Customer Reviews

On Murder Considered As One Of The Fine Arts And Other Related Texts

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I don't want to ruin the delight of discovery for the reader of this marvelous satire. Its title alone prepares you well enough for its contents. Instead, I intend for this review to steer the unsuspecting victim away from this edition in particular, and away from Kissinger Publications in general. Kissinger prides itself on the preservation of rare and out-of-print books, offering these ugly, unsatisfying chapbooks as though they were faithful reproductions of great literature.

De Quincey's satire, at least as exemplary an instance of the genre as Swift's "A Modest Proposal," becomes a bundle of kindling in Kissinger's presentation. The book is thin, but the xerox-quality paper they choose is almost letter size, as uncomfortable in the hand as it is on the bookshelf. Its cover and binding offend the eye with their jaundice-yellow color. The spine bears no lettering to identify it next to others of its foul ilk. And that's just for the outside.

Inside, De Quincey's text is set in a blurring type. But the most criminal mutilation Kissinger commits is in its omissions. The original work contains numerous footnotes by the author elaborating on historical and biographical points. Kissinger deletes these entirely! Where De Quincey quotes directly from Greek authors, Kissinger doesn't even try to set the Greek type or even transliterate, but substitutes for the quotation the insulting annotation, [Greek text here]. Neither translation nor excuse is provided for these glaring ellipses, which make for a confusing, frustrating read.

In short, Kissinger has butchered one of the most undeservedly unknown masterpieces of English essay literature. If Kissinger's edition is to be the only easily accessible edition of De Quincey's greatest short piece, then it will certainly die out entirely. No renaissance of De Quincey will ever be sparked by this disaster. In short, it is impossible to be satisfied with this book. Don't buy it, and don't buy anything else by Kissinger Publications.

The number of golden books written with such panache, distinction and touch of inimitable genius is not so abundant like it seems. De Qincey makes an admirable dissection, plenty of fine irony, elegant eloquence, intelligent humor and seductive charm around the crime, going far beyond the superficial causes and making a fabulous and delirious journey through the ethic, moral and customs with zealous intellectual rigor blended with that peculiar touch we use to perceive in Bernard Shaw, Thomas Carlyle or Oscar Wilde.

This is an impeccable exercise of erudition around this mysterious but always present enigmatic feature of the human soul, that transcends frontiers, socio cultural barriers or ancestral beliefs of any nature.

Absolutely recommended, without reserves.