The Monk. by Matthew Lewis (Paperback) Oxford University Press- SEE NOTES

THE MONK by Matthew Lewis.

The Monk (1796) is a sensational story of temptation and depravity, a masterpiece of Gothic fiction, and the first horror novel in English literature. The respected monk Ambrosia, the Abbot of a Capuchin monastry in Madrid, is overwhelmed with desire for a young girl, and after swiftly abandoning his monastic vows he begins a terrible descent into imoortality and violence. His appalling fall from grace embraces blasphemy, black magic, torture, rape, and murder, and places his very soul in jeopardy.

Lewis's extraordinary tale draws on folklore, legendary ghost stories and contemporary dread inspired by the terrors of the French Revolution. Its excesses shocked the reading public and it was condemned as obscene. The novel continues to beguile and unnerve readers today with its gruwsome catalogue of iniquities, while at the same time giving a profound insight into the deep anxieties experienced by British citizens during one of the turbulent periods in the nation's history.

NEW EDITION - This Edition Includes: NOTE: There are notes in the margin on some pages

Introduction
Textual Note
Bibliography
Chronology
Explanatory Notes

Edited by Howard Anderson
Revised and with an Introduction and Notes by Nick Groom.

This edition published in 2016 by Oxford University Press