• A new edition of one of the most sensational Gothic fictions, the first horror novel in English literature, that provides a wealth of detail about the social and political events that fed into Lewis's terrifying story of a pious monk turning bad
• One of the most influential Gothic novels, The Monk is also a key text on the debate on the French Revolution, and it bears the stamp of other incendiary issues of the day, from gender roles to the depiction of sex and violence to slavery
• Editor Nick Groom is an expert on the Gothic, and his Introduction examines the literary and historical contexts of the novel, including politics, libertine and erotic literature, the position of women, the emergence of horror fiction and much more
• Explanatory Notes using contemporary sources provide information on cultural sources, myth and legend, religion and iconography, and contemporary reactions
• Includes a chronology and up-to-date bibliography

New to this Edition:

• New Introduction by Nick Groom, examining in detail the social, political, and cultural contexts that fed into the composition of The Monk and drawing on the latest scholarship.
• More extensive, up-to-date bibliography.
• Fuller chronology including biographical, historical, and cultural events.
• More extensive notes using contemporary sources and providing background information on cultural sources, myth and legend, religion and iconography, and contemporary reactions.

'He was deaf to the murmurs of conscience, and resolved to satisfy his desires at any price.'

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 Ambrosio, the Abbot of a Capuchin monastery in Madrid, is overwhelmed with desire for a young girl; once having abandoned his monastic vows he begins a terrible descent into immorality 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 drew 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 shock readers today with its gruesome catalogue of iniquities, while at the same time giving a profound insight into the deep anxieties experienced by British citizens during one of the most turbulent periods in the nation's history.