Podcast appearances and mentions of Thomas De Quincey

Frances Wilson has written biographies of Dorothy Wordsworth, Thomas De Quincey, D.H. Lawrence, and, most recently, Muriel Spark. I thought Electric Spark was excellent. In my review, I wrote: “Wilson has done far more than string the facts together. She has created a strange and vivid portrait of one of the most curious of twentieth century novelists.” In this interview, we covered questions like why Thomas De Quincey is more widely read, why D.H. Lawrence's best books aren't his novels, Frances's conversion to spookiness, what she thinks about a whole range of modern biographers, literature and parasocial relationships, Elizabeth Bowen, George Meredith, and plenty about Muriel Spark.Here are two brief extracts. There is a full transcript below.Henry: De Quincey and Lawrence were the people you wrote about before Muriel Spark, and even though they seem like three very different people, but in their own way, they're all a little bit mad, aren't they?Frances: Yes, that is, I think, something that they have in common. It's something that I'm drawn to. I like writing about difficult people. I don't think I could write about anyone who wasn't difficult. I like difficult people in general. I like the fact that they pose a puzzle and they're hard to crack, and that their difficulty is laid out in their work and as a code. I like tackling really, really stubborn personalities as well. Yes, they were all a bit mad. The madness was what fuelled their journeys without doubt.Henry: This must make it very hard as a biographer. Is there always a code to be cracked, or are you sometimes dealing with someone who is slippery and protean and uncrackable?And.Henry: People listening will be able to tell that Spark is a very spooky person in several different ways. She had what I suppose we would call spiritual beliefs to do with ghosts and other sorts of things. You had a sort of conversion of your own while writing this book, didn't you?Frances: Yes, I did. [laughs] Every time I write a biography, I become very, very, very immersed in who I'm writing about. I learned this from Richard Holmes, who I see as a method biographer. He Footsteps his subjects. He becomes his subjects. I think I recognized when I first read Holmes's Coleridge, when I was a student, that this was how I also wanted to live. I wanted to live inside the minds of the people that I wrote about, because it was very preferable to live inside my own mind. Why not live inside the mind of someone really, really exciting, one with genius?What I felt with Spark wasn't so much that I was immersed by-- I wasn't immersed by her. I felt actually possessed by her. I think this is the Spark effect. I think a lot of her friends felt like this. I think that her lovers possibly felt like this. There is an extraordinary force to her character, which absolutely lives on, even though she's dead, but only recently dead. The conversion I felt, I think, was that I have always been a very enlightenment thinker, very rational, very scientific, very Freudian in my approach to-- I will acknowledge the unconscious but no more.By the time I finished with Spark, I'm pure woo-woo now.TranscriptHenry: Today, I am talking to Frances Wilson. Frances is a biographer. Her latest book, Electric Spark, is a biography of the novelist Muriel Spark, but she has also written about Dorothy Wordsworth, Thomas De Quincey, DH Lawrence and others. Frances, welcome.Frances Wilson: Thank you so much for having me on.Henry: Why don't more people read Thomas De Quincey's work?Frances: [laughs] Oh, God. We're going right into the deep end.[laughter]Frances: I think because there's too much of it. When I chose to write about Thomas De Quincey, I just followed one thread in his writing because Thomas De Quincey was an addict. One of the things he was addicted to was writing. He wrote far, far, far too much. He was a professional hack. He was a transcendental hack, if you like, because all of his writing he did while on opium, which made the sentences too long and too high and very, very hard to read.When I wrote about him, I just followed his interest in murder. He was fascinated by murder as a fine art. The title of one of his best essays is On Murder as One of the Fine Arts. I was also interested in his relationship with Wordsworth. I twinned those together, which meant cutting out about 97% of the rest of his work. I think people do read his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. I think that's a cult text. It was the memoir, if you want to call it a memoir, that kick-started the whole pharmaceutical memoir business on drugs.It was also the first addict's memoir and the first recovery memoir, and I'd say also the first misery memoir. He's very much at the root of English literary culture. We're all De Quincey-an without knowing it, is my argument.Henry: Oh, no, I fully agree. That's what surprises me, that they don't read him more often.Frances: I know it's a shame, isn't it? Of all the Romantic Circle, he's the one who's the most exciting to read. Also, Lamb is wonderfully exciting to read as well, but Lamb's a tiny little bit more grounded than De Quincey, who was literally not grounded. He's floating in an opium haze above you.[laughter]Henry: What I liked about your book was the way you emphasized the book addiction, not just the opium addiction. It is shocking the way he piled up chests full of books and notebooks, and couldn't get into the room because there were too many books in there. He was [crosstalk].Frances: Yes. He had this in common with Muriel Spark. He was a hoarder, but in a much more chaotic way than Spark, because, as you say, he piled up rooms with papers and books until he couldn't get into the room, and so just rented another room. He was someone who had no money at all. The no money he had went on paying rent for rooms, storing what we would be giving to Oxfam, or putting in the recycling bin. Then he'd forget that he was paying rent on all these rooms filled with his mountains of paper. The man was chaos.Henry: What is D.H. Lawrence's best book?Frances: Oh, my argument about Lawrence is that we've gone very badly wrong in our reading of him, in seeing him primarily as a novelist and only secondarily as an essayist and critic and short story writer, and poet. This is because of F.R. Leavis writing that celebration of him called D.H. Lawrence: Novelist, because novels are not the best of Lawrence. I think the best of his novels is absolutely, without doubt, Sons and Lovers. I think we should put the novels in the margins and put in the centre, the poems, travel writing.Absolutely at the centre of the centre should be his studies in classic American literature. His criticism was- We still haven't come to terms with it. It was so good. We haven't heard all of Lawrence's various voices yet. When Lawrence was writing, contemporaries didn't think of Lawrence as a novelist at all. It was anyone's guess what he was going to come out with next. Sometimes it was a novel [laughs] and it was usually a rant about-- sometimes it was a prophecy. Posterity has not treated Lawrence well in any way, but I think where we've been most savage to him is in marginalizing his best writing.Henry: The short fiction is truly extraordinary.Frances: Isn't it?Henry: I always thought Lawrence was someone I didn't want to read, and then I read the short fiction, and I was just obsessed.Frances: It's because in the short fiction, he doesn't have time to go wrong. I think brevity was his perfect length. Give him too much space, and you know he's going to get on his soapbox and start ranting, start mansplaining. He was a terrible mansplainer. Mansplaining his versions of what had gone wrong in the world. It is like a drunk at the end of a too-long dinner party, and you really want to just bundle him out. Give him only a tiny bit of space, and he comes out with the perfection that is his writing.Henry: De Quincey and Lawrence were the people you wrote about before Muriel Spark, and even though they seem like three very different people, but in their own way, they're all a little bit mad, aren't they?Frances: Yes, that is, I think, something that they have in common. It's something that I'm drawn to. I like writing about difficult people. I don't think I could write about anyone who wasn't difficult. I like difficult people in general. I like the fact that they pose a puzzle and they're hard to crack, and that their difficulty is laid out in their work and as a code. I like tackling really, really stubborn personalities as well. Yes, they were all a bit mad. The madness was what fuelled their journeys without doubt.Henry: This must make it very hard as a biographer. Is there always a code to be cracked, or are you sometimes dealing with someone who is slippery and protean and uncrackable?Frances: I think that the way I approach biography is that there is a code to crack, but I'm not necessarily concerned with whether I crack it or not. I think it's just recognizing that there's a hell of a lot going on in the writing and that, in certain cases and not in every case at all, the best way of exploring the psyche of the writer and the complexity of the life is through the writing, which is a argument for psycho biography, which isn't something I necessarily would argue for, because it can be very, very crude.I think with the writers I choose, there is no option. Muriel Spark argued for this as well. She said in her own work as a biographer, which was really very, very strong. She was a biographer before she became a novelist. She thought hard about biography and absolutely in advance of anyone else who thought about biography, she said, "Of course, the only way we can approach the minds of writers is through their work, and the writer's life is encoded in the concerns of their work."When I was writing about Muriel Spark, I followed, as much as I could, to the letter, her own theories of biography, believing that that was part of the code that she left. She said very, very strong and very definitive things about what biography was about and how to write a biography. I tried to follow those rules.Henry: Can we play a little game where I say the names of some biographers and you tell me what you think of them?Frances: Oh my goodness. Okay.Henry: We're not trying to get you into trouble. We just want some quick opinions. A.N. Wilson.Frances: I think he's wonderful as a biographer. I think he's unzipped and he's enthusiastic and he's unpredictable and he's often off the rails. I think his Goethe biography-- Have you read the Goethe biography?Henry: Yes, I thought that was great.Frances: It's just great, isn't it? It's so exciting. I like the way that when he writes about someone, it's almost as if he's memorized the whole of their work.Henry: Yes.Frances: You don't imagine him sitting at a desk piled with books and having to score through his marginalia. It sits in his head, and he just pours it down on a page. I'm always excited by an A.N. Wilson biography. He is one of the few biographers who I would read regardless of who the subject was.Henry: Yes.Frances: I just want to read him.Henry: He does have good range.Frances: He absolutely does have good range.Henry: Selina Hastings.Frances: I was thinking about Selina Hastings this morning, funnily enough, because I had been talking to people over the weekend about her Sybil Bedford biography and why that hadn't lifted. She wrote a very excitingly good life of Nancy Mitford and then a very unexcitingly not good life of Sybil Bedford. I was interested in why the Sybil Bedford simply hadn't worked. I met people this weekend who were saying the same thing, that she was a very good biographer who had just failed [laughs] to give us anything about Sybil Bedford.I think what went wrong in that biography was that she just could not give us her opinions. It's as if she just withdrew from her subject as if she was writing a Wikipedia entry. There were no opinions at all. What the friends I was talking to said was that she just fell out with her subject during the book. That's what happened. She stopped being interested in her. She fell out with her and therefore couldn't be bothered. That's what went wrong.Henry: Interesting. I think her Evelyn Waugh biography is superb.Frances: Yes, I absolutely agree. She was on fire until this last one.Henry: That's one of the best books on Waugh, I think.Frances: Yes.Henry: Absolutely magical.Frances: I also remember, it's a very rare thing, of reading a review of it by Hilary Mantel saying that she had not read a biography that had been as good, ever, as Selina Hastings' on Evelyn Waugh. My goodness, that's high praise, isn't it?Henry: Yes, it is. It is. I'm always trying to push that book on people. Richard Holmes.Frances: He's my favourite. He's the reason that I'm a biographer at all. I think his Coleridge, especially the first volume of the two-volume Coleridge, is one of the great books. It left me breathless when I read it. It was devastating. I also think that his Johnson and Savage book is one of the great books. I love Footsteps as well, his account of the books he didn't write in Footsteps. I think he has a strange magic. When Muriel Spark talked about certain writers and critics having a sixth literary sense, which meant that they tuned into language and thought in a way that the rest of us don't, I think that Richard Holmes does have that. I think he absolutely has it in relation to Coleridge. I'm longing for his Tennyson to come out.Henry: Oh, I know. I know.Frances: Oh, I just can't wait. I'm holding off on reading Tennyson until I've got Holmes to help me read him. Yes, he is quite extraordinary.Henry: I would have given my finger to write the Johnson and Savage book.Frances: Yes, I know. I agree. How often do you return to it?Henry: Oh, all the time. All the time.Frances: Me too.Henry: Michael Holroyd.Frances: Oh, that's interesting, Michael Holroyd, because I think he's one of the great unreads. I think he's in this strange position of being known as a greatest living biographer, but nobody's read him on Augustus John. [laughs] I haven't read his biographies cover to cover because they're too long and it's not in my subject area, but I do look in them, and they're novelistic in their wit and complexity. His sentences are very, very, very entertaining, and there's a lot of freight in each paragraph. I hope that he keeps selling.I love his essays as well, and also, I think that he has been a wonderful ambassador for biography. He's very, very supportive of younger biographers, which not every biographer is, but I know he's been very supportive of younger biographers and is incredibly approachable.Henry: Let's do a few Muriel Spark questions. Why was the Book of Job so important to Muriel Spark?Frances: I think she liked it because it was rogue, because it was the only book of the Bible that wasn't based on any evidence, it wasn't based on any truth. It was a fictional book, and she liked fiction sitting in the middle of fact. That was one of her main things, as all Spark lovers know. She liked the fact that there was this work of pure imagination and extraordinarily powerful imagination sitting in the middle of the Old Testament, and also, she thought it was an absolutely magnificent poem.She saw herself primarily as a poet, and she responded to it as a poem, which, of course, it is. Also, she liked God in it. She described Him as the Incredible Hulk [laughs] and she liked His boastfulness. She enjoyed, as I do, difficult personalities, and she liked the fact that God had such an incredibly difficult personality. She liked the fact that God boasted and boasted and boasted, "I made this and I made that," to Job, but also I think she liked the fact that you hear God's voice.She was much more interested in voices than she was in faces. The fact that God's voice comes out of the burning bush, I think it was an image for her of early radio, this voice speaking, and she liked the fact that what the voice said was tricksy and touchy and impossibly arrogant. He gives Moses all these instructions to lead the Israelites, and Moses says, "But who shall I say sent me? Who are you?" He says, "I am who I am." [laughs] She thought that was completely wonderful. She quotes that all the time about herself. She says, "I know it's a bit large quoting God, but I am who I am." [laughs]Henry: That disembodied voice is very important to her fiction.Frances: Yes.Henry: It's the telephone in Memento Mori.Frances: Yes.Henry: Also, to some extent, tell me what you think of this, the narrator often acts like that.Frances: Like this disembodied voice?Henry: Yes, like you're supposed to feel like you're not quite sure who's telling you this or where you're being told it from. That's why it gets, like in The Ballad of Peckham Rye or something, very weird.Frances: Yes. I'm waiting for the PhD on Muriel Sparks' narrators. Maybe it's being done as we speak, but she's very, very interested in narrators and the difference between first-person and third-person. She was very keen on not having warm narrators, to put it mildly. She makes a strong argument throughout her work for the absence of the seductive narrative. Her narratives are, as we know, unbelievably seductive, but not because we are being flattered as readers and not because the narrator makes herself or himself pretty. The narrator says what they feel like saying, withholds most of what you would like them to say, plays with us, like in a Spark expression, describing her ideal narrator like a cat with a bird [laughs].Henry: I like that. Could she have been a novelist if she had not become a Catholic?Frances: No, she couldn't. The two things happened at the same time. I wonder, actually, whether she became a Catholic in order to become a novelist. It wasn't that becoming a novelist was an accidental effect of being a Catholic. The conversion was, I think, from being a biographer to a novelist rather than from being an Anglican to a Catholic. What happened is a tremendous interest. I think it's the most interesting moment in any life that I've ever written about is the moment of Sparks' conversion because it did break her life in two.She converted when she was in her mid-30s, and several things happened at once. She converted to Catholicism, she became a Catholic, she became a novelist, but she also had this breakdown. The breakdown was very much part of that conversion package. The breakdown was brought on, she says, by taking Dexys. There was slimming pills, amphetamines. She wanted to lose weight. She put on weight very easily, and her weight went up and down throughout her life.She wanted to take these diet pills, but I think she was also taking the pills because she needed to do all-nighters, because she never, ever, ever stopped working. She was addicted to writing, but also she was impoverished and she had to sell her work, and she worked all night. She was in a rush to get her writing done because she'd wasted so much of her life in her early 20s, in a bad marriage trapped in Africa. She needed to buy herself time. She was on these pills, which have terrible side effects, one of which is hallucinations.I think there were other reasons for her breakdown as well. She was very, very sensitive and I think psychologically fragile. Her mother lived in a state of mental fragility, too. She had a crash when she finished her book. She became depressed. Of course, a breakdown isn't the same as depression, but what happened to her in her breakdown was a paranoid attack rather than a breakdown. She didn't crack into nothing and then have to rebuild herself. She just became very paranoid. That paranoia was always there.Again, it's what's exciting about her writing. She was drawn to paranoia in other writers. She liked Cardinal Newman's paranoia. She liked Charlotte Brontë's paranoia, and she had paranoia. During her paranoid attack, she felt very, very interestingly, because nothing that happened in her life was not interesting, that T.S. Eliot was sending her coded messages. He was encoding these messages in his play, The Confidential Clerk, in the program notes to the play, but also in the blurbs he wrote for Faber and Faber, where he was an editor. These messages were very malign and they were encoded in anagrams.The word lived, for example, became devil. I wonder whether one of the things that happened during her breakdown wasn't that she discovered God, but that she met the devil. I don't think that that's unusual as a conversion experience. In fact, the only conversion experience she ever describes, you'll remember, is in The Girls of Slender Means, when she's describing Nicholas Farrington's conversion. That's the only conversion experience she ever describes. She says that his conversion is when he sees one of the girls leaving the burning building, holding a Schiaparelli dress. Suddenly, he's converted because he's seen a vision of evil.She says, "Conversion can be as a result of a recognition of evil, rather than a recognition of good." I think that what might have happened in this big cocktail of things that happened to her during her breakdown/conversion, is that a writer whom she had idolized, T.S. Eliot, who taught her everything that she needed to know about the impersonality of art. Her narrative coldness comes from Eliot, who thought that emotions had no place in art because they were messy, and art should be clean.I think a writer whom she had idolized, she suddenly felt was her enemy because she was converting from his church, because he was an Anglo-Catholic. He was a high Anglican, and she was leaving Anglo-Catholicism to go through the Rubicon, to cross the Rubicon into Catholicism. She felt very strongly that that is something he would not have approved of.Henry: She's also leaving poetry to become a prose writer.Frances: She was leaving his world of poetry. That's absolutely right.Henry: This is a very curious parallel because the same thing exactly happens to De Quincey with his worship of Wordsworth.Frances: You're right.Henry: They have the same obsessive mania. Then this, as you say, not quite a breakdown, but a kind of explosive mania in the break. De Quincey goes out and destroys that mossy hut or whatever it is in the orchard, doesn't he?Frances: Yes, that disgusting hut in the orchard. Yes, you're completely right. What fascinated me about De Quincey, and this was at the heart of the De Quincey book, was how he had been guided his whole life by Wordsworth. He discovered Wordsworth as a boy when he read We Are Seven, that very creepy poem about a little girl sitting on her sibling's grave, describing the sibling as still alive. For De Quincey, who had lost his very adored sister, he felt that Wordsworth had seen into his soul and that Wordsworth was his mentor and his lodestar.He worshipped Wordsworth as someone who understood him and stalked Wordsworth, pursued and stalked him. When he met him, what he discovered was a man without any redeeming qualities at all. He thought he was a dry monster, but it didn't stop him loving the work. In fact, he loved the work more and more. What threw De Quincey completely was that there was such a difference between Wordsworth, the man who had no genius, and Wordsworth, the poet who had nothing but.Eliot described it, the difference between the man who suffers and the mind which creates. What De Quincey was trying to deal with was the fact that he adulated the work, but was absolutely appalled by the man. Yes, you're right, this same experience happened to spark when she began to feel that T.S. Eliot, whom she had never met, was a malign person, but the work was still not only of immense importance to her, but the work had formed her.Henry: You see the Wasteland all over her own work and the shared Dante obsession.Frances: Yes.Henry: It's remarkably strong. She got to the point of thinking that T.S. Eliot was breaking into her house.Frances: Yes. As I said, she had this paranoid imagination, but also what fired her imagination and what repeated itself again and again in the imaginative scenarios that recur in her fiction and nonfiction is the idea of the intruder. It was the image of someone rifling around in cupboards, drawers, looking at manuscripts. This image, you first find it in a piece she wrote about finding herself completely coincidentally, staying the night during the war in the poet Louis MacNeice's house. She didn't know it was Louis MacNeice's house, but he was a poet who was very, very important to her.Spark's coming back from visiting her parents in Edinburgh in 1944. She gets talking to an au pair on the train. By the time they pull into Houston, there's an air raid, and the au pair says, "Come and spend the night at mine. My employers are away and they live nearby in St. John's Wood." Spark goes to this house and sees it's packed with books and papers, and she's fascinated by the quality of the material she finds there.She looks in all the books. She goes into the attic, and she looks at all the papers, and she asks the au pair whose house it is, and the au pair said, "Oh, he's a professor called Professor Louis MacNeice." Spark had just been reading Whitney. He's one of her favourite poets. She retells this story four times in four different forms, as non-fiction, as fiction, as a broadcast, as reflections, but the image that keeps coming back, what she can't get rid of, is the idea of herself as snooping around in this poet's study.She describes herself, in one of the versions, as trying to draw from his papers his power as a writer. She says she sniffs his pens, she puts her hands over his papers, telling herself, "I must become a writer. I must become a writer." Then she makes this weird anonymous phone call. She loved the phone because it was the most strange form of electrical device. She makes a weird anonymous phone call to an agent, saying, "I'm ringing from Louis MacNeice's house, would you like to see my manuscript?" She doesn't give her name, and the agent says yes.Now I don't believe this phone call took place. I think it's part of Sparks' imagination. This idea of someone snooping around in someone else's room was very, very powerful to her. Then she transposed it in her paranoid attack about T.S. Eliot. She transposed the image that Eliot was now in her house, but not going through her papers, but going through her food cupboards. [laughs] In her food cupboards, all she actually had was baked beans because she was a terrible cook. Part of her unwellness at that point was malnutrition. No, she thought that T.S. Eliot was spying on her. She was obsessed with spies. Spies, snoopers, blackmailers.Henry: T.S. Eliot is Stealing My Baked Beans would have been a very good title for a memoir.Frances: It actually would, wouldn't it?Henry: Yes, it'd be great.[laughter]Henry: People listening will be able to tell that Spark is a very spooky person in several different ways. She had what I suppose we would call spiritual beliefs to do with ghosts and other sorts of things. You had a sort of conversion of your own while writing this book, didn't you?Frances: Yes, I did. [laughs] Every time I write a biography, I become very, very, very immersed in who I'm writing about. I learned this from Richard Holmes, who I see as a method biographer. He Footsteps his subjects. He becomes his subjects. I think I recognized when I first read Holmes's Coleridge, when I was a student, that this was how I also wanted to live. I wanted to live inside the minds of the people that I wrote about, because it was very preferable to live inside my own mind. Why not live inside the mind of someone really, really exciting, one with genius?What I felt with Spark wasn't so much that I was immersed by-- I wasn't immersed by her. I felt actually possessed by her. I think this is the Spark effect. I think a lot of her friends felt like this. I think that her lovers possibly felt like this. There is an extraordinary force to her character, which absolutely lives on, even though she's dead, but only recently dead. The conversion I felt, I think, was that I have always been a very enlightenment thinker, very rational, very scientific, very Freudian in my approach to-- I will acknowledge the unconscious but no more.By the time I finished with Spark, I'm pure woo-woo now. Anything can happen. This is one of the reasons Spark was attracted to Catholicism because anything can happen, because it legitimizes the supernatural. I felt so strongly that the supernatural experiences that Spark had were real, that what Spark was describing as the spookiness of our own life were things that actually happened.One of the things I found very, very unsettling about her was that everything that happened to her, she had written about first. She didn't describe her experiences in retrospect. She described them as in foresight. For example, her first single authored published book, because she wrote for a while in collaboration with her lover, Derek Stanford, but her first single authored book was a biography of Mary Shelley.Henry: Great book.Frances: An absolutely wonderful book, which really should be better than any of the other Mary Shelley biographies. She completely got to Mary Shelley. Everything she described in Mary Shelley's life would then happen to Spark. For example, she described Mary Shelley as having her love letters sold. Her lover sold Mary Shelley's love letters, and Mary Shelley was then blackmailed by the person who bought them. This happened to Spark. She described Mary Shelley's closest friends all becoming incredibly jealous of her literary talent. This happened to Spark. She described trusting people who betrayed her. This happened to Spark.Spark was the first person to write about Frankenstein seriously, to treat Frankenstein as a masterpiece rather than as a one-off weird novel that is actually just the screenplay for a Hammer Horror film. This was 1951, remember. Everything she described in Frankenstein as its power is a hybrid text, described the powerful hybrid text that she would later write about. What fascinated her in Frankenstein was the relationship between the creator and the monster, and which one was the monster. This is exactly the story of her own life. I think where she is. She was really interested in art monsters and in the fact that the only powerful writers out there, the only writers who make a dent, are monsters.If you're not a monster, you're just not competing. I think Spark has always spoken about as having a monster-like quality. She says at the end of one of her short stories, Bang-bang You're Dead, "Am I an intellectual woman, or am I a monster?" It's the question that is frequently asked of Spark. I think she worked so hard to monsterize herself. Again, she learnt this from Elliot. She learnt her coldness from Elliot. She learnt indifference from Elliot. There's a very good letter where she's writing to a friend, Shirley Hazzard, in New York.It's after she discovers that her lover, Derek Stanford, has sold her love letters, 70 love letters, which describe two very, very painfully raw, very tender love letters. She describes to Shirley Hazzard this terrible betrayal. She says, "But, I'm over it. I'm over it now. Now I'm just going to be indifferent." She's telling herself to just be indifferent about this. You watch her tutoring herself into the indifference that she needed in order to become the artist that she knew she was.Henry: Is this why she's attracted to mediocrities, because she can possess them and monsterize them, and they're good feeding for her artistic programme?Frances: Her attraction to mediocrities is completely baffling, and it makes writing her biography, a comedy, because the men she was surrounded by were so speck-like. Saw themselves as so important, but were, in fact, so speck-like that you have to laugh, and it was one after another after another. I'd never come across, in my life, so many men I'd never heard of. This was the literary world that she was surrounded by. It's odd, I don't know whether, at the time, she knew how mediocre these mediocrities were.She certainly recognised it in her novels where they're all put together into one corporate personality called the pisseur de copie in A Far Cry from Kensington, where every single literary mediocrity is in that critic who she describes as pissing and vomiting out copy. With Derek Stanford, who was obviously no one's ever heard of now, because he wrote nothing that was memorable, he was her partner from the end of the 40s until-- They ceased their sexual relationship when she started to be interested in becoming a Catholic in 1953, but she was devoted to him up until 1958. She seemed to be completely incapable of recognising that she had the genius and he had none.Her letters to him deferred to him, all the time, as having literary powers that she hadn't got, as having insights that she hadn't got, he's better read than she was. She was such an amazingly good critic. Why could she not see when she looked at his baggy, bad prose that it wasn't good enough? She rated him so highly. When she was co-authoring books with him, which was how she started her literary career, they would occasionally write alternative sentences. Some of her sentences are always absolutely-- they're sharp, lean, sparkling, and witty, and his are way too long and really baggy and they don't say anything. Obviously, you can see that she's irritated by it.She still doesn't say, "Look, I'm going now." It was only when she became a novelist that she said, "I want my mind to myself." She puts, "I want my mind to myself." She didn't want to be in a double act with him. Doubles were important to her. She didn't want to be in a double act with him anymore. He obviously had bought into her adulation of him and hadn't recognised that she had this terrifying power as a writer. It was now his turn to have the breakdown. Spark had the mental breakdown in 1950, '45. When her first novel came out in 1957, it was Stanford who had the breakdown because he couldn't take on board who she was as a novelist.What he didn't know about her as a novelist was her comic sense, how that would fuel the fiction, but also, he didn't recognize because he reviewed her books badly. He didn't recognise that the woman who had been so tender, vulnerable, and loving with him could be this novelist who had nothing to say about tenderness or love. In his reviews, he says, "Why are her characters so cold?" because he thought that she should be writing from the core of her as a human being rather than the core of her as an intellect.Henry: What are her best novels?Frances: Every one I read, I think this has to be the best.[laughter]This is particularly the case in the early novels, where I'm dazzled by The Comforters and think there cannot have been a better first novel of the 20th century or even the 21st century so far. The Comforters. Then read Robinson, her second novel, and think, "Oh God, no, that is her best novel. Then Memento Mori, I think, "Actually, that must be the best novel of the 20th century." [laughs] Then you move on to The Ballad of Peckham Rye, I think, "No, that's even better."The novels landed. It's one of the strange things about her; it took her so long to become a novelist. When she had become one, the novels just landed. Once in one year, two novels landed. In 1959, she had, it was The Bachelors and The Ballad of Peckham Rye, both just completely extraordinary. The novels had been the storing up, and then they just fell on the page. They're different, but samey. They're samey in as much as they're very, very, very clever. They're clever about Catholicism, and they have the same narrative wit. My God, do the plots work in different ways. She was wonderful at plots. She was a great plotter. She liked plots in both senses of the world.She liked the idea of plotting against someone, also laying a plot. She was, at the same time, absolutely horrified by being caught inside someone's plot. That's what The Comforters is about, a young writer called Caroline Rose, who has a breakdown, it's a dramatisation of Sparks' own breakdown, who has a breakdown, and believes that she is caught inside someone else's story. She is a typewriter repeating all of her thoughts. Typewriter and a chorus repeating all of her thoughts.What people say about The Comforters is that Caroline Rose thought she is a heroine of a novel who finds herself trapped in a novel. Actually, if you read what Caroline Rose says in the novel, she doesn't think she's trapped in a novel; she thinks she's trapped in a biography. "There is a typewriter typing the story of our lives," she says to her boyfriend. "Of our lives." Muriel Sparks' first book was about being trapped in a biography, which is, of course, what she brought on herself when she decided to trap herself in a biography. [laughs]Henry: I think I would vote for Loitering with Intent, The Girls of Slender Means as my favourites. I can see that Memento Mori is a good book, but I don't love it, actually.Frances: Really? Interesting. Okay. I completely agree with you about-- I think Loitering with Intent is my overall favourite. Don't you find every time you read it, it's a different book? There are about 12 books I've discovered so far in that book. She loved books inside books, but every time I read it, I think, "Oh my God, it's changed shape again. It's a shape-shifting novel."Henry: We all now need the Frances Wilson essay about the 12 books inside Loitering with Intent.Frances: I know.[laughter]Henry: A few more general questions to close. Did Thomas De Quincey waste his talents?Frances: I wouldn't have said so. I think that's because every single day of his life, he was on opium.Henry: I think the argument is a combination of too much opium and also too much magazine work and not enough "real serious" philosophy, big poems, whatever.Frances: I think the best of his work went into Blackwood's, so the magazine work. When he was taken on by Blackwood's, the razor-sharp Edinburgh magazine, then the best of his work took place. I think that had he only written the murder essays, that would have been enough for me, On Murder as a Fine Art.That was enough. I don't need any more of De Quincey. I think Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is also enough in as much as it's the great memoir of addiction. We don't need any more memoirs of addiction, just read that. It's not just a memoir of being addicted to opium. It's about being addicted to what's what. It's about being a super fan and addicted to writing. He was addicted to everything. If he was in AA now, they'd say, apparently, there are 12 addictions, he had all of them. [laughs]Henry: Yes. People talk a lot about parasocial relationships online, where you read someone online or you follow them, and you have this strange idea in your head that you know them in some way, even though they're just this disembodied online person. You sometimes see people say, "Oh, we should understand this more." I think, "Well, read the history of literature, parasocial relationships everywhere."Frances: That's completely true. I hadn't heard that term before. The history of literature, a parasocial relationship. That's your next book.Henry: There we go. I think what I want from De Quincey is more about Shakespeare, because I think the Macbeth essay is superb.Frances: Absolutely brilliant. On Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth.Henry: Yes, and then you think, "Wait, where's the rest of this book? There should be an essay about every play."Frances: That's an absolutely brilliant example of microhistory, isn't it? Just taking a moment in a play, just the knocking at the gate, the morning after the murders, and blowing that moment up, so it becomes the whole play. Oh, my God, it's good. You're right.Henry: It's so good. What is, I think, "important about it", is that in the 20th century, critics started saying or scholars started saying a lot, "We can't just look at the words on the page. We've got to think about the dramaturgy. We've got to really, really think about how it plays out." De Quincey was an absolute master of that. It's really brilliant.Frances: Yes.Henry: What's your favourite modern novel or novelist?Frances: Oh, Hilary Mantel, without doubt, I think. I think we were lucky enough to live alongside a great, great, great novelist. I think the Wolf Hall trilogy is absolutely the greatest piece of narrative fiction that's come out of the 21st century. I also love her. I love her work as an essayist. I love her. She's spooky like Spark. She was inspired.Henry: Yes, she is. Yes.Frances: She learnt a lot of her cunning from Spark, I think. She's written a very spooky memoir. In fact, the only women novelists who acknowledge Spark as their influencer are Ali Smith and Hilary Mantel, although you can see Spark in William Boyd all the time. I think we're pretty lucky to live alongside William Boyd as well. Looking for real, real greatness, I think there's no one to compare with Mantel. Do you agree?Henry: I don't like the third volume of the trilogy.Frances: Okay. Right.Henry: Yes, in general, I do agree. Yes. I think some people don't like historical fiction for a variety of reasons. It may take some time for her to get it. I think she's acknowledged as being really good. I don't know that she's yet acknowledged at the level that you're saying.Frances: Yes.Henry: I think that will take a little bit longer. Maybe as and when there's a biography that will help with that, which I'm sure there will be a biography.Frances: I think they need to wait. I do think it's important to wait for a reputation to settle before starting the biography. Her biography will be very interesting because she married the same man twice. Her growth as a novelist was so extraordinary. Spark, she spent time in Africa. She had this terrible, terrible illness. She knew something. I think what I love about Mantel is, as with Spark, she knew something. She knew something, and she didn't quite know what it was that she knew. She had to write because of this knowledge. When you read her, you know that she's on a different level of understanding.Henry: You specialise in slightly neglected figures of English literature. Who else among the canonical writers deserves a bit more attention?Frances: Oh, that's interesting. I love minor characters. I think Spark was very witty about describing herself as a minor novelist or a writer of minor novels when she was evidently major. She always saw the comedy in being a minor. All the minor writers interest me. Elizabeth Bowen, Henry Green. No, they have heard Elizabeth Bowen has been treated well by Hermione Lee and Henry Green has been treated well by Jeremy Treglown.Why are they not up there yet? They're so much better than most of their contemporaries. I am mystified and fascinated by why it is that the most powerful writers tend to be kicked into the long grass. It's dazzling. When you read a Henry Green novel, you think, "But this is what it's all about. He's understood everything about what the novel can do. Why has no one heard of him?"Henry: I think Elizabeth Bowen's problem is that she's so concise, dense, and well-structured, and everything really plays its part in the pattern of the whole that it's not breezy reading.Frances: No, it's absolutely not.Henry: I think that probably holds her back in some way, even though when I have pushed it on people, most of the time they've said, "Gosh, she's a genius."Frances: Yes.Henry: It's not an easy genius. Whereas Dickens, the pages sort of fly along, something like that.Frances: Yes. One of the really interesting things about Spark is that she really, really is easy reading. At the same time, there's so much freight in those books. There's so much intellectual weight and so many games being played. There's so many books inside the books. Yet you can just read them for the pleasure. You can just read them for the plot. You can read one in an afternoon and think that you've been lost inside a book for 10 years. You don't get that from Elizabeth Bowen. That's true. The novels, you feel the weight, don't you?Henry: Yes.Frances: She's Jamesian. She's more Jamesian, I think, than Spark is.Henry: Something like A World of Love, it requires quite a lot of you.Frances: Yes, it does. Yes, it's not bedtime reading.Henry: No, exactly.Frances: Sitting up in a library.Henry: Yes. Now, you mentioned James. You're a Henry James expert.Frances: I did my PhD on Henry James.Henry: Yes. Will you ever write about him?Frances: I have, actually. Just a little plug. I've just done a selection of James's short stories, three volumes, which are coming out, I think, later this year for Riverrun with a separate introduction for each volume. I think that's all the writing I'm going to do on James. When I was an academic, I did some academic essays on him for collections and things. No, I've never felt, ever, ready to write on James because he's too complicated. I can only take tiny, tiny bits of James and home in on them.Henry: He's a great one for trying to crack the code.Frances: He really is. In fact, I was struck all the way through writing Electric Spark by James's understanding of the comedy of biography, which is described in the figure in the carpet. Remember that wonderful story where there's a writer called Verica who explains to a young critic that none of the critics have understood what his work's about. Everything that's written about him, it's fine, but it's absolutely missed his main point, his beautiful point. He said that in order to understand what the work's about, you have to look for The Figure in the Carpet. It's The Figure in the CarpetIt's the string on which my pearls are strung. A couple of critics become completely obsessed with looking for this Figure in the Carpet. Of course, Spark loved James's short stories. You feel James's short stories playing inside her own short stories. I think that one of the games she left for her biographers was the idea of The Figure in the Carpet. Go on, find it then. Find it. [laughs] The string on which my pearls are strung.Henry: Why did you leave academia? We should say that you did this before it became the thing that everyone's doing.Frances: Is everyone leaving now?Henry: A lot of people are leaving now.Frances: Oh, I didn't know. I was ahead of the curve. I left 20 years ago because I wasn't able to write the books I wanted to write. I left when I'd written two books as an academic. My first was Literary Seductions, and my second was a biography of a blackmailing courtesan called Harriet Wilson, and the book was called The Courtesan's Revenge. My department was sniffy about the books because they were published by Faber and not by OUP, and suggested that somehow I was lowering the tone of the department.This is what things were like 20 years ago. Then I got a contract to write The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth, my third book, again with Faber. I didn't want to write the book with my head of department in the back of my mind saying, "Make this into an academic tome and put footnotes in." I decided then that I would leave, and I left very suddenly. Now, I said I'm leaving sort of now, and I've got books to write, and felt completely liberated. Then for The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth, I decided not to have footnotes. It's the only book I've ever written without footnotes, simply as a celebration of no longer being in academia.Then the things I loved about being in academia, I loved teaching, and I loved being immersed in literature, but I really couldn't be around colleagues and couldn't be around the ridiculous rules of what was seen as okay. In fact, the university I left, then asked me to come back on a 0.5 basis when they realised that it was now fashionable to have someone who was a trade author. They asked me to come back, which I did not want to do. I wanted to spend days where I didn't see people rather than days where I had to talk to colleagues all the time. I think that academia is very unhappy. The department I was in was incredibly unhappy.Since then, I took up a job very briefly in another English department where I taught creative writing part-time. That was also incredibly unhappy. I don't know whether other French departments or engineering departments are happier places than English departments, but English departments are the most unhappy places I think I've ever seen.[laughter]Henry: What do you admire about the work of George Meredith?Frances: Oh, I love George Meredith. [laughs] Yes. I think Modern Love, his first novel, Modern Love, in a strange sonnet form, where it's not 14 lines, but 16 lines. By the time you get to the bottom two lines, the novel, the sonnet has become hysterical. Modern Love hasn't been properly recognised. It's an account of the breakdown of his marriage. His wife, who was the daughter of the romantic, minor novelist, Thomas Love Peacock. His wife had an affair with the artist who painted the famous Death of Chatterton. Meredith was the model for Chatterton, the dead poet in his purple silks, with his hand falling on the ground. There's a lot of mythology around Meredith.I think, as with Elizabeth Bowen and Henry Green, he's difficult. He's difficult. The other week, I tried to reread Diana of the Crossways, which was a really important novel, and I still love it. I really recognise that it's not an easy read. He doesn't try, in any way, to seduce his readers. They absolutely have to crawl inside each book to sit inside his mind and see the world as he's seeing it.Henry: Can you tell us what you will do next?Frances: At the moment, I'm testing some ideas out. I feel, at the end of every biography, you need a writer. You need to cleanse your palate. Otherwise, there's a danger of writing the same book again. I need this time, I think, to write about, to move century and move genders. I want to go back, I think, to the 19th century. I want to write about a male writer for a moment, and possibly not a novelist as well, because after being immersed in Muriel Sparks' novels, no other novel is going to seem good enough. I'm testing 19th-century men who didn't write novels, and it will probably be a minor character.Henry: Whatever it is, I look forward to reading it. Frances Wilson, thank you very much.Frances: Thank you so much, Henry. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk/subscribe

Send us a textWelcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 321 - DeQuincy, Baudelaire, and Poe - Part Three)I hope you listened to the previous episode that deals with Thomas De Quincy and his 1821 autobiographical work "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.But before we go any further, I wan to try and clear something up. An opium-eater is not actually someone who eats opium, but rather a person who uses opium as a recreational drug or an opium addict. The term "opium-eater" was popularized by Thomas De Quincey in his work "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater”. In reality, De Quincey consumed opium in the form of laudanum, which is a tincture of opium dissolved in alcohol. This liquid preparation was widely used in the 19th century to treat various ailments and was easily available without a prescription. What could possibly go wrong?Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.

Send us a textWelcome to Celebrate Poe  - Episode 320 -  DeQuincy, Baudelaire, and Poe - Part TwoWhen I started this podcast, my plans are to delve more into Charles Baudelaire, but I ran into something that I did not expect.  Oh sure, there was his great collection known as Flowers of Evil and his classic and highly influential translation of Poe's works.  And I began reading a book about the controversial topic of the use of opium by Baudelaire - but I soon found that much of Baudelaire's interests were centered around a writer known as Thomas De Quincey.  Baudelaire's intended to translate Thomas De Quincey's Confession of an English Opium Eater.  So  And in a strange way, I found that reading about Thomas De Quincey helped me understand Baudelaire much better, and gain insights into the personal and creative challenges that Baudelaire faced as someone addicted to an opium. Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.

Listen Ad Free https://www.solgood.org - Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and meditative sounds.

Listen Ad Free https://www.solgood.org - Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and meditative sounds.

Reboot, remake, basado en..., inspirado por... muchas etiquetas encierran relecturas de obras literarias, películas clásicas o, como en este caso, obras singulares que se convirtieron en obras maestras. Ponemos cara a cara a la madre y a la hija, dos películas basadas en la imaginería creada por Thomas De Quincey en el siglo XIX. Nos vamos tras los pasos de Argento y Guadagnino para explorar sus encarnaciones de la Madre Suspiriorum. Una, descarnada y poética; la otra, repleta de personajes en tránsito. ¿Y tú, con cuál te quedas? Equipo Maniático: Albert San (Mr. Maniático), Naila Knight, Miguel y Montse Vela. Saludos Maniáticos!!!!!! Intro Musical SINOIA CAVES “1983 Main Titles” Album Beyond the Black Rainbow (2014) Profondo Rosso (1975-2006) by Goblin Suspiria (1977-2017) Soundtrack) by Goblin Suspiria (2018) Soundtrack by Thom Yorke Trauma (1993) Soundtrack by Pino Donaggio The Stendhal Syndrome (1999) Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone Outro "Mater Tenenbrarum" by Keith Emerson - Inferno - Score (1980)

Carlo Carpenter is currently a doctoral fellow of the History & Culture program at Drew University in New Jersey, specializing in modern European literary and cultural history. His current dissertation work examines Thomas De Quincey's Sketches of Life and Manners and the author's career as a writer for the periodical press within the early Victorian literary marketplace. www.linkedin.com/in/carlo-carpenter-436a95199 https://drew.academia.edu/CarloCarpenter --- Become part of the Hermitix community: Hermitix Twitter - ⁠https://twitter.com/Hermitixpodcast⁠ Support Hermitix: Patreon - ⁠https://www.patreon.com/hermitix⁠ Donations: - ⁠https://www.paypal.me/hermitixpod⁠ Hermitix Merchandise - ⁠http://teespring.com/stores/hermitix-2⁠ Bitcoin Donation Address: 3LAGEKBXEuE2pgc4oubExGTWtrKPuXDDLK Ethereum  Donation Address: 0x31e2a4a31B8563B8d238eC086daE9B75a00D9E74

La 91° puntata di Illuminismo psichedelico si è svolta dal vivo martedì 23 gennaio nel locale Arca di Milano, insieme a Federico di Vita c'era lo scrittore e intellettuale Matteo de Giuli. La conversazione è partita da "Scritti sulla/sotto droga" di Sadie Plant, recentemente pubblicato in Italia da Nero. "Scritti sulla/sotto droga" è un'opera che esplora la profonda interconnessione tra il consumo di sostanze psicoattive e il processo creativo letterario. Pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1999, il libro si addentra nelle storie personali di scrittori famosi che hanno fatto uso di droghe, analizzando come queste sostanze abbiano influenzato la loro vita e il loro lavoro. Plant non si limita a descrivere aneddoti o a glorificare l'uso di droghe; piuttosto, esamina con acume critico e teorico come differenti sostanze - dalla caffeina all'oppio, dagli psichedelici agli stimolanti - abbiano ispirato o alterato la percezione e la produzione letteraria attraverso i secoli. Plant utilizza una vasta gamma di esempi letterari, citando opere e autori che vanno da Samuel Taylor Coleridge a Thomas De Quincey, da Charles Baudelaire a William Burroughs, evidenziando come le droghe abbiano offerto sia fonti di ispirazione che meccanismi di fuga.

Interessiert man sich für historische Kriminalromane, die das viktorianische London lebendig machen, sind David Morrells drei Romane um Thomas De Quincey ganz oben auf der Liste anzusiedeln. Morrell erreicht das hauptsächlich damit, dass er auch den Stil, in dem im 19ten Jahrhundert Romane geschrieben wurden, anwendet. Für heutige Autoren ist das gar nicht so leicht. Morrell hat sich viele Jahre lang in den Duktus der damaligen Zeit versetzt und darüber hinaus intensiv Recherche betrieben, um die viktorianische Zeit lebendig zu machen und die Fakten mit der Erzählung zu verschmelzen. Vielleicht ist der notwendige Aufwand auch der Grund, warum es so wenige erstklassige Romane in dieser Gattung gibt, denn man merkt als interessierter Leser sofort, wo die Fehlerquellen liegen. Folge direkt herunterladen

https://www.solgood.org - Check out our Streaming Service for our full collection of audiobooks, podcasts, short stories, & 10 hour sounds for sleep and relaxation at our website

William Leonard Pickard is a former research associate in neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, Harvard fellow in drug policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Deputy Director of the Drug Policy Analysis Program at UCLA. His 1996 prediction of the fentanyl epidemic was published by RAND in The Future of Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids. In 2015 Pickard published The Rose of Paracelsus: On Secrets & Sacraments, a 656-page autobiography that blends fiction and nonfiction. The book centers around six chemists in an international drug organization. One of the Six tells Pickard, the book's narrator, that the making of psychedelics is not just following a recipe or formula but requires "the requisite spirit ... the purest intent, a flawless diamond morality". He says it's the same spirit described in Thomas De Quincey and Jorge Luis Borges's short stories about Paracelsus, the 16th-century physician and alchemist of Basel who resurrected a rose from its ashes: "there could be no creation for lack of faith and the trust of gold". Writing while incarcerated, Pickard wrote the entire book with pencil and paper. In an interview with Seth Ferranti, Pickard recounted: "The Rose was handwritten in two years, without notes and based on recollection, but seemed too trivial to honor the reader. I destroyed the work in minutes, then began again. It took another three years to compose, then a year to edit the 656 pages." Readings of The Rose of Paracelsus were presented at the University of Greenwich in London in June 2017. Readers included British artist and Resonance FM radio host Simon Tyszko, SEED Restaurant founder Greg Sams and post-doctoral fellow in literature Neşe Devenot. In November 2016, British actor Dudley Sutton did readings of The Rose of Paracelsus at Reading Gaol, in Oscar Wilde's former cell. The Rose also has been reviewed by author and Psychedelic Museum founder Julian Vayne. In November 2017, readings from The Rose were presented at the Altered Conference Berlin, and in December 2017 The Rose was discussed on the major podcast The Joe Rogan Experience with Duncan Trussell. Original videos ⁠⁠here and here The Rose of Paracelsus: On Secrets & Sacrament --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theunadulteratedintellect/support

Daily Quote I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. (Nelson Mandela) Poem of the Day O Tell Me the Truth About Love By W. H. Auden Beauty of Words The Literature of Knowledge and the Literature of Power Thomas De Quincey

Daily Quote Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. (John Ruskin) Poem of the Day 采莲曲 王昌龄 Beauty of Words The Literature of Knowledge and the Literature of Power Thomas De Quincey

BIBLIOTECA SUBMERSA é a nova série de episódios do Podcast da Raphus Press, uma ironia bastante séria com o conceito de canônico e marginal, de popular e elitista, de aceito e não aceito, a partir das obras de autores que, aparentemente, tinham alguma influência (ou relevância) de certas obras ou autores no passado e que, hoje, parecem ausentes das livrarias, cadernos culturais, canais de vídeo na Internet. Nossa inspiração é Jorge Luis Borges e uma conhecida citação de Virginia Woolf: “Livros usados são selvagens, destituídos; surgem em grandes bandos de penas variadas e possuem certo encanto que falta aos volumes domesticados de uma biblioteca.” Episódio de hoje: A confissão alucinante (Thomas de Quincey e suas memórias do ópio) Obras citadas: “Confissões de um comedor de ópio”, Thomas de Quincey (L&PM, 1982). Apoie a campanha de nossa graphic novel no Catarse: https://www.catarse.me/opium Entre para a nossa sociedade, dedicada à bibliofilia maldita e ao culto de tenebrosos grimórios: o RES FICTA (solicitações via http://raphuspress.weebly.com/contact.html). Nosso podcast também está disponível nas seguintes plataformas: - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4NUiqPPTMdnezdKmvWDXHs - Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-da-raphus-press/id1488391151?uo=4 - Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xMDlmZmVjNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw%3D%3D  Apoie o canal: https://apoia.se/podcastdaraphus. Ou adquira nossos livros em nosso site: http://raphuspress.weebly.com. Dúvidas sobre envio, formas de pagamento, etc.: http://raphuspress.weebly.com/contact.html.

The Caesars

Miscellaneous Essays

Autobiographic Sketches

https://www.solgood.org - Check out our Streaming Service for our full collection of audiobooks, podcasts, short stories, & 10 hour sounds for sleep and relaxation at our websiteThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5202498/advertisement

This week we have a look at the 1977 film Suspiria directed by Ssario Argento. This is Episode #395!Suspiria (Latin: [sʊsˈpiːri.a]) is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy but realizes, after a series of brutal murders, that the academy is a front for a supernatural conspiracy. It also features Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, and Joan Bennett, in her final film role.The film is the first of the trilogy Argento refers to as The Three Mothers, which also comprises Inferno (1980) and The Mother of Tears (2007). Suspiria has received a positive response from critics for its visual and stylistic flair, use of vibrant colors and its score by Argento and the progressive rock band Goblin.Suspiria was nominated for two Saturn Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Bennett in 1978, and Best DVD Classic Film Release, in 2002. It is recognised as one of the most influential films in the horror genre. It served as the inspiration for a 2018 film of the same title, directed by Luca Guadagnino.

Suspiria (1977) Movie Review - Dario Argento - Jessica Harper - Stefania Casin - Flavio Bucci - RTSSubscribe: InspiredDisorder.com/rts Binge Ad Free: InspiredDisorder.com/plus Show topic: An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.Director: Dario Argento Writers: Dario Argento (screenplay), Daria Nicolodi (screenplay), Thomas De Quincey (book "Suspiria de Profundis") Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci JOIN Inspired Disorder +PLUS Today! InspiredDisorder.com/plus Membership Includes:Members only discounts and dealsRay Taylor Show AD-FREE + Bonus EpisodesLive Painting ArchiveComplete Podcast Back CatalogueRay's Personal Blog, AMA and so much MORE!Daily Podcast: Ray Taylor Show - InspiredDisorder.com/rts Daily Painting: The Many Faces - InspiredDisorder.com/tmf ALL links: InspiredDisorder.com/links

Suspiria (1977) Movie Review - Dario Argento - Jessica Harper - Stefania Casin - Flavio Bucci - RTSSubscribe: InspiredDisorder.com/rts Binge Ad Free: InspiredDisorder.com/plus Show topic: An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.Director: Dario Argento Writers: Dario Argento (screenplay), Daria Nicolodi (screenplay), Thomas De Quincey (book "Suspiria de Profundis") Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci JOIN Inspired Disorder +PLUS Today! InspiredDisorder.com/plus Membership Includes:Members only discounts and dealsRay Taylor Show AD-FREE + Bonus EpisodesLive Painting ArchiveComplete Podcast Back CatalogueRay's Personal Blog, AMA and so much MORE!Daily Podcast: Ray Taylor Show - InspiredDisorder.com/rts Daily Painting: The Many Faces - InspiredDisorder.com/tmf ALL links: InspiredDisorder.com/links

Das Verhängnis schlägt ein wie ein Blitz aus heiterem Himmel, eine Unschuldige wird in den Kerker geworfen, und ein einziger Tag zerstört eine ganze Familie. Thomas de Quincey erzählt eine Story mit allen Zutaten der Schauerromantik. Aber dahinter steckt mehr, wie sich zeigt.Von Julia Schröderwww.deutschlandfunk.de, BüchermarktDirekter Link zur Audiodatei

Hueck, Carstenwww.deutschlandfunk.de, BüchermarktDirekter Link zur Audiodatei

View our full collection of podcasts at our website: https://www.solgoodmedia.com or YouTube channel: www.solgood.org/subscribe

Wir schreiben das Jahr 1855. Nachrichten über die Unfähigkeit der britischen Kommandeure im Krimkrieg haben den Sturz der Regierung verursacht. Thomas De Quincey und seine Tochter Emily sind im Londoner Haus von Lord Palmerston nicht mehr willkommen. Doch gerade als Palmerston sich anschickt, die beiden in eine Kutsche zu stecken und weit, weit weg zu schicken, sind De Quinceys Fähigkeiten plötzlich sehr gefragt, als eines Tages der erste von vielen grausamen und ausgeklügelten Morden geschieht. Musik von Kevin MacLeod.

Wow! The 25th episode of Bloodhaus! Six whole months! This week the duo does their first double feature: Suspiria (1977) and Suspiria (2018). But first, they talk Jordan Peele's NOPE and sexy, sexy Burt Reynolds. From Wiki: "Suspiria (Latin: [sʊsˈpiːri.a]) is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy but realizes, after a series of brutal murders, that the academy is a front for a supernatural conspiracy. It also features Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, and Joan Bennett, in her final film role.  It is recognised as one of the most influential films in the horror genre. It served as the inspiration for a 2018 film of the same title, directed by Luca Guadagnino.Next week: The Happiness of the Katakuris with Michael Varrati!Website: http://www.bloodhauspod.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/BloodhausPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloodhauspod/Email: bloodhauspod@gmail.comDrusilla's art: https://www.sisterhydedesign.com/Drusilla's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hydesister/Drusilla's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/drew_phillips/Joshua's website: https://www.joshuaconkel.com/Joshua's Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoshuaConkel Joshua's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshua_conkel/Joshua's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/joshuaconkel/

Joining us on this episode is Professor Sir John Strang a leading clinical academic who has conducted extensive addiction research studies and has worked with governments to improve responses to problems of addiction and related complications. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is an autobiographical account written by Thomas De Quincey, about his laudanum addiction and its effect on his life. The Confessions was "the first major work De Quincey published and the one that won him fame almost overnight".

In the six volumes of the Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Julian Hawthorne presents us thrilling and mysterious short stories from all corners of the world. The GSMC Audiobook Series presents some of the greatest classic novels, audiobooks, and theatrical presentations from a bygone era. Let Golden State Media Concepts take you on a ride through classic audiobooks read by some of the top audiobook performers of all time. This compiled collection of classic audiobooks contains a wide variety of classic Novels. ***PLEASE NOTE*** GSMC Podcast Network presents these shows and audiobooks as historical content and have brought them to you unedited. Remember that times have changed, and some Audiobooks might not reflect the standards of today's politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Golden State Media Concepts or the GSMC Podcast Network. Our goal is to entertain, educate, and give you a glimpse into the past.

In the six volumes of the Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Julian Hawthorne presents us thrilling and mysterious short stories from all corners of the world. The GSMC Audiobook Series presents some of the greatest classic novels, audiobooks, and theatrical presentations from a bygone era. Let Golden State Media Concepts take you on a ride through classic audiobooks read by some of the top audiobook performers of all time. This compiled collection of classic audiobooks contains a wide variety of classic Novels. ***PLEASE NOTE*** GSMC Podcast Network presents these shows and audiobooks as historical content and have brought them to you unedited. Remember that times have changed, and some Audiobooks might not reflect the standards of today's politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Golden State Media Concepts or the GSMC Podcast Network. Our goal is to entertain, educate, and give you a glimpse into the past.

In the six volumes of the Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Julian Hawthorne presents us thrilling and mysterious short stories from all corners of the world. The GSMC Audiobook Series presents some of the greatest classic novels, audiobooks, and theatrical presentations from a bygone era. Let Golden State Media Concepts take you on a ride through classic audiobooks read by some of the top audiobook performers of all time. This compiled collection of classic audiobooks contains a wide variety of classic Novels. ***PLEASE NOTE*** GSMC Podcast Network presents these shows and audiobooks as historical content and have brought them to you unedited. Remember that times have changed, and some Audiobooks might not reflect the standards of today's politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Golden State Media Concepts or the GSMC Podcast Network. Our goal is to entertain, educate, and give you a glimpse into the past.

In the six volumes of the Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Julian Hawthorne presents us thrilling and mysterious short stories from all corners of the world. The GSMC Audiobook Series presents some of the greatest classic novels, audiobooks, and theatrical presentations from a bygone era. Let Golden State Media Concepts take you on a ride through classic audiobooks read by some of the top audiobook performers of all time. This compiled collection of classic audiobooks contains a wide variety of classic Novels. ***PLEASE NOTE*** GSMC Podcast Network presents these shows and audiobooks as historical content and have brought them to you unedited. Remember that times have changed, and some Audiobooks might not reflect the standards of today's politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Golden State Media Concepts or the GSMC Podcast Network. Our goal is to entertain, educate, and give you a glimpse into the past.

View our full collection of podcasts at our website: https://www.solgood.org/ or YouTube channel: www.solgood.org/subscribe

Introductory note on Thomas De Quincey (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)

De Quincey imagined that three women were sent to him so that he might know the depths of his soul. Real women could not have wielded greater influence. It is fortunate that everyone does not meet these weird women. (Volume 27, Harvard Classics) Thomas De Quincey died Dec. 8, 1859.

View our full collection of podcasts at our website: https://www.solgood.org/ or YouTube channel: www.solgood.org/subscribe

View our full collection of podcasts at our website: https://www.solgood.org/ or YouTube channel: www.solgood.org/subscribe

Thomas De Quincey war einer der intelligentesten Autoren, die England je hervorgebracht hat. Im gewöhnlichen Lesebetrieb ist er heutzutage allerdings nicht mehr so bekannt wie etwa Baudelaire oder andere dekadente Autoren. David Morrell hat nun einen genialen Schachzug gemacht und De Quincey in eine ganze Reihe historischer Persönlichkeiten gestellt, die als Ermittler fungieren. David Morrell begnügt sich nicht einfach mit dem Schriftsteller allein; selbst die von ihm dargestellten Morde haben einen grausamen Hintergrund, der einige Jahrzehnte vor Jack the Ripper für Panik in den nebelverhangenen Gassen Londons sorgte. Musik von Kevin MacLeod. Folge direkt herunterladen

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders. DirectorDario Argento WritersDario Argento(screenplay) Daria Nicolodi(screenplay) Thomas De Quincey(book "Suspiria de Profundis") StarsJessica Harper Stefania Casini Flavio Bucci --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gruesome-hertzogg/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gruesome-hertzogg/support

On a special bonus episode of Danger Close, today's guest is David Morrell. David is a legendary author who has written for fiction, non-fiction, and comic book audiences. His 1972 debut novel First Blood introduced the world to the iconic character Rambo and was adapted into the 1982 film of the same name. Four more Rambo films would follow, all starring Sylvester Stallone. Morrell holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. in American Literature from Penn State University. He has written dozens of books, the Captain American miniseries The Chosen, and issues of both Savage Wolverine and The Amazing Spider-Man.  His other notable works include The Brotherhood of the Rose, The Fraternity of the Stone, The League of Night and Fog, The Thomas De Quincey historical mystery series, The Totem, The Fifth Profession, The Hundred-Year Christmas, Double Image, and many others.  Morrell's work has received widespread critical acclaim: He is an Edgar, Anthony, Thriller, and Arthur Ellis finalist, a Nero and Macavity winner, and a three-time recipient of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association. He received the Thriller Master Award from The International Thriller Writers organization, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the prestigious Bouchercon convention, RT Book Reviews's Thriller Pioneer Award, Comic-Con's Inkpot award for outstanding achievement in action/adventure, and among others. You can find out more about David and his work at davidmorrell.net, and follow him on Twitter @_DavidMorell  and on facebook @davidmorrell  Presented by SIG Sauer. Today's show is also brought to you by Organifi. Go to https://organifi.com/dangerclose for 20% off.

Talvez a primeira obra que leio sobre o vício de uma  droga.Têm mais sugestões dentro deste tema? Podem deixar as vossas opinões e sugestões no post relativo a este episódio do meu perfil de Instagram.  https://www.instagram.com/anatomia_do_livro/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anatomiadolivro/message

Episode #8 features a classic Lowland single malt - Glenkinchie 12 year old. Often overlooked in whisky shops and bars alike but no more, this podcast is dedicated to looking at Glenkinchie and this dram. With only one whisky to taste, the hosts delve deep into the Glenkinchie story and distillery processes while discussing an array of topics which include; a 1977 hit by Baccara, Thomas De Quincey, the Bartenders Lawn Bowls Championship, the Battle of Prestonpans, Whisky News and the Scotch Whisky League. Enjoy the show. Please like, download and subscribe to the podcast. Follow us on Instagram & Twitter @caskstrengthpod and YouTube by searching Cask Strength - The Whisky Podcast. Email enquiries to caskstregnthpodcast@gmail.com Co-edited: Nathan Currie & Cask Strength Productions All views are are own.

Nada como empezar el año 2021 hablando de cómo tener mentalidad de escritor con una asesina. Sí, como lo oyes. Porque en esta ocasión me acompaña una elegante dama y consumada asesina, pero en el papel, ya que es escritora de novela policíaca. Como diría mi amigo Thomas De Quincey en su famoso libro Del Asesinato considerado como una de las bellas artes: «El mundo en general -señores- está sediento de sangre; todo lo que se desea en un crimen es que la efusión de sangre sea copiosa (...). Pero el conocedor ilustrado tiene más refinado gusto, el resultado de nuestro arte, como el de todas las demás artes liberales, es humanizar el corazón (...)».  Esta notable mujer también es Ana bolox, Filóloga inglesa, da clases de inglés y español, y además de meterse en la piel de los asesinos, escribe libros específicos para escritores, todos ellos están en formato de audiolibro, por supuesto.  Si te gusta Club Mundo Audiolibro, por favor no olvides dejarme 5 estrellas mágicas en iTunes o un Me Gusta en Ivoox y registrarte en www.clubmundoaudiolibro.com para que recibas toda la información que necesites acerca del audiolibro en español. Muchas gracias por escuchar y ahora sí, voy con el episodio de hoy. Enlaces de interés:  Del asesinato considerado como una de las bellas artes, de Tomas de Quincey Episodio 55: Prepárate para el Nanowrimo con audiolibros Redes Sociales: https://anabolox.com/ Twitter: @ana_bolox Instagram: anabolox Facebook: Detrasdeunescrito Audiolibros de Ana Bolox Cómo construir el escenario de tu novela Cómo construir tu novela en 10 preguntas Los 4 pilares de la ficción Ebooks No Ficción de Ana Bolox Mentalidad de escritor Cómo construir tu novela en 10 preguntas Cómo construir el escenario de tu novela  Los 4 pilares de la ficción Libros de Ficción de Ana Bolox Asesinato en la mansión Bloodworth: Crispin Horsfall La tumba de Vera Thwait: Crispin Horsfall Quadrivium (Carter & West nº 2) Carter & West: Aracne y La muerte viene a cenar Un cadáver muy frío (Las cosas y casos de la señora Starling nº 1) Muerte en los Hamptons (Las cosas y casos de la señora Starling nº 2) Crimen imprevisto (Las cosas y casos de la señora Starling nº 3) Efectos sonoros usados ​​en el podcast: sonidosmp3gratis.com Música usada en el podcast: Biblioteca sonora de Youtube. El plan de trabajo (The plan's working)  de Cooper Cannell

Edmund Gosse. Thomas De Quincey. James Baldwin. For Vivian Gornick, what connects these writer's disparate oeuvres is that although each pursued other genres—poetry, journalism, novels, or plays—their “significant work turns out to reside in a memoir” (or personal essays, in Baldwin's case). In an essay in the December issue of Harper's Magazine, Gornick nominates to this list Storm Jameson, a prolific English novelist whose autobiography, Journey from the North, is a prime example of a writer finding her voice—all the more striking in Jameson's case because she made the discovery near the end of a long and, in Gornick's estimation, otherwise middling career. In the immediacy of self-disclosure, something clicked for Jameson—but why? Gornick, who struggled at novel writing herself before hitting her stride in memoirs such as Fierce Attachments and The Odd Woman and the City, has “something of a vested interest in this mysterious matter of a writer's natural métier.… I was well into my thirties,” she writes, “before I understood that I was born for the memoir.” In this episode of the podcast, Gornick begins with a reading from the arresting first pages of Journey from the North. In the conversation that follows, she and Harper's web editor Violet Lucca discuss Jameson's life and legacy; the perennial excuse of “writing down” to make ends meet; the questionable value of the “autofiction” label; and Gornick's reading (and rereading) habits during the pandemic. Read Gornick's essay here: https://harpers.org/archive/2020/12/storm-jameson-if-only-i-could-begin-again/ This episode was produced by Violet Lucca and Andrew Blevins

De Quincey imagined that three women were sent to him so that he might know the depths of his soul. Real women could not have wielded greater influence. It is fortunate that everyone does not meet these weird women. (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)Thomas De Quincey died Dec. 8, 1859.

Introductory note on Thomas De Quincey (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas De Quincey are connected by two things: William Wordsworth and opium. Sam met Wordsworth first and together they published The Lyrical Ballads in 1798, which kicked off the Romantic movement and attracted legions of fans. Among them was Thomas De Quincey. He famously tracked down his two idols and insinuated himself into their Lake District clique. Wordsworth was impressed by the much younger Tom, but Sam Coleridge was wary. Perhaps Sam recognised a little too much of himself in Tom. Later, Sam would go on to publish Kubla Khan and Tom would publish Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Both works are considered the earliest instances of drug literature. But while Tom wrote candidly about his experiences with addiction, Sam only ever alluded to drug use, using metaphors instead of specific references. He preferred to keep the matter of his laudanum dependence private, so he didn't exactly appreciate it when Tom, on the very first page of Confessions, publicly outed him as one of the biggest dope fiends of all.Please visit our website, hollywordpodcast.com to find show notes, including a list of sources used, and more information. 

Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo. (Buenos Aires, 24 de agosto de 1899 - Ginebra, Suiza, 14 de junio de 1986). Poeta, ensayista y escritor argentino. Estudia en Ginebra e Inglaterra. Vive en España desde 1919 hasta su regreso a Argentina en 1921. Colabora en revistas literarias, francesas y españolas, donde publica ensayos y manifiestos. De regreso a Argentina, participa con Macedonio Fernández en la fundación de las revistas Prismay Prosa y firma el primer manifiesto ultraísta. En 1923 publica su primer libro de poemas, Fervor de Buenos Aires, y en 1935 Historia universal de la infamia, compuesto por una serie de relatos breves (formato que utilizará en publicaciones posteriores). Durante los años treinta su fama crece en Argentina y publica diversas obras en colaboración con Bioy Casares, de entre las que cabe subrayar Antología de la literatura fantástica. Durante estos años su actividad literaria se amplía con la crítica literaria y la traducción de autores como Virginia Woolf, Henri Michaux o William Faulkner. Es bibliotecario en Buenos Aires de 1937 a 1945, conferenciante y profesor de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires, presidente de la Sociedad Argentina de Escritores, miembro de la Academia Argentina de las Letras y director de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina desde 1955 hasta 1974. En 1961 comparte con Samuel Beckett el Premio Formentor, otorgado por el Congreso Internacional de Editores. Desde 1964 publica indistintamente en verso y en prosa. Borges utiliza un singular estilo literario, basado en la interpretación de conceptos como los de tiempo, espacio, destino o realidad. La simbología que utiliza remite a los autores que más le influencian -William Shakespeare, Thomas De Quincey, Rudyard Kipling o Joseph Conrad-, además de la Biblia, la Cábala judía, las primigenias literaturas europeas, la literatura clásica y la filosofía. Publica libros de poesía como El otro, el mismo, Elogio de la sombra, El oro de los tigres, La rosa profunda, La moneda de hierro y cultiva la prosa en títulos como El informe de Brodie y El libro de arena. En estos años Borges también publica libros en los que se mezclan prosa y verso, libros que aúnan el teatro, la poesía y los cuentos; ejemplos de esta fusión son títulos como La cifra y Los conjurados. La importancia de su obra se ve reconocida con el Premio Miguel de Cervantes en 1979.

Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo. (Buenos Aires, 24 de agosto de 1899 - Ginebra, Suiza, 14 de junio de 1986). Poeta, ensayista y escritor argentino. Estudia en Ginebra e Inglaterra. Vive en España desde 1919 hasta su regreso a Argentina en 1921. Colabora en revistas literarias, francesas y españolas, donde publica ensayos y manifiestos. De regreso a Argentina, participa con Macedonio Fernández en la fundación de las revistas Prismay Prosa y firma el primer manifiesto ultraísta. En 1923 publica su primer libro de poemas, Fervor de Buenos Aires, y en 1935 Historia universal de la infamia, compuesto por una serie de relatos breves (formato que utilizará en publicaciones posteriores). Durante los años treinta su fama crece en Argentina y publica diversas obras en colaboración con Bioy Casares, de entre las que cabe subrayar Antología de la literatura fantástica. Durante estos años su actividad literaria se amplía con la crítica literaria y la traducción de autores como Virginia Woolf, Henri Michaux o William Faulkner. Es bibliotecario en Buenos Aires de 1937 a 1945, conferenciante y profesor de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires, presidente de la Sociedad Argentina de Escritores, miembro de la Academia Argentina de las Letras y director de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina desde 1955 hasta 1974. En 1961 comparte con Samuel Beckett el Premio Formentor, otorgado por el Congreso Internacional de Editores. Desde 1964 publica indistintamente en verso y en prosa. Borges utiliza un singular estilo literario, basado en la interpretación de conceptos como los de tiempo, espacio, destino o realidad. La simbología que utiliza remite a los autores que más le influencian -William Shakespeare, Thomas De Quincey, Rudyard Kipling o Joseph Conrad-, además de la Biblia, la Cábala judía, las primigenias literaturas europeas, la literatura clásica y la filosofía. Publica libros de poesía como El otro, el mismo, Elogio de la sombra, El oro de los tigres, La rosa profunda, La moneda de hierro y cultiva la prosa en títulos como El informe de Brodie y El libro de arena. En estos años Borges también publica libros en los que se mezclan prosa y verso, libros que aúnan el teatro, la poesía y los cuentos; ejemplos de esta fusión son títulos como La cifra y Los conjurados. La importancia de su obra se ve reconocida con el Premio Miguel de Cervantes en 1979.

Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo. (Buenos Aires, 24 de agosto de 1899 - Ginebra, Suiza, 14 de junio de 1986). Poeta, ensayista y escritor argentino. Estudia en Ginebra e Inglaterra. Vive en España desde 1919 hasta su regreso a Argentina en 1921. Colabora en revistas literarias, francesas y españolas, donde publica ensayos y manifiestos. De regreso a Argentina, participa con Macedonio Fernández en la fundación de las revistas Prismay Prosa y firma el primer manifiesto ultraísta. En 1923 publica su primer libro de poemas, Fervor de Buenos Aires, y en 1935 Historia universal de la infamia, compuesto por una serie de relatos breves (formato que utilizará en publicaciones posteriores). Durante los años treinta su fama crece en Argentina y publica diversas obras en colaboración con Bioy Casares, de entre las que cabe subrayar Antología de la literatura fantástica. Durante estos años su actividad literaria se amplía con la crítica literaria y la traducción de autores como Virginia Woolf, Henri Michaux o William Faulkner. Es bibliotecario en Buenos Aires de 1937 a 1945, conferenciante y profesor de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires, presidente de la Sociedad Argentina de Escritores, miembro de la Academia Argentina de las Letras y director de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina desde 1955 hasta 1974. En 1961 comparte con Samuel Beckett el Premio Formentor, otorgado por el Congreso Internacional de Editores. Desde 1964 publica indistintamente en verso y en prosa. Borges utiliza un singular estilo literario, basado en la interpretación de conceptos como los de tiempo, espacio, destino o realidad. La simbología que utiliza remite a los autores que más le influencian -William Shakespeare, Thomas De Quincey, Rudyard Kipling o Joseph Conrad-, además de la Biblia, la Cábala judía, las primigenias literaturas europeas, la literatura clásica y la filosofía. Publica libros de poesía como El otro, el mismo, Elogio de la sombra, El oro de los tigres, La rosa profunda, La moneda de hierro y cultiva la prosa en títulos como El informe de Brodie y El libro de arena. En estos años Borges también publica libros en los que se mezclan prosa y verso, libros que aúnan el teatro, la poesía y los cuentos; ejemplos de esta fusión son títulos como La cifra y Los conjurados. La importancia de su obra se ve reconocida con el Premio Miguel de Cervantes en 1979.

Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo. (Buenos Aires, 24 de agosto de 1899 - Ginebra, Suiza, 14 de junio de 1986). Poeta, ensayista y escritor argentino. Estudia en Ginebra e Inglaterra. Vive en España desde 1919 hasta su regreso a Argentina en 1921. Colabora en revistas literarias, francesas y españolas, donde publica ensayos y manifiestos. De regreso a Argentina, participa con Macedonio Fernández en la fundación de las revistas Prismay Prosa y firma el primer manifiesto ultraísta. En 1923 publica su primer libro de poemas, Fervor de Buenos Aires, y en 1935 Historia universal de la infamia, compuesto por una serie de relatos breves (formato que utilizará en publicaciones posteriores). Durante los años treinta su fama crece en Argentina y publica diversas obras en colaboración con Bioy Casares, de entre las que cabe subrayar Antología de la literatura fantástica. Durante estos años su actividad literaria se amplía con la crítica literaria y la traducción de autores como Virginia Woolf, Henri Michaux o William Faulkner. Es bibliotecario en Buenos Aires de 1937 a 1945, conferenciante y profesor de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires, presidente de la Sociedad Argentina de Escritores, miembro de la Academia Argentina de las Letras y director de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina desde 1955 hasta 1974. En 1961 comparte con Samuel Beckett el Premio Formentor, otorgado por el Congreso Internacional de Editores. Desde 1964 publica indistintamente en verso y en prosa. Borges utiliza un singular estilo literario, basado en la interpretación de conceptos como los de tiempo, espacio, destino o realidad. La simbología que utiliza remite a los autores que más le influencian -William Shakespeare, Thomas De Quincey, Rudyard Kipling o Joseph Conrad-, además de la Biblia, la Cábala judía, las primigenias literaturas europeas, la literatura clásica y la filosofía. Publica libros de poesía como El otro, el mismo, Elogio de la sombra, El oro de los tigres, La rosa profunda, La moneda de hierro y cultiva la prosa en títulos como El informe de Brodie y El libro de arena. En estos años Borges también publica libros en los que se mezclan prosa y verso, libros que aúnan el teatro, la poesía y los cuentos; ejemplos de esta fusión son títulos como La cifra y Los conjurados. La importancia de su obra se ve reconocida con el Premio Miguel de Cervantes en 1979.

Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo. (Buenos Aires, 24 de agosto de 1899 - Ginebra, Suiza, 14 de junio de 1986). Poeta, ensayista y escritor argentino. Estudia en Ginebra e Inglaterra. Vive en España desde 1919 hasta su regreso a Argentina en 1921. Colabora en revistas literarias, francesas y españolas, donde publica ensayos y manifiestos. De regreso a Argentina, participa con Macedonio Fernández en la fundación de las revistas Prismay Prosa y firma el primer manifiesto ultraísta. En 1923 publica su primer libro de poemas, Fervor de Buenos Aires, y en 1935 Historia universal de la infamia, compuesto por una serie de relatos breves (formato que utilizará en publicaciones posteriores). Durante los años treinta su fama crece en Argentina y publica diversas obras en colaboración con Bioy Casares, de entre las que cabe subrayar Antología de la literatura fantástica. Durante estos años su actividad literaria se amplía con la crítica literaria y la traducción de autores como Virginia Woolf, Henri Michaux o William Faulkner. Es bibliotecario en Buenos Aires de 1937 a 1945, conferenciante y profesor de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires, presidente de la Sociedad Argentina de Escritores, miembro de la Academia Argentina de las Letras y director de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina desde 1955 hasta 1974. En 1961 comparte con Samuel Beckett el Premio Formentor, otorgado por el Congreso Internacional de Editores. Desde 1964 publica indistintamente en verso y en prosa. Borges utiliza un singular estilo literario, basado en la interpretación de conceptos como los de tiempo, espacio, destino o realidad. La simbología que utiliza remite a los autores que más le influencian -William Shakespeare, Thomas De Quincey, Rudyard Kipling o Joseph Conrad-, además de la Biblia, la Cábala judía, las primigenias literaturas europeas, la literatura clásica y la filosofía. Publica libros de poesía como El otro, el mismo, Elogio de la sombra, El oro de los tigres, La rosa profunda, La moneda de hierro y cultiva la prosa en títulos como El informe de Brodie y El libro de arena. En estos años Borges también publica libros en los que se mezclan prosa y verso, libros que aúnan el teatro, la poesía y los cuentos; ejemplos de esta fusión son títulos como La cifra y Los conjurados. La importancia de su obra se ve reconocida con el Premio Miguel de Cervantes en 1979.

Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo. (Buenos Aires, 24 de agosto de 1899 - Ginebra, Suiza, 14 de junio de 1986). Poeta, ensayista y escritor argentino. Estudia en Ginebra e Inglaterra. Vive en España desde 1919 hasta su regreso a Argentina en 1921. Colabora en revistas literarias, francesas y españolas, donde publica ensayos y manifiestos. De regreso a Argentina, participa con Macedonio Fernández en la fundación de las revistas Prismay Prosa y firma el primer manifiesto ultraísta. En 1923 publica su primer libro de poemas, Fervor de Buenos Aires, y en 1935 Historia universal de la infamia, compuesto por una serie de relatos breves (formato que utilizará en publicaciones posteriores). Durante los años treinta su fama crece en Argentina y publica diversas obras en colaboración con Bioy Casares, de entre las que cabe subrayar Antología de la literatura fantástica. Durante estos años su actividad literaria se amplía con la crítica literaria y la traducción de autores como Virginia Woolf, Henri Michaux o William Faulkner. Es bibliotecario en Buenos Aires de 1937 a 1945, conferenciante y profesor de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires, presidente de la Sociedad Argentina de Escritores, miembro de la Academia Argentina de las Letras y director de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina desde 1955 hasta 1974. En 1961 comparte con Samuel Beckett el Premio Formentor, otorgado por el Congreso Internacional de Editores. Desde 1964 publica indistintamente en verso y en prosa. Borges utiliza un singular estilo literario, basado en la interpretación de conceptos como los de tiempo, espacio, destino o realidad. La simbología que utiliza remite a los autores que más le influencian -William Shakespeare, Thomas De Quincey, Rudyard Kipling o Joseph Conrad-, además de la Biblia, la Cábala judía, las primigenias literaturas europeas, la literatura clásica y la filosofía. Publica libros de poesía como El otro, el mismo, Elogio de la sombra, El oro de los tigres, La rosa profunda, La moneda de hierro y cultiva la prosa en títulos como El informe de Brodie y El libro de arena. En estos años Borges también publica libros en los que se mezclan prosa y verso, libros que aúnan el teatro, la poesía y los cuentos; ejemplos de esta fusión son títulos como La cifra y Los conjurados. La importancia de su obra se ve reconocida con el Premio Miguel de Cervantes en 1979.

If you look below the surface of an ancient city, you can travel through time and find its deeper layers. In this episode, David Morrell talks about how he researched Victorian London for his historical mysteries about Thomas De Quincey, and how he brought to light the “chasms and sunless abysses” of the first British […] The post History As A Fine Art. Victorian London With David Morrell appeared first on Books And Travel.

Scrisse H. A. Page, primo biografo di De Quncey: «I contributi di De Quincey a riviste e periodici spaziano su una vastissima area di argomenti. Il più compendioso e non certo il più scorretto titolo generale che essi potrebbero avere sarebbe De omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis. Questi suoi scritti possono essere divisi in storici, […]

Carlo Linati (curatore e traduttore) sceglie, tra la sterminata produzione di De Quincey, alcuni scritti particolarmente interessanti che spaziano appunto dalla riflessione letteraria, a quella autobiografica, fino ad annotazioni di tipo storico.

“Del asesinato considerado como una de las Bellas Artes” de Thomas De Quincey conversaremos y debatiremos en La República de las Letras de hoy.

Í Víðsjá í dag er hugað að sýningunni Samkomu sem átti upphaflega að vera í Veröld - húsi Vigdísar, en færist inn á netið vegna faraldursins. Þær Hrafnhildur Gissurardóttir og Sólveig Pálsdóttir segja frá Samkomu í Víðsjá dagsins. Thomas De Quincey, (1785 -1859), var þekktastur fyrir bók sína Játningar enskrar ópíumætu sem út kom árið 1821 og olli miklu uppnámi. Hermann Stefánsson rýnir í enska klassík í Víðsjá í dag. Hinn íslenski þursaflokkur kemur að gefnu tilefni við sögu í þættinum. Og hlustendur heyra ljóð fyrir þjóð. Í dag er það Arnar Jónsson leikari sem les Sonatorrek eftir Egil Skallagrímsson.

In December 1811, two households in the borough of Wapping, one of the docks districts of east London were annihilated in a pair of brutal and apparently motiveless crimes. After the crimes, the murderer was disposed of in a novel and unusual fashion. Twenty years later, they were described in Thomas De Quincey's satirical essay “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts” as “the sublimest and most entire in their excellence that ever were committed.” Part of the Straight Up Strange Network: https://www.straightupstrange.com/ My Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/forgdark/ Opening music from https://filmmusic.io. "Classic Horror 1" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Dark Child" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Closing music by Soma. SOURCES Caledonian Mercury, September 21, 1812. Ipswich Journal, December 28, 1811. “Another horrid murder!” Bury and Norwich Post, December 25, 1811. “Another massacre – coroner's inquest on the dead bodies of Mr. Williamson, and family.” Leeds Mercury, December 28, 1811. “Important examination.” Leeds Mercury, December 28, 1811. “Murder of Mr. Marr and family.” Caledonian Mercury, December 14, 1811. “Murder of Mr. Marr and family.” Hull Packet and East Riding Times, December 17, 1811. “Murder of Mr. Marr's family in Ratcliff Highway.” London Observer, December 15, 1811. “Murders in New Gravel Lane.” London Morning Chronicle, December 24, 1811. “Murders in New Gravel Lane, &c.” London Times, December 24, 1811. “The late murder in Ratcliffe Highway – examination of suspected persons.” Jackson's Oxford Journal, December 21, 1811. “The late murders.” Jackson's Oxford Journal, January 4, 1812. “The Marr's murder.” Exeter Flying Post, June 1, 1815. “Williams, the murderer.” Caledonian Mercury, January 4, 1812. “Williamson's murder.” Jackson's Oxford Journal, February 1, 1811. De Quincey, Thomas. “Postcript to 'On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts.'” On Murder. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. https://books.google.com/books?id=sww0kGQ5AFkC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=postscript+to+murder+as+one+of+the+fine+arts&source=bl&ots=LZhKTGKaaB&sig=ACfU3U11QoFgOth13xjI_QQr-qRjmWEZKg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdwPKYhNrnAhUaknIEHWPnDdE4FBDoATAAegQIChAB#v=onepage&q=postscript%20to%20murder%20as%20one%20of%20the%20fine%20arts&f=false The Literary Panorama, Vol. XI. London: Cox and Baylis, 1812. https://books.google.com/books?id=UZLfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA359&lpg=PA359&dq=Roxburgh+Castle+(1809+ship)&source=bl&ots=KxKyfUQM-l&sig=ACfU3U1r4OtmDCpT60PvubrRTDn9PqSp2g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjX7tWbq9nnAhVslXIEHdV7DUYQ6AEwBXoECA0QAQ#v=onepage&q=Roxburgh%20Castle%20(1809%20ship)&f=false https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratcliff_Highway_murders https://www.murdermap.co.uk/historical-murders/mapping-the-ratcliffe-highway-murders/ http://www.thamespolicemuseum.org.uk/h_ratcliffehighwaymurders_8.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxburgh_Castle_(1809_ship)

Library Lunchtime Lecture by Dr Daniel Roberts, Queen's University Belfast. The third lecture in our series on 'Discovering Thomas Moore.' This lecture series accompanied our exhibition 'Discovering Thomas Moore: Ireland in nineteenth-century Europe'. Curated by musicologist Dr Sarah McCleave, School of Arts, English & Languages, QUB, the exhibition and lecture series exposes the breadth of Moore's research and writing about Ireland and explores Moore's role as an Irish writer with an international reputation in positioning Ireland within Europe through cultural exchange. It also addresses contemporary European fascination with the orient and Moore's influential role in depicting eastern culture, particularly via his hugely successful work, Lalla Rookh. Location: Academy House Date: Wednesday 6 November, 2019 Speaker: Daniel Sanjiv Roberts teaches Eighteenth-Century and Romantic-Period Literature at Queen's University Belfast. He has edited Thomas De Quincey and Robert Southey and written extensively on Romanticism and the East. Disclaimer: The Royal Irish Academy has prepared this content responsibly and carefully, but disclaims all warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the information contained in any of the materials. The views expressed are the authors' own and not those of the Royal Irish Academy.

In this first audio essay, Thomas De Quincey, of a new series of monologues, Saints and Rascals, by Clark Carr, we hear De Quincey talk about his book, "Confessions of an Opium Eater," and of the terrible history of opium, the British/Chinese Opium Wars, and the evolution of the modern international drug crisis. What a tale! Told by someone who lived it...

North Americans are the world’s most compulsive and prolific users of legal opioids. In this lyrical update of Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, writer Carlyn Zwarenstein recounts her search for relief and release – with its euphoric ups, hallucinatory lows and desperate pharmacy visits. Along the way she traces the long tradition of opium’s influence on culture and imagination, from De Quincey to Frida Kahlo. Part memoir, part critique of modern medicine, Zwarenstein’s short but powerful book offers a “measured” and “urgent” (The Globe & Mail) entry-point to a critical contemporary discussion. From the reviews: “…a sensuous and compelling meditation on using opioids to treat chronic pain. It’s also a delicate ode to the drug’s history. Zwarenstein, whose writing is thoughtful, honest, and elegant, opens her life to us as she guides us expertly through history, citing resources from literary biographies to online drug forums. With a little wink, she even includes a “pain playlist” with songs by Neil Young, Elliott Smith, and The Velvet Underground.

The word Romanticism makes us think of mountain tops and stormy seas, but the younger generation of English Romantics (above all, John Keats) were Londoners through and through. They were even mocked as 'the Cockney School of Poetry'. Jonathan Bate will track Keats to Hampstead and tell of the extraordinary circle of writers - opium-eater Thomas De Quincey, essayist Charles Lamb, master-critic William Hazlitt - who wrote for The London Magazine, until its gifted editor was killed in a duel with a rival critic.A lecture by Sir Jonathan Bate FBA, Gresham Professor of Rhetoric 14 May 2019The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/cockney-romantics-john-keatsGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned podcast, one that will engulf the artistic producer, an ambitious young podcaster, and a surly old man. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will fall asleep. Episode 328 of Trick or Treat Radio kicks off New Guest November with James Hancock from the Wrong Reels Podcast and Geekin’ with James Hancock on YouTube! James joins us in an attempt to discuss the Suspiria 2018 remake from director Luca Guadagnino. We also have an in depth discussion about comics old and new, horror remakes and aggressive mediocrity! So grab your dancing shoes, break out the long box and strap on for the world’s most dangerous talk radio show!Stuff we talk about: Wrong Reel Podcast, Geekin’ with James Hancock, Dynamo’s part time job, Odin, throwing your back out, Daniel Cormier, popping a rib while sneezing, “I know you’re awake”, evil beat poetry, Green Lantern, Grant Morrison, Talking with Gods, Alan Moore, wizard battles, Liam Sharp, Aggressively Mediocre, Heavy Metal, Marvel Knights, Sentry, Daredevil, Ben Grimm, Hawk and Dove, Titans, Rob Liefeld, Gail Simone’s Domino, Sidewinder, Robert Kirkman’s Die!Die!Die!, The Night Comes for Us, Jonathan Hickman, The Walking Dead, Invincible, Doom Patrol, Animal Man, Geoff Johns, Conan, Jim Steranko, Bernie Wrightson, Batman AND Robin, Dario Argento, Suspiria, Jello or Giallo, style over substance, Go Go Tales, Asia Argento, Ravenshadow goes to the theater, Captain America, Tilda Swinton is a force of nature, Dr. Pib, Suspiria de Profundis, Thomas De Quincey, Inferno, Mother of Tears, are the Amish listening?, Thom Yorke, Radiohead, Tubular Bells, Sleepaway Camp, Ravenshadow’s hedges, muppet Tilda Swinton, the wrong side of the podcast wall, A Bigger Splash, the rise of the Witch, Ares favorite Whiskey, Bourbon and Barbarians, Bewitched, Sabrina, Red Sox vs. Dodgers, Hereditary, The Thing, It, Dawn of the Dead, The Fly, Seventh Samurai, Magnificent Seven, Maniac, Evil Dead II, vacations, and a $40 nap.Send Email/Voicemail: podcast@trickortreatradio.comVisit our website: http://trickortreatradio.comUse our Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2CTdZzKFB Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/trickortreatradioTwitter: http://twitter.com/TheDeaditesFacebook: http://facebook.com/TheDeaditesYouTube: http://youtube.com/TheDeaditesTVInstagram: http://instagram.com/TheDeaditesBuy our music on Bandcamp: http://thedeadites.bandcamp.comSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/trickortreatradio)

JF and Phil head for Interzone in an attempt to solve the enigma of Naked Lunch, David Cronenberg's 1991 screen adaptation of William S. Burroughs' infamous 1959 novel. A treatise on addiction, a diagnosis of modern ills, a lucid portrait of the artist as cosmic transgressor, and like the book, "a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork," Naked Lunch is here framed in the light Cronenberg's recent speech making the case for the crime of art. Image by Melancholie, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gabel.jpg). REFERENCES David Foster Wallace, "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way," (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_with_Curious_Hair) from Girl With Curious Hair Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Oedipus), and "How Do You Make Yourself a Body Without Organs?" in [A Thousand Plateaus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AThousandPlateaus) David Cronenberg (writer-director), Naked Lunch (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102511/) (the film) William Burroughs, [Naked Lunch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NakedLunch)_ (the novel) Thomas De Quincey, [Confessions of an Opium-Eater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConfessionsofanEnglishOpium-Eater) Dale Pendell, Pharmako/Poeia: Power Plants, Poisons and Herbcraft (https://www.amazon.com/Pharmako-Poeia-Revised-Updated-Herbcraft/dp/1556438052) "David Cronenberg: I would like to make the case for the crime of art," (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-crime-of-art/) Globe and Mail June 22 2018 JF Martel, [Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice](https://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Art-Age-Artifice-Manifesto/dp/1583945784/ref=sr11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536764053&sr=1-1&keywords=reclaiming+art+in+the+age+of+artifice) Phil Ford, Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture (https://www.amazon.com/Dig-Sound-Music-Hip-Culture/dp/0199939918) Derek Bailey (director), [On the Edge: Improvisation in Music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edy2QlPjaU)_ Phil Ford, "Good Prose is Written By People Who Are Not Frightened" (https://dialmformusicology.com/2017/08/10/good-prose-is-written-by-people-who-are-not-frightened/) Geroge Orwell, "Inside the Whale" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Whale)

In 1932 a quartet of Bronx gangsters set out to murder a friend of theirs in order to collect his life insurance. But Michael Malloy proved to be almost comically difficult to kill. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll review what one observer called "the most clumsily executed insurance scam in New York City history." We'll also burrow into hoarding and puzzle over the value of silence. Intro: In May 1856 Abraham Lincoln gave a fiery speech of which no record exists. Calvin S. Brown argued that Thomas De Quincey modeled the third part of his 1849 essay "The English Mail-Coach" deliberately on a musical fugue. Sources for our feature on Michael Malloy: Simon Read, On the House: The Bizarre Killing of Michael Malloy, 2005. Deborah Blum, The Poisoner's Handbook, 2011. Karen Abbott, "The Man Who Wouldn't Die," Smithsonian, Feb. 7, 2012. Isabelle Keating, "Doctor and Undertaker Held in 'Murder Trust,'" Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 12, 1933. "Insurance Murder Charged to Five," New York Times, May 13, 1933. "4 Murder Attempts Cited in Weird Insurance Plot," Altoona (Pa.) Tribune, May 13, 1933. "Murder Plot Seen in Another Death," New York Times, May 14, 1933. "Murder Inquiry Is Widened by Foley," New York Times, May 16, 1933. "Six Are Indicted in Insurance Plot," [Washington D.C.] Evening Star, May 17, 1933. "Indicted as Slayers in Insurance Plot," New York Times, May 17, 1933. "4 on Trial in Bronx Insurance Slaying," New York Times, Oct. 5, 1933. "4 Men Go on Trial in Old Insurance Plot," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Oct. 18, 1933. "Jury Weighs Fate of Four in Killing," New York Times, Oct. 19, 1933. "Four Men to Die for Bronx Killing," New York Times, Oct. 20, 1933. "Three Die at Sing Sing for Bronx Murder," New York Times, June 8, 1934. "Murphy Goes to the Chair," New York Times, July 6, 1934. "The Durable Mike Malloy," New York Daily News, Oct. 14, 2007. Max Haines, "Inept Gang of Murderers Found Barfly Michael Malloy Almost Indestructible," Kamloops [B.C.] Daily News, Feb. 23, 2008. Deborah Blum, "The Strange Death of Mike the Durable," Women in Crime Ink, March 23, 2010. Listener mail: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), American Psychiatric Association, 2013. Fugen Neziroglu, "Hoarding: The Basics," Anxiety and Depression Association of America (accessed April 27, 2018). Scott O. Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz, "Hoarding Can Be a Deadly Business," Scientific American, Sept. 1, 2013. Ferris Jabr, "Step Inside the Real World of Compulsive Hoarders," Scientific American, Feb. 25, 2013. Homer and Langley's Mystery Spot Antiques: This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener David Marrero, who sent these corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

The Rt Hon Lord David Willetts talks to Philip Dodd about universities. The UK Minister for Universities and Science from 2010 to 2014, his new book considers both the history and the global role they now play. Plus a discussion about scandal old and new - is it a driving force for social change or once the outrage has passed does everything revert to the status quo. Historian and New Generation Thinker Tom Charlton, journalist Michael White and biographer Frances Wilson, author of lives of Thomas De Quincey and royal courtesan Harriette Wilson look at scandals past and present.

Catharine Morris and Michael Caines take a look at the English essayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Find out more at the-tis.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Desde la primera parte del siglo XIX nos llega este extraño libro de Thomas De Quincey en donde un representante del club de los aficionados al asesinato como un arte, argumenta su estética y valores. Veremos que sale en esta conversación sobre los límites del arte, el humor y la moral...

On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to the psychologist Charles Fernyhough about the inner speech in our heads. But what if it's a lone voice? The writer Olivia Laing explores what it's like to be lonely in a bustling city, while the playwright Alistair McDowall explores what happens when you're abandoned on a distant planet with no sense of time. The biographer Frances Wilson writes a tale of hero-worship, betrayal and revenge through the life of Thomas De Quincey, a man who modelled his opium-habit on Coleridge and his voice and writing on Wordsworth. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Carissimi compagni di viaggio, parliamo di Droga. In questa “stupefacente” puntata ci muoveremo dai tesori nascosti del “Conte di Montecristo” ai “Paradisi artificiali” di Baudelaire; dalle “Confessioni” di de Quincey alle “Porte della percezione” di Huxley. LETTURE DELLA PUNTATA: Alexandre Dumas – Il conte di Montecristo Charles Baudelaire – I paradisi artificiali Thomas De Quincey […]

A storming collection of songs, poetry and prose for the winter 2014/15 Drive The Cold Winter Away by Green Diesel from the album "Wayfarers All" Winter Singing by The Imagined Village from the album "Bending The Dark" The Running Fox by The Young 'Uns from the album "Never Forget" Sparrow by Peter Lacey from the album "Last Leaf" (featuring a quotation as recorded by The Venerable Bede) Song For A Winter's Night by Reid Jamieson from the album "Songs For A Winter's Night" I heard a bird sing In the dark of December A magical thing And sweet to remember. 'We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September,' I heard a bird sing In the dark of December. ~ Oliver Herford, I Heard a Bird Sing Winter King by Ninebarrow from the album "When The Blackthorn Burns" When Springtime Comes Around by Mark Ellis from the album "When Springtime Comes Around" A Season In Your Arms by Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar from the album "The Call" December Song by KC Barber from the album "Cold Wind Blowing" "The shed of leaves became a cascade of red and gold and after a time the trees stood skeletal against a sky of weathered tin. The land lay bled of its colors. The nights lengthened, went darker, brightened in their clustered stars. The chilled air smelled of woodsmoke, of distances and passing time. Frost glimmered on the morning fields. Crows called across the pewter afternoons." ~ James Carlos Blake, Wildwood Boys Through The Winter by George Boomsma from the EP "Through The Winter" "He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter…. In winter the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity." ~ John Burroughs, The Snow-Walkers Red Deer White Snow by Stooshie from the album "Stydd" "I put up a petition annually, for as much snow, hail, frost, or storm, of one kind or other, as the skies can possibly afford us. Surely every body is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a winter fire-side: candles at four o’clock, warm hearth-rugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies on the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without…" ~ Thomas De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater Weather by Rainbow Chasers from the album "Chimes At Midnight" Icicles by Miranda Sykes from the album "Bliss" The days are short, The sun a spark Hung thin between The dark and dark. Fat snowy footsteps Track the floor, And parkas pile up Near the door. The river is A frozen place Held still beneath The trees’ black lace. The sky is low. The wind is gray. The radiator Purrs all day. ~ John Updyke, January Gloomy Winter by Shine from the album "Sugarcane" "The English winter—ending in July, To recommence in August…" ~ Lord Byron "There are two seasons in Scotland: June and Winter." ~ Billy Connolly Highland Snow by Andi Butler from the album "Six Songs" “Winter is not a season; it's an occupation.” ~ Sinclair Lewis Winter Fever by Kyle Carey from the album "North Star" Think of winter and think of snows but in England that's not how it goes. Here blizzards are as rare as a placid child, English winters are wet and mild and wild with gales and gnawing damp that dull the days and put a cramp on life out of doors. So we don't dash through crystal drifts but trudge and splash as the rain and drizzle floods and flows and dewdrops drip from off our nose. Then, soaked and raw, we go home quick … and turn the heating up a click. ~ Phil Widdows, English Winter January Sky by Charlie Mosbrook from the album "Something To Believe" "Winter is nature’s way of saying, 'Up yours!'." ~ Robert Byrne Harbour View Hotel by Duncan McCrone from the album "Colourblind" "February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March." ~ Dr. J.R. Stockton Storm by Nigel Brown from the album "Mother Ivey" For full details and links to artists' websites, see the ShowNotes at www.folkcast.co.uk

The journalist Thomas De Quincey documented the time he spent with the Wordsworth’s.

Transcript -- The journalist Thomas De Quincey documented the time he spent with the Wordsworth’s.

The journalist Thomas De Quincey documented the time he spent with the Wordsworth’s.

Transcript -- The journalist Thomas De Quincey documented the time he spent with the Wordsworth’s.

Thomas De Quincey moved into dove cottage after the Wordsworth’s left.

Thomas De Quincey moved into dove cottage after the Wordsworth’s left.

These tales are told as dreams to the English essayist Thomas De Quincey. Sita, Shimmer's other wife, dwells in Mary Wordsworth. Shimmer's lady ape discovers rawhide and invents the digging stick. She is murdered. Old Shiver strikes. Shimmer lives short lives, and De Quincey grieves.

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Opium Wars, a series of conflicts in the 19th Century which had a profound effect on British Chinese relations for generations. Thomas De Quincey describes the pleasures of opium like this: “Thou hast the keys of Paradise, O just, subtle and mighty opium”. The Chinese had banned opium in its various forms several times, citing concern for public morals, but private British traders continued to smuggle large quantities of opium into China from India. In this way, the opium trade became a way of balancing a trade deficit brought about by Britain's own addiction...to Indian tea.The Chinese protested against the flouting of the ban, even writing to Queen Victoria. But the British continued to trade, leading to a crackdown by Lin Tse-Hsu, a man appointed to be China's Opium Drugs Czar. He confiscated opium from the British traders and destroyed it. The British military response was severe, leading to the Nanking Treaty which opened up several of China's ports to foreign trade and gave Britain Hong Kong. The peace didn't last long and a Second Opium War followed. The Chinese fared little better in this conflict, which ended with another humiliating treaty.So what were the main causes of the Opium Wars? What were the consequences for the Qing dynasty? And how did the punitive treaties affect future relations with Britain?With Yangwen Zheng, Lecturer in Modern Chinese History at the University of Manchester; Lars Laamann, Research Fellow in Chinese History at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London; Xun Zhou, Research Fellow in History at SOAS, University of London

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Opium Wars, a series of conflicts in the 19th Century which had a profound effect on British Chinese relations for generations. Thomas De Quincey describes the pleasures of opium like this: “Thou hast the keys of Paradise, O just, subtle and mighty opium”. The Chinese had banned opium in its various forms several times, citing concern for public morals, but private British traders continued to smuggle large quantities of opium into China from India. In this way, the opium trade became a way of balancing a trade deficit brought about by Britain's own addiction...to Indian tea.The Chinese protested against the flouting of the ban, even writing to Queen Victoria. But the British continued to trade, leading to a crackdown by Lin Tse-Hsu, a man appointed to be China's Opium Drugs Czar. He confiscated opium from the British traders and destroyed it. The British military response was severe, leading to the Nanking Treaty which opened up several of China's ports to foreign trade and gave Britain Hong Kong. The peace didn't last long and a Second Opium War followed. The Chinese fared little better in this conflict, which ended with another humiliating treaty.So what were the main causes of the Opium Wars? What were the consequences for the Qing dynasty? And how did the punitive treaties affect future relations with Britain?With Yangwen Zheng, Lecturer in Modern Chinese History at the University of Manchester; Lars Laamann, Research Fellow in Chinese History at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London; Xun Zhou, Research Fellow in History at SOAS, University of London