The Monk (The Penguin English Library) - Softcover

Lewis, Matthew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141199466 ISBN 13: 9780141199467

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2012

Synopsis

The Penguin English Library Edition of The Monk by Matthew Lewis

'He now saw himself stained with the most loathed and monstrous sins, the object of universal execration ... doomed to perish in tortures the most severe'

Shocking, erotic and violent, The Monk is the story of Ambrosio, torn between his spiritual vows and the temptations of physical pleasure. His internal battle leads to sexual obsession, rape and murder, yet this book also contains knowing parody of its own excesses as well as social comedy. Written by Matthew Lewis when he was only nineteen, it was a ground-breaking novel in the Gothic Horror genre and spawned hundreds of imitators, drawn in by its mixture of bloodshed, sex and scandal.

The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

About this title

About the Author

Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775-1818) was educated at Oxford, after which he held a position in the British Embassy at The Hague. It was there that he wrote The Monk, under the influence of the early German romantics. Its publication in 1796 was highly controversial, due to both Lewis' new status as MP and the novel itself, which many critics savaged for its supposed profanity and obscenity. A masterpiece of Gothic fiction, The Monk was revised after first publication to avoid charges of blasphemy. This edition features the original, unrevised 1796 text.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0141199466
• ISBN 13: 9780141199467
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448