The Monk (Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural)

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ラヴクラフトが「文学における超自然の恐怖」で紹介していたため、18世紀末のゴシックロマンの 一参考例として読み始めたのですが、どうしてどうしてなかなか、いや、ぐいぐいと読ませます。 冒頭から教会のいかがわしさを感じさせる文章、興味を感じないではおれない人物と会話。修道院長 アンブロシアの人間がすぐに理解できるエピソード。読むうちに奇妙な背徳の世界に徐々に引き寄せ られてしまいます。フランス革命直前の英国の小説。作者は当時２１歳というから天才技です。 古典ということで期待していなかったのに、読むのが楽しみになり、つくづく古典を侮ってはいけないと 感じ入りました。 作者はこの作品によって「モンク・ルイス」とまで呼ばれるようになり、模倣作も多く出た由。ホーレス・ ウォルポールの「オトラント城」に並ぶホラー小説史上の金字塔。小泉八雲も論じています。そんな 名作だけに邦訳がないのが不思議かつ残念です。

These Wordsworth edition"Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural" are excellent value for money, I have already bought most of the titles and for ten new books have spent a total of something just over thirty euro! What a bargain! I much prefer their very brief (but useful) introductions to other more expensive publishers' editions who, no doubt paying the 'experts' for their long-winded intros, notes, and other 'academic apparatus' - yawn - think themselves justified for their inflated cover prices - for titles that are sometimes (like this one) hundreds of years out of copyright and printed in China for buttons. I hope Wordsworth continue their good work and readers support them. And 'The Monk' is a rollocking good read!

Matthew Lewis, "Member of Parliament" schrieb diesen Klassiker noch sehr jung, schien aber im Politik- Betrieb bereits sehr grundlegende Erfahrung gemacht zu haben: Ein Mann fällt, aus Gier und Überheblichkeit über seine eigenen moralischen Ansprüche und setzt, um seine Schandtaten zu verdecken, immer neue Verbrechen oben auf bis er, dazu noch aus eigener Dummheit, seinen "verdienten" Lohn erhält - kommt dies nicht sehr bekannt vor? Zwar ist der Rahmen in dem Lewis die Geschichte erzählt in die abenteuerlich-phantastische Welt von Klöstern, Dämonen und dem Teufel gerückt, jedoch bereitet "The Monk" dem Leser auch heute noch, nach über 200 Jahren viel Vergnügen.

Firstly I will start off by saying that this particular edition of The Monk by Wordsworth Classics, whilst it has a hideous and slightly pixelated cover, is a steal at under £3! Although it has no explanatory notes like the Penguin or Oxford Classics editions, the price alone is worth the buy if you're short on cash. The book itself is superb, and the clearest example of the Gothic tradition after Walpole's classic. It was with Matthew Lewis that the "Hammer Horror" cliches of shadowy crypts, ghosts, thwarted lovers and gruesome devilry were truly propelled into an accepted genre; this is a world away from the slow, methodically-paced work of Ann Radcliffe that lavishes in the sublime. The prose is fast-paced and seems extremely modern in style for a book written in 1795, and although it is overtly melodramatic in places (making great use of the exclamation mark) it is still perfectly legible to modern readers. The plot (as is often proclaimed) runs along the lines of Faust, with the titular monk Ambrosio being driven to temptation by the mysterious and possibly Satanic Matilda, before heading for his wild obsession to deflower the innocent Antonia. It is clear to see how Victor Hugo could have been inspired by the character of Ambrosio for his portrayal of Claude Frollo in Notre-Dame de Paris, the devout clergyman driven to break his vows with lust. However, Lewis soon shifts the focus away from Ambrosio; the centre of the novel is taken up by a very lengthy account given by a marquis, an account that could be a novel in itself and which involves the famous Bleeding Nun episode, cases of mistaken identities and tragic love. However, whilst in most cases this "story-within-a-story" technique ought to distract from the overall work, Lewis is able to weave all the separate narratives together in a way that leaves the reader satisfied (three stories for the price of one). And, of course, a review of The Monk could not be written without comparing it to its fellow Gothic novels. I mentioned Ann Radcliffe earlier: coincidentally, The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Monk were published just two years apart, the former being in 1794. Whilst Lewis's work draws obvious parallels with Radcliffe's, there is something more gripping and enticing about The Monk; any lengthy descriptions go not to the sublime, but to the supernatural and the horrific. Walpole's Castle of Otranto, "the first Gothic novel", is much more dreamlike and murky due to the fact that the Gothic genre wasn't yet formed, and is more of a challenge to modern readers due to the lack of speech marks and paragraph breaks. But The Monk, despite its date, belongs aesthetically in the later, 19th century tradition of the Gothic such as Frankenstein and the stories of Poe, where the focus is more on the psychological horror of events rather than the disquietude of the character's surroundings. However, this is all just the opinion I gained from reading The Monk and comparing it to the rest of the Gothic. Even if you find the Gothic too operatic and over-the-top I highly recommend this book, purely on the basis of how rewarding it is. It's fascinating to see where most of the modern "horror" cliches originated, and it's a fine addition to English literary history. Also, I might seem in this review as if I'm knocking Miss Radcliffe and her style of writing - I like her really!