'For if once a man indulges himself in murder, very
soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from
robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking,
and from that to incivility and procrastination' Thomas
De Quincey's three essays 'On Murder Considered as One
of the Fine Arts' centre on the notorious career of the
murderer John Williams, who in 1811 brutally killed
seven people in London's East End. De Quincey's response
to Williams's attacks turns morality on its head,
celebrating and coolly dissecting the art of murder and
its perfections. Ranging from gruesomely vivid reportage
and brilliantly funny satiric high jinks to penetrating
literary and aesthetic criticism, the essays had a
remarkable impact on crime, terror, and detective
fiction, as well as on the rise of nineteenth-century
decadence. The volume also contains De Quincey's
best-known piece of literary criticism, 'On the Knocking
at the Gate in Macbeth', and his finest tale of terror,
'The Avenger', a disturbing exploration of violence,
vigilantism, and religious persecution. ABOUT THE
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