Is fame that the writer, generally, writes in order to live a life that he has not. Hemingway would protest his dissension. In the case of Quincey it seems a bit true though. I loved so much his childhood: since a little kid with his sisters till the time he has the company and rivalry of one of his older brothers, in that trajectory he discovers death, life, love, manhood, power and a father coming back for one last task. But afterwards the following essays are rather about events happening in his time than events of his own life, progressively we see less and less of him... a secondary character in his own life. The reportanges are well narrated and engaging, but they are not so autobiographic in my opinion. Curiously this is strange because, if you read other books by De Quincey, is clear that he had an interesting life indeed. Maybe autobiographies are a matter of gossip and revelations, therefore the writer sets the barrier of a natural modesty when he himself is the subject of the narration; besides modesty, a necessary care is needed to not divulge the identity of friends of the real world.
As always De Quincey's style is wonderful. So much that is unavoidable to me to suspect the accuracy in his childhood memories are sacrificed, partially, to get an aesthetic composition.
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