The Monk is gothic horror fiction that was written in 10 weeks by the 19 year old Matthew Gregory Lewis in 1796.
From the Back Cover:
Hugely influential on writers as diverse as Victor Hugo and Jane Austen, this is an important keystone of modern popular fiction that lay readers and scholars alike will find intriguing.
Listen here for an interview with Professor Nick Groom on Matthew Lewis and The Monk. Via Oxford Academic (OUP) on SoundCloud. Broken up into parts. Nick was editor of the Oxford World’s Classics edition of the book.
The first horror novel in English literature. It tells of the pious monk Ambrosio’s descent into depravity, his passion leading to rape, blasphemy, black magic, incest, and murder. Its sensational story also reflects the terrors of the French Revolution.
The Long Victorian 
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