托马斯·德·昆西

英国散文家

托马斯·德·昆西（Thomas De Quincey，1785-1859年），英国著名散文家和批评家，其作华美与瑰奇兼具，激情与疏缓并蓄，是英国浪漫主义文学中的代表性作品。被誉为“少有的英语文体大师”，有生之年大部分时间被病魔纠缠，几乎无时不同踌躇、忧郁和吸毒的惧作斗争。他的代表作《一个吸食鸦片者的自白》来自作者吸食鸦片后所产生的狂热梦境。德·昆西写了很多散文作品，题材涉及文学、哲学、神学、政治学等领域。作品受到戴维·赫伯特·劳伦斯及弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙等诸多后世文坛大家的赞誉。

人物生平

托马斯·德·昆西（Thomas De Quincey，1785-1859年），英国散文家。他的散文作品热情洋溢，经常达到语气庄重，韵律优美如诗的效果，与弥尔顿等伟大诗人的作品相似。出生在曼彻斯特一个富裕的商人家庭。其父是一位富商和才华出众的作家，在他七岁时去世，德·昆西由他天赋极高却十分严厉的母亲抚养成人。中学时代擅长希腊文和拉丁文。十六岁时逃离就读的文法学校，漫游威尔士；十七岁时在伦敦流浪了一个严冬。早年风餐露宿的经历令他成为一个生活阴暗面的深刻洞察者，也使他罹患终生未愈的胃病和牙痛。大约一年后，家人找到他，将他送到牛津大学。在那里，为了缓解神经痛，他开始吸食鸦片。成为终生的瘾君子。在牛津大学着重学习英国文学和德国语言、文学，对英国新兴的浪漫主义文学非常向往，对威廉·华兹华斯和柯勒律治合写的《抒情歌谣集》(1798)的革新精神和内容十分欣赏。1807年成为这两位诗人的亲密朋友。1809年，他搬到湖泊区的格拉斯米尔，和沃兹沃斯、柯勒律治、骚塞等呆在一起，在自己的回忆录中讲述了他们的很多故事。

1816年，德·昆西与玛格丽特·辛普森结婚，之后生了八个孩子。与此同时，他开始吸食更多的鸦片，为此耗尽了继承来的遗产。他开始从事写作，1820年，经散文家查尔斯·兰姆介绍，与《伦敦杂志》的出版人相识。1821年，《伦敦杂志》发表了德·昆西的著名作品《一个英国鸦片服用者的自白》，大获成功，这部作品以他的亲身体验和想象，描写了主人公的心理和潜意识活动，预示了20世纪现代派文学的题材和写作方法的出现，虽然还在吸食鸦片，但德·昆西一直定期地向《布莱克伍德杂志》（Blackwood's）、《季度评论》（Quarterly Review）等杂志投稿。由于和《黑檀杂志》的关系密切，1826年迁居爱丁堡。1859年12月8日去世。

从1853年起直至去世，德·昆西编辑他自己的全集。全集共14卷，出版于1853年和1860年之间。他的文章涉及历史、政治经济学、哲学和文艺理论。他把文学分为两大类：“知识的文学”和“力量的文学”。前者教育读者，后者感动读者。浪漫主义文学属于后者。仿此，德·昆西的作品也可分为这两类。在“知识的文学”方面，他写有经济著作《三位法学家的对话》；哲学著作《论康德》；教育著作《致失学青年的信》；历史著作《贞德》(1847)；文学批评著作《论〈麦克白〉剧中的敲门声》（1823）、《论风格》(1840)等。在“力量的文学”方面，德·昆西写了《一个英国鸦片服用者的自白》、《自传》（1834～1853）、《来自深处的叹息》(1845)、《英国邮车》(1849)和《被看成是一种艺术的谋杀》(1827)等。

德·昆西的散文富于幻想和感情，注重词藻和音乐性，有意识地模仿17世纪早期英国散文家的风格。他是英国浪漫主义运动的主要文学批评家之一，曾经称赞莎士比亚的作品不仅是伟大的艺术品，而且还象“自然现象，象太阳和海洋，星星和花朵；象霜和雪，雨和露，冰雹和霹雳”。

英文介绍

Thomas de Quincey (August 15, 1785 – December 8, 1859) was an English author and intellectual.

He was born in Manchester. His father was a successful businessman with an interest in literature; he died when Thomas was quite young. Soon after Thomas's birth the family moved to The Farm, and later to Greenhay, a larger country house near Manchester. In 1796 De Quincey's mother, now a widow, moved to Bath and enrolled him at King Edward's School, Bath.

Thomas was a weak and sickly child. His youth was spent in solitude, and when his elder brother, William, came home, he wreaked havoc in the quiet surroundings. De Quincey's mother was a woman of strong character and intelligence, but seems to have inspired more awe than affection in her children. She brought them up very strictly, taking Thomas out of school after three years because she was afraid he would become big-headed, and sending him to an inferior school at Winkfield in Wiltshire.

His first plan had been to reach William Wordsworth, whose Lyrical Ballads (1798) had consoled him in fits of depression and had awakened in him a deep reverence for the poet. But for that De Quincey was too timid, so he made his way to Chester, where his mother dwelt, in the hope of seeing a sister; he was caught by the older members of the family, but, through the efforts of his uncle, Colonel Penson, received the promise of a guinea a week to carry out his later project of a solitary tramp through Wales. From July to November, 1802, De Quincey lived as a wayfarer. He soon lost his guinea by ceasing to keep his family informed of his whereabouts, and had difficulty making ends meet. Still apparently fearing pursuit, he borrowed some money and travelled to London, where he tried to borrow more. Having failed, he lived close to starvation rather than return to his family.

From this time on De Quincey maintained himself by contributing to various magazines. He soon exchanged London and the Lakes for Edinburgh and its suburb, Lasswade, where he spent the remainder of his life. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine and its rival Tait's Magazine received a large number of contributions. The English Mail-Coach appeared in 1849 in Blackwood. Joan of Arc had already been published (1847) in Tait. De Quincey throughout his life drank laudanum—after 1821, twice in great excess. During his last years he nearly completed a collected edition of his works.

Influence

His immediate influence extended to Edgar Allan Poe, Fitz Hugh Ludlow and Charles Baudelaire, but even major 20th century writers such as Jorge Luis Borges admired and claimed to be partly influenced by his work. Berlioz also loosely based his Symphonie Fantastique on Confessions of an English Opium Eater, drawing on the theme of the internal struggle with one's self.

Bibliography

Selected works:

Confessions of an English Opium Eater, 1822

On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth, 1823

Walladmor, 1825

Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts, 1827

Klosterheim, or The Masque, 1832

Lake Reminscences, 1834-40

The Logic of the Political Economy, 1844

Suspiria de Profundis, 1845

The English Mail Coach, 1849

Autobiographical Sketches, 1853