary prose and observe how biographical writing is shaped by the author's temperament and the tastes of the age, without expecting complete life details.

Can readers with only average English read this book?

They can try, but should be prepared to read slowly. De Quincey's syntax is long with many insertions, and the vocabulary is rather literary; at first reading it is easy to lose the main clause. It is advisable first to read a short passage for the gist, then break it down sentence by sentence, with a dictionary and background on the writers' lives; if it remains consistently difficult, read a Chinese excerpt or introduction first, then return to the original.

What background knowledge is helpful beforehand?

It is best to have a basic impression of nineteenth-century English literature and periodical culture, to know that De Quincey is famous for Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, and to understand that Romantic prose emphasises subjective feeling and imagination. For the figures discussed, look up brief biographies first so as to distinguish public historical fact from the author's literary elaboration.

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About the author

Thomas De Quincey Author · British · 1785–1859

Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859) was an English essayist and literary critic, born into a merchant family in Manchester and a former student at Oxford who left without taking a degree. He is best known for Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, a work that blends personal experience with dreamlike imagination, distinguished by ornate prose rich in fantasy and musicality. His writings range widely, encompassing autobiography, biographical essays and historical narrative, as seen in The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc, Revolt of the Tartars and several volumes of essays and collected papers. Twenty-one of his works are held in this collection, a testament to the breadth of his output. As one of the important critics of the English Romantic movement, his essays have influenced later essay writing and the confessional mode.