Original scientific paper
Romantic Confession: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas de Quincey
Martina Domines Veliki
Abstract
In the introductory part of the Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821), De
Quincey makes a distinction between French and English confessional writings by
saying that ‘nothing, indeed, is more revolting to English feelings than the spectacle
of a human being obtruding on our notice his moral ulcers or scars, and tearing away
that “decent drapery” which time or indulgence to human frailty may have drawn
over them’. French sensibility, according to De Quincey is ‘spurious and defective’
while the English is always concerned with the constitution of the moral faculties.
Departing from De Quincey’s remark and his confessional autobiography, this paper
aims to explore the origins of Romantic confessional writing and possible overlapping
between Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s and De Quincey’s work.
It will also try to locate ‘confession’ within Romantic autobiographical writings, stressing
the
importance
of
a
truly
autonomous
subject,
fully
conscious
of
his
uniqueness.
Furthermore,
the paper will try to deal with
the poststructuralist vein
of thinking,
departing
from Linda Anderson’s
contention
that ‘autobiography represents a privileged
form
for
a
Romantic
writer
because
it
confirms his plight: the perplexity of a
self forever recasting and repeating itself as text.’
Keywords
Thomas De Quincey; drug autobiography; Jean-Jacques Rousseau; romantic confession; romantic subjectivity
Hrčak ID:
168207
URI
Publication date:
13.6.2016.
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