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$49.00
Matthew Gregory Lewis was in his late teens when he composed and published The Monk. Like Shelley, the Gothic had set his imagination alight, but while with Shelley this flowed into a Neo-Platonic Anarchism, Lewis detonated into a tendrilled three-volumes of sex, satan and unease.
In stock
Hardcover edition, 559 pages, First edition. Book is in new unread condition.
Published by Black Letter Press
About this book:
A more grievous fault remains, a fault for which no literary excellence can atone, a fault which all other excellence does but aggravate, as adding subtlety to a poison by the elegance of its preparation. Mildness of censure would here be criminally misplaced, and silence would make us accomplices. Not without reluctance then, but in full conviction that we are performing a duty, we declare it to be our opinion, that the Monk is a romance, which if a parent saw in the hands of a son or daughter, he might reasonably turn pale.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1796).
Matthew Gregory Lewis was in his late teens when he composed and published The Monk. Like Shelley, the Gothic had set his imagination alight, but while with Shelley this flowed into a Neo-Platonic Anarchism, Lewis detonated into a tendrilled three-volumes of sex, satan and unease.
In some respects an expression of the 1790s English anti-Catholic sentiment Dickens was to explore in Barnaby Rudge, and an emblem, perhaps, of Ancien Regime Europe, Lewis’ novel develops its themes of lust, violence and spiritual corruption for the joy of it, delighting in touching on as many taboos as possible. The moral backlash forced him to revise and self-censure in subsequent editions, but the damage had been done; Walpole’s aesthetic and whimsical supernaturalism had taken off into horror for horror’s sake, whose themes of sexual cruelty and nihilistic violence were to be amplified by Byron.
Miskatonic Books | P.O. Box 204, Laurel MT 59044, United States
An amazing Classic that will spice up your library. When I read that Black Letter Press was going to publish this, I knew I had to add it to my library. The wait was well worth it. The nice hardcover and gold stamping makes this book look like it costs double or triple the price. The quality of the binding and paper, in my opinion are high quality. It’s a Black Letter Press printing so I am not surprised its such beautifully created at such a low price. I would highly recommend those who are even remotely interested in this classic work to pick up a copy and see for yourself.