This book examines what De Quincey called 'psychological criticism', a
mode of studying how 'literature of power' arouses ideas and images
dormant in the subconscious. He explores this 'power' by means of an
introspective analysis of the effects produced in his own mind by
reading Shakespeare and Milton, Wordsworth and Coleridge. Discussion of
De Quincey's critical and narrative prose includes his skilled rewriting
of a German forgery of a Waverly novel, as well as such better known
works as 'Suspiria de Profundis', Murder Considered as one of the Fine
Arts.' 'On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth', 'The English
Mail-Coach, ' and 'Wordsworth's Poetry.' New insight into each of these
works is provided by drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished
manuscripts