De l'assassinat considéré comme un des Beaux-Arts

by Thomas De Quincey

"De l'assassinat considéré comme un des Beaux-Arts" by Thomas De Quincey is a trilogy of essays begun in 1827. Written as satirical lectures to a fictional gentleman's club, the essays propose examining murder purely from an aesthetic perspective. De Quincey inventories history's most notorious killings with dark humor, dismissing moral concerns while rating crimes like works of art. The real-life Ratcliff Highway murders anchor the series, inspiring club members to gather in celebration and debate the finer points of homicidal technique and style.