A-Z Wednesday: The Monk: A Romance

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Reading at the Beach.

Here are the rules: Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the Letter of the Week and post the following:

1. A photo of the book
2. Title and synopsis
3. A link (Amazon, B&N, etc.)
4. Come back here and leave your link in the comments

If you’ve already reviewed this book, post a link to the review as well. Be sure to visit other participants to see what books they have posted and leave them a comment (we all love comments, don’t we?) Who know? You may find your next “favorite” book.

THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: M

My “M” Book is:

The Monk: A Romance

by Matthew G. Lewis

(New York: Avon, 1975)

Paperback, 345 Pages, Fiction

ISBN: 9780380004683, US$1.95

He signed a contract in blood with the Devil!

From the Cover: Two beautiful women! An unholy lust! Out of the harrowing days of the Spanish Inquisition, across the centuries, comes the torturous and unforgettable saga of Ambrosio, The Monk. Proud and powerful, Ambrosio commands legions of adoring followers until violent, forbidden passions drive him from the holy embrace of the Church into the waiting arms of Matilda, an enchanting and treacherous temptress in league with the Devil. Desperate with depraved desires for yet another mysterious, though innocent, woman, Ambrosio is plunged into the terrors of profane, unspeakable acts and dark occult deeds from which there is only one escape!

My Review: It has been a while since I have read this book and it wasn’t my first choice for M, but my books are still mostly in boxes (we moved recently) and I couldn’t find my copy of Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room! (on which is based the classic Charlton Heston film Soylent Green (IT’S PEOPLE!)) but I did come across my copy of Matthew Lewis’ The Monk and so here we are.

I like to post obscure or forgotten books from my shelf for A-Z Wednesday, which is why I wanted the Harrison book, but I suppose that The Monk fits that bill. It is often the forgotten step-child of the Gothic movement that spawned Anne Radcliffe, Horace Walpole and Bram Stoker (to name just a few) and the reason for that is for 1796 (when it was first published) it was considered most lurid and quite transgressive: a priestly villain (this was the first book to portray a holy man as a villain), demonic pacts, rape, incest, the Wandering Jew, ruined castles and the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition all make for a book that was quite shocking and scandalous in its day. I’m sure that in light of such things as Law & Order: SVU and whatnot that the book has lost some of its punch, but still…

It makes for a good read, though, and is one of the foundation stones upon which Gothic Literature as a genre was laid. It set the tone for books to come, such as Dracula, Northanger Abbey, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and so on. It really is a good book, though it is probably not to everyone’s taste. But, if you like the Gothic and want to read one of the foundational novels of that genre find Lewis’ The Monk (and then get yourself a copy of Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Radcliffe’s The Italian).