{"product_id":"guilty-thing-paperback","title":"Guilty Thing - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eFrances Wilson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNational Book Critics Circle Award, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eBiographers International Organization Plutarch Award and \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Prize Finalist\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e Best Books of 2016\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThomas De Quincey was an obsessive. He was obsessed with Wordsworth and Coleridge, whose \u003ci\u003eLyrical Ballads \u003c\/i\u003eprovided the script to his life, and by the idea of sudden death. Running away from school to pursue the two poets, De Quincey insinuated himself into their world. Basing his sensibility on Wordsworth's and his character on Coleridge's, he forged a triangle of unusual psychological complexity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAged twenty-four, De Quincey replaced Wordsworth as the tenant of Dove Cottage, the poet's former residence in Grasmere. In this idyllic spot he followed the reports of the notorious Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811, when two families, including a baby, were butchered in their own homes. In his opium-soaked imagination the murderer became a poet while the poet became a murderer. Embedded in \u003ci\u003eOn Murder as One of the Fine Arts\u003c\/i\u003e, De Quincey's brilliant series of essays, Frances Wilson finds the startling story of his relationships with Wordsworth and Coleridge. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOpium was the making of De Quincey, allowing him to dissolve self-conflict, eliminate self-recrimination, and divest himself of guilt. Opium also allowed him to write, and under the pseudonym \"The Opium-Eater\" De Quincey emerged as the strangest and most original journalist of his age. His influence has been considerable. Poe became his double; Dostoevsky went into exile with \u003ci\u003eConfessions of an English Opium-Eater\u003c\/i\u003e in his pocket; and Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, George Orwell, Alfred Hitchcock, and Vladimir Nabokov were all De Quincey devotees. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThere have been other biographies of Thomas De Quincey, but \u003ci\u003eGuilty Thing\u003c\/i\u003e is the first to be animated by the spirit of De Quincey himself. Following the growth of his obsessions from seed to full flowering and tracing the ways they intertwined, Frances Wilson finds the master key to De Quincey's vast Piranesian mind. Unraveling a tale of hero worship and revenge, \u003ci\u003eGuilty Thing\u003c\/i\u003e brings the last of the Romantics roaring back to life and firmly establishes Wilson as one of our foremost contemporary biographers.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrances Wilson\u003c\/b\u003e is a critic, a journalist, and the author of several works of nonfiction, including \u003ci\u003eLiterary Seductions\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe Courtesan's Revenge\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 2009; \u003ci\u003eHow to Survive the \u003c\/i\u003eTitanic, the winner of the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography in 2012, and \u003ci\u003eGuilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey\u003c\/i\u003e, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2016. She lives in London with her daughter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 416\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 8.7 x 5.6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 17, 2017\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42134130819207,"sku":"9780374537258","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/0ab319d8cc6d66370a6be4d266044552.webp?v=1732639321","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/guilty-thing-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}