DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Monk

Annotated Edition

Matthew Gregory Lewis author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Alma Books Ltd

Published:24th Oct '19

Should be back in stock very soon

The Monk cover

Suffused with eroticism and focusing on the corrupting influence of power, The Monk pioneered a shocking new form of Gothic novel.

"A masterpiece of the Gothic genre, The Monk tells the story of the Capuchin friar Ambrosio and his fall from grace through desire, greed and lust. Favourably reviewed at first, the novel was later so widely and raucously denounced for its perceived licentiousness, blasphemy and corrupting influence that Lewis had to remove controversial passages from future editions. Unsurprisingly, amidst this furore, the book was immensely popular with the reading public. Suffused with eroticism, and focusing on the corrupting influence of power, The Monk pioneered a shocking new form of Gothic novel, where elements such as mob violence, incest and brutal murder replaced the gentler horrors of earlier practitioners of the genre."

The Monk was so highly popular that it seemed to create an epoch in our literature. -- Sir Walter Scott

ISBN: 9781847498168

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 362g

448 pages