Thomas De QUINCEY : On murder considered as one of the fine arts (Penguin little black classics #4)

'People begin to see that something more goes to the composition of a fine murder than two blockheads to kill and be killed - a knife - a purse - and a dark lane...'

In this provocative and blackly funny essay, Thomas de Quincey considers murder in a purely aesthetic light and explains how practically every philosopher over the past two hundred years has been murdered - 'insomuch, that if a man calls himself a philosopher, and never had his life attempted, rest assured there is nothing in him'.

When I first started reading this little book (50+ pages), I found it verbose, pontificating and extremely boring. I fell asleep on it for more than 3 hours - at least, it's an efficient sleeping pill !

Then I woke up, picked it up and started to find it a little less boring, so I gave it a second chance and got back to the beginning.

The second time, I found it a little better - not laugh out loud funny, but I smiled several times. However, I'm very grateful that it's short because I couldn't have kept reading a longer version.

To sum it up, I'm very disappointed. I'd heard of this text for a long time and was happy at the idea of finally reading it. It wasn't what I expected. If you're looking for a short text in the same collection with dark humour, but far superior, you should pick "A modest proposal" by Jonathan Swift !