His style of conversation was popular in the highest degree and unscholastic; so much so, that any stranger who should have studied his works, and been unacquainted with his person, would have found it difficult to believe, that in this delightful companion he saw the profound author of the Transcendental Philosophy.
—Thomas De Quincey (The Last Days of Immanuel Kant)
The cooler air sharpens thought. I turn from early Anita Brookner to Thomas De Quincey, who I expect will remain close. His piece on the final days of Kant gathers alongside Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, read recently, still unsettled within me.
The Last Days are painfully poignant at times.
Watching this brilliant man disintegrate is chilling.