作家であること、阿片常用者であること : 『阿片常用者の告白』の歴史と文学的環境(II)

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  • サッカ デ アル コト アヘン ジョウヨウシャ デ アル コト アヘン ジョウヨウシャ ノ コクハク ノ レキシ ト ブンガクテキ カンキョウ 2
  • Writing Opium-Eater : History of De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Literary Culture (II)

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From the start of his writing career, Thomas De Quincey was so densely surrounded by literary culture that it was difficult for him to write as he pleased. He had been forced to meet various editorial requirements and be sensitive to readers' response. This biographical fact should be considered when interpreting the Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and its long history along with some critical appreciation of the generic characteristics of the Confessions as a work of modern autobiography. In 1821 the Confessions was published in London Magazine, and in a few months it circulated again in a book form. Then, in 1856 the work reappeared in orie of the volumes of De Quincey's authorized collected writings. This history of the Confessions is also that of the author's revisionary endeavour, through which the revised version emerged quite differently from the original. And that is where the dynamics of these two vectors one originating from literary culture, and the other from the author's concern over his future identity as a writer holds a special significance for the Confessions itself. Although De Quincey's revisionary works can be traced more explicitly in the Confessions of 1856,its book form version also has a newly added section, which proves to be significant for the future course of the work. From that time on the author shows off his identity not as a common, anonymous magazine contributor but as an identifiable writer with his own personal background. In the revised version of the Confessions there can be discerned that his long-held desire to become an independent writer with his own name is realized. However, the reconsideration of his contemporary literary culture reveals that this achievement was also in the interests of the literary market consisting of the publisher and the numerous readers. Thus, the revised Confessions was a success, as a literary work and as a commercial product for the author and the literary market, respectively. Yet, the chance to be an original, creative writer was lost for De Quincey, because he had chosen, through his prosaic treatment of the extraordinary experiences of his opium-eating, to become primarily a commercial writer.

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