#confessions of an english opium eater

[weirdlookindog]

Zhenya Gay (1906-1978) - Illustrations for "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater" by Thomas De Quincey, Heritage Press 1950

[artemismatchalatte]

My 2023 TBR (5/12) 

These are all classics I have yet to read (other than Wuthering Heights- this is one of my new copies). I included this copy of Wuthering Heights because I want to reread it next year since I might be doing my master’s thesis on it.

[aliteraryprincess]

November Wrap Up

I’m not sure how November is already over, but I’m thankful. The quicker I get to my winter break the better. 

Books Read: 6

This was kind of a rough reading month despite me finishing six books. I DNFed two books and only two out of the ones I finished were actually enjoyable. My favorite was by far The Woodlanders, which was a leftover from Victober. My least favorite was The Missionary. 

The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy - 4.5 stars

On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966-1978 by Adrienne Rich - 4 stars

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey - 2.5 stars

New Women, New Novels: Feminism and Early Modernism by Ann L. Ardis - 3 stars

The Missionary: An Indian Tale by Sydney Owenson Morgan - 2 stars

The Daughters of Danaus by Mona Caird - 2.5 stars

On Tumblr:

Well, there’s not much here. Which I guess means I was kind of doing my work, otherwise there would be more lists haha.

October Wrap Up

aliteraryprincess’ 50 Books to Read in 2023

On YouTube:

And there’s a decent amount here, including my Victober wrap up, a book haul, and a list of my top nonfiction books.

October / Victober Wrap Up

November TBR - Nonfiction November and Unfinished Reads

July to October Book Haul

The End of the Year Book Tag

Currently Reading 11/21/22

My Top Nonfiction Books

December TBR

[sorel-nav]

I shed tears, and muse with myself at the mysterious dispensation which so suddenly and so critically separated us forever.

- Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey

[wellconstructedsentences]

What was it that did in reality make me an opium eater? Misery, blank desolation, abiding darkness.

Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey

[travsd]

Two Centuries Ago: The Confessions of an English Opium Eater

Two Centuries Ago: The Confessions of an English Opium Eater

Some foolhardy person attempted a quip on my social media page earlier today with reference to a hallucinatory movie from the 1930s, joking along the lines of “Who knew people were taking drugs as long ago as that?” But as any anthropologist or any college student who stays awake during class ought to be able to tell you, people have been taking hallucinogenic drugs for as long as there have been…

[contremineur]

I ran into pagodas: and was fixed, for centuries, at the summit, or in secret rooms; I was the idol; I was the priest; I was worshipped; I was sacrificed. I fled from the wrath of Brahma through all the forests of Asia; Vishnu hated me; Shiva lay wait for me. I came suddenly upon Isis and Osiris: I had done a deed, they said, which the ibis and crocodile trembled at. Thousands of years I lived and was buried in stone coffins, with mummies and sphinxes, in narrow chambers at the heart of eternal pyramids. I was kissed, with cancerous kisses, by crocodiles; and laid, confounded with all utterable slimy things, amongst reeds and Nilotic mud.

Thomas de Quincey, from Confessions of an English opium-eater (1821)

[shoezuki]

ooo true would you want to talk about the games Utpoia and Sunday's reasoning?

ok disclaimer i havent finished penacony and also i am exceptionally inebriated. like to a phenomenal degree. so maybe this isnt coherent but also perhaps this is and i follow in the footsteps of thomas de quincey and micheal mcclure? idk.

anyways i have obviously been thinkin of the concept of utopia a lot in terms of penacony especially. because im currently taking my stupid utopia course rn. but penacony is very much a Modern idea/perspective of the concept of 'utopia'

in a lot of the older/foundational portrayals of utopia (at least that ive read so far) the concept is very much devoid of individuality, built on the idea of a utopic upper class being predominant, and that all the people 'that matter' being perfectly happy (i.e. thomas more literally coined the term 'utopia' and his concept of utopia was an island wherein slavery persisted when people acted outside of the utopic norms, and non-christians were tolerated; francis bacon's new atlantis was similar but moreso focused on the idea of technological advancements, but still very christian) OR were somewhat satirical and depicted the gluttonous nature of upper classes, depicting such in unsavoury ways (i.e. the myth of cockaigne, a legendary island of abundant food, and some the most notable depictions of it showed people being lazy and over indulgent such as pieter bruegel the elder's land of cockaigne painting. also technically jonathan swift's modest proposal is a satirical utopia)

honkai star rail's penacony is very much a modern idea of utopia. this wont ever be covered in my course because my prof's a coward but a lot of modern 'utopias' are very much satirical and/or commentary about the concept of utopia being built on suffering. older concepts of utopia are very collective, in that whats best for 'everyone' is decided by the higher peoples. but when looking at modern media the concept of utopia and dystopia is often synonymous.

the best example i can thing of rn is the hunger games. from the capital's perspective, it's a utopia. but anyone in the outer districts? fuck no its dystopian. in similar cases (divergent, basically any hunger games copy cat, some the stuff by ursula de le guin i.e. earthsea, etcetecetc) the concept of 'utopia' is largely whether it's truly utopia when it's formed on the suffering of others.

imo penacony questions this in a similar way, but moreso in whether a utopian society is Truly a utopia if it's built on ignorance (the matrix is a similar thing i just thought of). say, if reality continues to be shit and house suffering, whether our own suffering or that of others, but we could enter a false society that was free of such suffering, would it truly be utopia? is ignorance of suffering the same as a lack of suffering? Additionally i think penacony, specifically sunday's ideals, deal with the concept of collective vs. individual utopia. as before, an overall utopia where everyone ascribes to one ideology and belief is a utopia, but at an individual scale, is it still utopian? If someone has individual and contradictory beliefs, or doesn't Want to be within this utopia, is it still a utopia for them?

okay i need to stop writing. but yeah penacony is a very modern idea of utopia that i fuck with severely because it draws into question whether a utopia can be true when it is forced, when it is hegemonic, when it ignores the suffering within reality without actually solving such suffering. imo it's a coward's utopia, a faux-utopia, and hsr especially challenges a utopia that lacks any ability to choose

[drivestraight]

i just wanted to let you know that i think about spit us out reborn at least once a day and it never fails to make me stop and ponder the relationships in my life

something about the tapestry of a life and all the people that are woven into it... ❤️

[artemismatchalatte]

2023 Pinterest 50 Book Reading Challenge

22. A book that was written over 100 years ago

Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey

[kala4akrabee]

@armchairaleck

[sorel-nav]

Then, like a chorus, the passion deepened. Some greater interest was at stake; some mightier cause that ever yet the sword had pleaded, or trumpet had proclaimed.

- Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey

[katacala]

Laudanum???

an underrated detail in pride and prejudice is that elizabeth bennett was home alone on the day darcy proposed because she had a headache. can you imagine. this was in the pre-painkillers era. you’re at home with a headache and then this asshole walks into the room and tells you he loves you and wants to marry you even though he hates your whole family and you’re beneath him. imagine having to deal with that while also having a headache. she doesn’t even have ibuprofen

[annabelle--cane]

reading confessions of an english opium eater so I can read sherlock holmes so I can read bleak house so I can read an academic dissertation about the form and function of nineteenth century literature so I can answer an ask about the magnus archives

[enchantedbook]

Illustration for Thomas De Quincey 's : The Confessions of an English Opium - Eater, 1932 by Laurence W. Chaves

[icecreamwithjackdaniels]

"If in this world there is one misery having no relief, it is the pressure on the heart from the Incommunicable. And if another Sphinx should arise to propose another enigma to man—saying, what burden is that which only is insupportable by human fortitude? I should answer at once: It is the burden of the Incommunicable."

— Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater, 1821