Thomas De Quincey - Knowledge and Power

This book examines what De Quincey called 'psychological criticism', a mode of studying how 'literature of power' arouses ideas and images dormant in the subconscious. He explores this 'power' by means of an introspective analysis of the effects produced in his own mind by reading Shakespeare and Milton, Wordsworth and Coleridge. Discussion of De Quincey's critical and narrative prose includes his skilled rewriting of a German forgery of a Waverly novel, as well as such better known works as 'Suspiria de Profundis', Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts.' 'On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth', 'The English Mail-Coach,' and 'Wordsworth's Poetry.' New insight into each of these works is provided by drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished manuscripts.

List of contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Knowledge and Power Sir Walter Scott and the Literary Pirates Murder and the Aesthetics of Violence Shakespearean Involutes Miltonic Overtures Wordsworthean Associations Bibliography

About the author

Frederick Burwick is a Research Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

Summary

This book examines what De Quincey called 'psychological criticism', a mode of studying how 'literature of power' arouses ideas and images dormant in the subconscious. He explores this 'power' by means of an introspective analysis of the effects produced in his own mind by reading Shakespeare and Milton, Wordsworth and Coleridge. Discussion of De Quincey's critical and narrative prose includes his skilled rewriting of a German forgery of a Waverly novel, as well as such better known works as 'Suspiria de Profundis', Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts.' 'On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth', 'The English Mail-Coach,' and 'Wordsworth's Poetry.' New insight into each of these works is provided by drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished manuscripts.

Product details

• Authors: F Burwick, F. Burwick
• Publisher: Palgrave UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 14.01.2014
• EAN: 9781349416325
• ISBN: 978-1-349-41632-5
• No. of pages: 205
• Series: Romanticism in Perspective:Texts, Cultures, Histories; Romanticism in Perspective; Romanticism in Perspective: Texts, Cultures, Histories; Romanticism in Perspective:Texts, Cultures, Histories; Romanticism in Perspective; Romanticism in Perspective: Te
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; B, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literary theory, European Literature, Literature, Modern—19th century, Nineteenth-Century Literature, British literature, British and Irish Literature, Literature—Philosophy, Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts Collection