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| Source: Amazon.com |
From the book’s cover:
Set in the sinister
monastery of the Capuchins in Madrid, The Monk is a violent tale of ambition,
murder, and incest. The great struggle between maintaining monastic vows and
fulfilling personal ambitions leads its main character, the monk Ambrosio, to
temptation and the breaking of his vows, then to sexual obsession and rape, and
finally to murder in order to conceal his guilt. The only edition of this key
gothic novel available, The Monk now offers a new introduction and notes that
make it especially accessible to the modern reader.
Well, I can see why people read The Monk back when it was written in the late 18th century. When Lewis was on, he was really on. For instance, the scenes he paints of being
waylaid by deceiving bandits on a lonely highway outside Salzburg, or the
tale of the Bloody Nun who haunts a Germanic castle and foils a romantic plot
between two star-crossed lovers, or the disquieting heart of the story - the
machinations of our abbot as he falls from grace into debauchery and
evil... Good stuff! Very exciting, and probably pretty shocking
in its time. Heck, The Monk was still pretty heated in places, even for contemporary reading. I kept wondering
if the titular monk was gonna "ravish" the young woman his lustful
eyes finally lock on to. Lewis had a
talent for keeping his reader in suspense.
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| The author, Matthew Gregory Lewis. / Source: Wikipedia.org |
The fore-material of the book, which almost made me stop
reading before I even got ten pages in, said that Lewis's material was not
"new" in his own time, though he took a lot of ideas and mixed them
together into a real page-turner (for the time). I'd agree with that sentiment. The plot isn't fresh, by today's standards
anyway. But it is exciting and, as I
have alluded, there were places where I was glued to the tale, anxious to find
out what would happen next. Reminded me
of a writer's advice lecture I once listened to where the lecturer said he had
once been told by a noted author that he should (and I'm paraphrasing here)
"have the damsel in distress up in a scary castle and the hero is going
out of his mind to go rescue her because she is in mortal or physical or her
honor is in danger every second."
The essence of that statement was that you should keep the reader
wanting to turn pages, and that's how you'd make money.
Then again, the fore-material said Lewis was a well-off guy,
and never had to work hard to write to earn his supper. And I gather he was somewhat anti-Catholic,
though that is not surprising, based on the time period and the association of
his name being English (I'm guessing here; I could look it up easily enough, I
suppose). Luckily, a book I read
previously (and didn't like too much; see my review of Brother Odd) prepared me for some of the Catholic church stuff, so
that wasn't too traumatic for a non-Catholic twenty-first century person such
as myself.
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| The caption of this image is probably the most fascinating part of it. Yes, I'd certainly agree that The Monk was "gruesome, violent and salacious." / Source: jasa.com.au |
Back to my point about Lewis's writing. He really lays it on. The wording is drawn out and gets to be a bit
thick at times. And this slows down the
plot in places. The beginning was
dragging so badly when our eventual damsel in distress (and what distress!) is
introduced, I was really not impressed yet.
Also, the male characters, excepting our titular monk, are pretty much
cardboard cutouts. Hard to keep track of
them. His women are so much more
interesting. And like I said, the
phraseology, while interesting and not too archaic, is not well trimmed. I don't expect it to be modern twenty-first
century English, but it could be a bit pithier, in my opinion. It wouldn't hurt to edit for speed and clarity. But then The
Monk was written over 200 years ago, so what can I hope for?
Another recollection comes to mind. I recall reading Salem's Lot by Stephen King, and in the fore-material of that book,
King describes how he first read Dracula as
a kid. He mentions in that preface that
he had a relative - his mom I think - who would pronounce some reading matter
as trash and insinuate that he shouldn't waste his time on it. I bet this book may have been among that
list. The Monk certainly isn't great literature by any means. But for making money, Lewis had the right
idea. Keep it smutty and thrilling.
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| A Gothic novel is, by definition: "an English genre of fiction popular in the 18th to early 19th centuries, characterized by an atmosphere of mystery and horror and having a pseudomedieval setting." Gothic novels have a certain appeal to me. Must be my exposure to Dracula as a teenager. / Source: novelnovice.com / "Gothic novel" definition taken from a Google search of the term. |
The ultimate reason why I read The Monk was that I wanted to get a better appreciation for the Gothic horror tale and its roots, and I certainly accomplished that goal. And the ending! I won't intentionally spoil any but the
smallest bit of this book, because even though it plods in places, and it is
certainly brain candy cloaked in its auspices of eighteenth century language and
custom, it is fun and still quite worth the read. Especially the ending. I didn't see the big reveal coming, though
smarter minds than mine probably would.
I mean... ouch! And then the
melodramatic conclusion. Great stuff. Worth the time and effort, though often silly
and sometimes painfully clunky in its pace.
And though couched in eighteenth century terminology, the fact is, The Monk has lots of violence and sexual
content, so that's something to keep in mind (if such affects you). And there is always the aforementioned threat
of ravishing (and actual
ravishing? Read it yourself and find
out!), which... well, let's just say that The
Monk, despite the enjoyment it gave me, certainly ain't high art.
Or read The Monk for free via the Kindle version!
The parting comment:
Organized religion has brought out some strange things in mankind throughout our sojourn on this little planet. Thankfully, there's stuff like these scenes to remind a person not to take things too seriously.
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