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Thomas De Quincey

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Author

The Resume

    (August 15, 1785-December 8, 1859)
    Born in Manchester, England, United Kingdom
    Wrote 'Confessions of an English Opium Eater' (1822), 'Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts' (1827), 'Suspiria de Profundis' (1845) and 'Autobiographical Sketches' (1853)

Why he might be annoying:

    While at Oxford, he was 'looked upon as a strange being who associated with no one.'
    He left Oxford without a degree.
    He lasted little over a year as a newspaper editor due to his tendency to miss deadlines.
    He was addicted to opium.
    He lost all his teeth.
    He fathered a son with Margaret Simpson before marrying her.
    He was a hoarder who would abandon his lodgings when they became too cluttered with books and papers and rent another house.
    He was in debt for much of his life, until his mother died leaving him an annuity of £200 per year and his daughters grew old enough to take over the household finances.
    His 'Confessions' inspired other writers, including Francis Thompson and Branwell Bronte, to take opium.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was bullied by his older brother.
    He began taking opium for trigeminal neuralgia, attacks of stabbing pain in the face.
    He turned his opium addiction into a best seller.
    His writing style influenced Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire and Jorge Luis Borges.
    His 'Confessions' inspired Hector Berlioz's 'Symphonie Fantastique.'
    His 'Suspiria' inspired horror director Dario Argento's trilogy 'Suspiria,' 'Inferno' and 'The Mother of Tears.'
    He wrote, 'If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 5 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 10 Votes: 90.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 24 Votes: 50.0% Annoying