Orientalism in De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium

Orientalism in De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater: A Contributing Factor to the Feeling of Sublimity

Name: Bill Situ

Instructor: Dr. Carmen Faye Mathes

Course: ENGL 359

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is an apparent interlink between the Romantic concepts of sublimity and orientalism in De Quincey’s narrative, namely in that De Quincey’s experience of the sublime emerged from the oriental elements that he was exposed to, which he may or may not have objectively understood. In the case of opium, the drug is a product of the Orient that De Quincey physically consumes, where the use of the drug led to intense, albeit momentary, feelings of relief from physical pain. The Malay, being a person hailing from the Orient, also produced for De Quincey various sublime images of the oriental world that were simultaneously fascinating and fearful. This connection between sublimity and the orient is not strictly limited to Confessions. Nearly twenty years later, the concept of sublimity that was central in Confessions became a key component of De Quincey’s position against China, which was directly informed by his perception of the Orient.

Works Cited

Chandler, James. “The Opium Connection: Thomas De Quincey, Charles Dickens, and D. W. Griffith.” Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 56.4 (2016): 895-924. Modern Language Association. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Clarke, David Fisher. The Function of the Sublime in the Writing of Thomas De Quincey. Diss. McMaster University, 1974. Modern Language Association. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

De Quincey, Thomas. Confessions of an English Opium Eater. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2009. Print.

De Quincey, Thomas. “The Opium Question With China in 1840.” Internet Archive. Way Back Machine, n. d. Web 18 Mar. 2017. < https://ia800208.us.archive.org/8/items/TheOpiumQuestionInChinaIn1840/TheOpiumQuestionInChinaIn1840.pdf>

Garcia, Humberto. “In the Name of the ‘Incestuous Mother’: Islam and Excremental Protestantism in De Quincey’s Infidel Book.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 7.2 (2007): 57-87. Modern Language Association. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Marsden, William. The History of Sumatra, Containing an Account of the Government, Laws, Customs, and Manners of the Native Inhabitants, with a Description of the Natural Productions, and a Relation of the Ancient Political State of that Island. London: Gale, 1783. Artemis Primary Sources. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Poetzch, Markus. “Fearful Spaces: Thomas De Quincey’s Sino-Anginophobia.” English Studies in Canada 41.2 (2015): 27-41. Modern Language Association. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Rzepka, Charles J. “The Literature of Power and the Imperial Will: De Quincey’s Opium War Essays.” South Central Review 8.1 (1991): 37-45. Modern Language Association. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Said, Edward. Orientalism. London: Penguin, 1977. Print.

Sitter, Zak. “The Narrative Performant: Linguistic Authority in the Text of Romantic Orientalism.” Duke University Press 21.2 (2010): 109-141. Modern Language Association. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Traynor, Kim. Grave of Thomas De Quincey. 14 Oct. 2010. Wikipedia. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Framework of Analysis

Introduction

Examining the link between orientalism and sublimity in De Quincey’s narrative will begin with a definition of the two concepts and how they manifest in his text. The two elements of the Orient that this essay will then explore is the opium that De Quincey consumed and the Malay that he encountered, both of which invoked feelings of the sublime in him. This essay will finish with an analysis of how this idea of orientalism as a trigger for experiences of sublimity applies beyond De Quincey’s 1821 narrative. Specifically, this study will look at The Opium Question in China in 1840, which De Quincey wrote nearly twenty years after Confessions, yet included much of the same rhetoric as his earlier text.

Defining "Sublime"

“Sublime”, being the other central concept to this analysis, also requires a more detailed understanding of what it is and how it functions in De Quincey's text.

In 1821, Thomas De Quincey’s published his autobiography, Confessions of an English Opium Eater, where he detailed his experience with using opium. In general, De Quincey described his initial experience with opium as having brought him joy, but very quickly became aware of the drug’s damaging effects. De Quincey’s experience with opium brings into light two central concepts in Victorian literature —the construct of orientalism and the quality of sublimity. De Quincey’s text also extensively portrays the orient as a place of fear and danger and the effects that De Quincey experiences after using opium have a sublime quality. To this end, there is a critical question that scholars need to ask: How does the rhetoric of orientalism that De Quincey conveys in his autobiography contribute to the sublime elements that he describes? This presentation will establish that De Quincey’s understanding of the sublime was actually a direct result of oriental elements that he experienced or came to contact with, such as the opium or the Malay.

According to David Fisher Clarke, the development of the concept is often attributed to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. In the context of the Romantic period, this concept refers to any “expression in literature or nature with particularly intense experiences of passion or emotion” (Clarke 5). Clarke states that Wordsworth ascribed a moral quality to his experience of sublimity in nature, where its effect was most profound during times of confusion and distress, such as life in London (Clarke 16). However, given that sublimity has its roots in the emotional faculty rather than reasoning and logic, “any experience of the sublime will be disturbing” and such a disturbance would have been “an essential element of in the total effect” (Clarke 13). In short, the concept of sublime, according to Clarke, has two effects that are fundamentally in opposition to one another — it can provide a sense of moral direction, but at the same time, its roots in one’s own emotions also tends to carry with it an element of fear and potential danger.

Friedrich, Caspar David. Wanderer Above the Sea Fog. 1817. Wikipedia. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Sublime and Christianity

Clarke further states that the element of Christianity does “consciously permeate [De Quincey’s] work”, where his Christian faith does “transcend the rigourous demands of reason” in invoking the feeling of sublimity (Clarke 6-7).

De Quincey's Interpretation of Sublimity

The various ideas that Clarke articulates in his publication are very directly applicable to the experience of opium consumption that De Quincey describes. De Quincey’s interpretation of sublimity is for the most part consistent with the definitions that his contemporaries came up with. Specifically, De Quincey, like Wordsworth and Colleridge, understood the “sublime” quality as an expression of emotion rather than reason and logic.

De Quincey's Stance on the Opium Wars

Sublime Experience of Opium Consumption

In 1840, De Quincey — now a member of the Tories — authored a text titled The Opium Question in China in 1840, which articulates his stance on the opium war against China. Evidently, De Quincey did not shy from his support for British military action:

“We do not wish to disguise that our views tend to the policy of war — war conducted with exemplary vigour” (De Quincey 163)

China

In De Quincey’s essays on the opium wars, which he wrote nearly twenty years after Confessions, the connection that exists between orientalism and sublimity remains fundamentally the same. The thought of the sublime here is again the direct product of De Quincey’s experience of the orient, much like his prior experience with consuming opium and his encounter with the Malay.

As James Chandler describes, De Quincey saw the Qing Dynasty’s motivation for banning the opium trade as being “purely selfish reasons” (Chandler 904). De Quincey in actuality does state in his 1840 publication that he sees Chinese society as being “incapable of true civilization” and “incurably savage in the moral sense” (De Quincey 193). These echo many of the previous sentiments that he conveyed in his 1821 autobiography about the way he perceived China in his dreams. In other words, the orientalist sentiments inherent in De Quincey’s visions are not simply confined to Confessions, but rather have a very directly informed his views on real world events that happened later. Furthermore, if De Quincey’s perceptions of China and the Orient in Confessions were actually subjective in quality, then presumably, his ideas would be equally so here.

Sodacan. Flag of the Qing Dynasty. 21 Apr. 2001. Wikipedia. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Despite his evident stance against China, De Quincey was not entirely supportive of outright military action against the country. Instead, he favoured a policy of armed negotiation, which he described as, “instead of an army with an ambassador in the rear, an ambassador followed by an army for his train” (De Quincey 195). As Chandler states, De Quincey’s plan of action entailed “negotiation with Peking backed up by 30,000 British troops” (Chandler 904). De Quincey’s call for such action again makes reference to the idea of sublimity that he described in his 1821 autobiography. The plan of armed negotiation, as Rzepka states, would have had a more profound effect because it leaves behind an impression on the Chinese, which carries with it the “sublime of terror” (Rzepka 43). Indeed, De Quincey did make a statement about how negotiation would have a more powerful impact:

“We should still need a treaty and a previous demonstration of our power, in order to protect our ships, with increasing crews and passengers, from casual collisions with a cruel nation” (De Quincey 202).

De Quincey's Encounter With the Malay

One scene from the book that this essay will examine in detail is the one where an unnamed Malay person visits De Quincey right at his home. This scene is also crucial for analysis because it accurately reflects the link between sublimity and orientalism that pervades De Quincey’s text.

Upon meeting the Malay, De Quincey, realizing his insufficient knowledge of oriental languages, initiates a conversation with the Malay by trying to communicate in Greek, which he believes more closely resembles an Oriental language. He then offers the Malay some opium, believing that he is accustomed to the drug and will readily accept it as a gift. The Malay easily accepts the opium, which confirms De Quincey’s initial belief that his actions were of good will.

Although Clarke does not specifically refer to Confessions of an English Opium Eater in his analysis of the sublime, many of the ideas in his text can very directly apply to De Quincey's experience with the oriental subject that Garcia describes. In other words, De Quincey’s experience with consuming opium in itself has an inherently sublime quality. Much like how Wordsworth’s experience of the natural sublime enabled him to overcome distress, De Quincey’s use of opium also provided him a means of overcoming a prolonged feeling of intense physical pain that he was experiencing at the time. Initially, De Quincey described opium as being a “celestial drug” with an uplifting and heavenly effect:

“Oh, Heavens! What a revulsion! What its upheavings, from its lowest depths, of the inner spirit!” (De Quincey 89)

Here, De Quincey does feel a sense of rejuvenation and even devotes an entire section of his autobiography to describing the pleasures of the drug. His experience with opium is strongly reminiscent of Wordsworth’s experience of sublimity in that it had a level of emotional intensity and helped him to overcome a supposedly very distressful feeling. As De Quincey put it, “the opium eater … feels the diviner part of his nature” where “moral affections are in a state of cloudless serenity” (De Quincey 92).

Here, the description of the Malay’s appearance and De Quincey’s experiences following the encounter are reflective of the orientalist concept. In this particular scene, it is a girl servant who opens the door and sees the Malay first. De Quincey states that upon seeing the Malay, the girl has a vision of him being a “sort of demon below” (De Quincey 107). De Quincey’s himself also describes the Malay as having “fiery eyes” and being “ferocious looking”, both of which are animalistic qualities (De Quincey 107). In the aftermath of this encounter, the image of the Malay does put De Quincey in a “world of troubles” (De Quincey 109). These descriptions of the Malay clearly reflect the mindset of orientalism that Said describes, where there is an overt attempt to portray the East as being deviant from the standards of the West.

According to Sitter, De Quincey’s encounter with the Malay is a pivotal moment in his autobiography because this is a scene where De Quincey “completes the progress of the performant from its ‘native’ East to Britain’s shores” (Sitter 129). He also states that this instance in De Quincey’s narrative affirms the author’s own ignorance about the Orient. Specifically, Sitter states that the encounter is a “tacit admission of failure, an acknowledgement of the limits of the West to understand the East” (Sitter 129). De Quincey’s supposed ignorance about the orient is central here because it again mirrors the idea that Orientalism is a subjective concept.

Malay

Opium

Rebloggy. Opium. 1845. Rebloggy: 17 Aug. 2009. Top Tumblr Posts. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Sublimity and Orientalism — The Connection

An "Ironic Reversal of Situation"

Relating to the earlier analysis of sublimity in this essay, De Quincey states that the orient in itself also has a naturally sublime quality. To De Quincey, the most apparent element of sublimity is the “feeling associated with all oriental names or images” (De Quincey 125). The fact that the orient is a place that haunts him is also an indication of sublimity, alluding to Clarke’s explanation about the sublime quality having an inherent characteristic of disturbance.

So far in this analysis of Confessions, sublimity in De Quincey’s mind has been directly the result of orientalism. The feelings of pleasure and pain emerged directly from De Quincey’s consumption of opium, an oriental drug. His sublime visions of the orient also resulted from his encounter with a person from the orient.

Garcia takes Sitter’s argument another step further when he states that De Quincey’s consumption of the opium actually renders him the one being colonized rather than the colonizer, which he describes as an “ironic reversal of situation” (Garcia 68). This would be an inversion of the presupposed power relationship between the colonizer and the colonized subject in the context of the Romantic period. De Quincey, being British, naturally would have been in a position of authority over the Malay. However, in his encounter with the Malay, he more closely resembles the colonized person because the oriental drug ultimately assumed more control over De Quincey than he did over the drug.

At the same time, De Quincey’s experience with opium, the oriental subject, also echoes the negative aspect of the sublime concept, namely the danger that it brings. After his consumption of the opium, it did not take long for the drug’s debilitating effects to set in. One of the effects that De Quincey describes is his text is his inability to cope with misery in the aftermath, hence its melancholic effect (De Quincey 106). Here, the damaging effects of using opium that start to become apparent to De Quincey matches Clarke’s explanation about the inherent disturbance and danger associated with the sublime quality.

The concept of orientalism, is one that permeates throughout De Quincey’s text and is a central part of the author’s overall discourse. Humberto Garcia states that in Confessions, “opium is the oriental subject and the taboo object” (Garcia 67). In the text, elements of the orient such as the opium are quite literally within De Quincey’s own physical surroundings, which raises the stakes only that much more. Markus Poetzch states that “the orient in Confessions is after all not a reclusive empire that exercises its power over distant seaports and sailors; instead, its theatre of war is the dreaming mind itself and its terrors are the product of addiction” (Poetzch, 36). This means that the orient actively poses a threat to the world that De Quincey inhabits. This explanation becomes apparent when the debilitating effects of the opium set in on De Quincey, as well as the later moment in the text when encounters the Malay.

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Sublime Quality of the Orient in De Quincey's Mind

De Quincey states that after his encounter with the Malay, he has been regularly “transported into Asiatic scenes” (De Quincey 124). In his perceptions, the Orient is a place of fascination and fear at the same time:

“The mere antiquity of Asiatic things, of their institutions, histories, modes of faith etc. is so impressive.” (De Quincey 124)

“I am terrified by the modes of life, the manners, and the barrier of utter abhorrence, and want of sympathy, placed between us by feelings deeper than I can analyze.” (De Quincey 125)

Here, De Quincey is evidently showing the Orient as the social other in a way that closely resembles Said’s description in his 1977 text. Although De Quincey states that the orient made him stand “loathing and fascinated” (De Quincey 126), there is considerably more emphasis on the fear that the visions of the orient create in him. More importantly, this is entirely a subjective understanding of China and its society. De Quincey’s own visions of the orient are really the result of his own experience of its specific elements, namely the opium and the Malay. Nonetheless, he has never actually been physically present in the geographical space of the orient, which means that the orient in De Quincey’s understanding is necessarily limited and has a knowledge gap within itself. This is consistent with the argument that Said makes about the subjective nature of orientalism, where interpretations are based more on Western perceptions and not on objective evidence.

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Opium as the "Oriental Subject"

Opium Wars

The sublime nature of De Quincey’s personal experience with opium and his conception of the orient will become consequential later in his life during the First Opium War. The First Opium War was a conflict that took place from 1839 to 1842, where the British launched an armed invasion against China’s Qing Dynasty in response to their ban on the opium trade.

Defining Orientalism

The other critical piece to this study is the concept of orientalism. Edward Said is one of the foremost scholars on this subject and even wrote a book in 1977 titled, Orientalism. In his text, Said makes the argument that orientalism was a “semi-mythical” construct that first emerged in Europe at around the time of the Napoleon invasion of Egypt in the late eighteenth century (Said xlv). This construct seeks to distinguish the whole of the eastern world apart from the west with the more specific goal of asserting the West’s dominance. Specifically, the concept of orientalism seeks to represent the West as being more intellectually dominant, where the representation of the East is more reliant on perceptions by the West rather than what is objectively truthful about the East (Said 23). Furthermore, Said states that orientalism is “premised upon exteriority” and “does not entail analysis of what lies in the orientalist text” (Said 21). As a result, this means that there is often some inherent element of danger associated with the Orient. Simply put, orientalism is necessarily a Eurocentric construction that tries to create the East as a social other that is intellectually inferior.

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Not a New Experience

For De Quincey, his encounter with the Malay was by no means out of the ordinary. In fact, the sentiments that he invokes about Malay peoples are more broadly reflective of views during the time. In 1783, William Marsden made a voyage to Sumatra, where he wrote a first-hand account about the observations he made of the Malays in the region. The Malays’ habit of consuming opium is a matter that Marsden speaks at length about in his publication. He argues in his publication against the common assumptions of the time that opium consumption necessarily resulted into health problems and erratic behavior. Instead, he explains that even among the Malay populations on Sumatra that consumed opium in substantial quantities, some were noticeably healthy while others were not (Marsden 241). However, Marsden does state that in general, Malays did have a tendency to be very volatile in their behavior, which he attributes to “the natural ferocity of their disposition” (Marsden 242). This echoes the claim that De Quincey makes in his text about his experiences of encountering the Malay.

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