Reviews for El Monje

The average rating for El Monje based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-02-12 00:00:00 Charles Apsche When I was younger, I avoided this book because the literary snob in me--a much more insistent voice back then than now--had decided, on the basis of "informed opinion," that "The Monk" was a calculated exercise in sensationalism, a device for producing horrific thrills through the deliberate, exploitative use of cheap effects and anti-Catholic stereotypes. Now that I have read it, I see that the literary snob in me had a point. "The Monk" is all of these things. But it is also more. I think the young Matthew Lewis liked Walpole and loved Radcliff, but believed that they both fell short of his own darker, revolutionary vision, particularly in regard to the supernatural, providence, and fate. For Lewis, the supernatural is neither an obvious intrusion of the symbolic into the actual, a providential and prophetic sign (Walpole) nor a mere objective correlative for the heroine's emotional state which--once it has served its sentimental purpose--can be explained away and summarily discarded (Radcliff). No, the supernatural for Lewis is an elusive, complex phenomenon, a dangerous disruption of the ordinary, which may be mocked by the rationalist or embraced by the gullible, which may at times be a mere legend (or a stratagem exploiting a legend), but could just as easily turn out to be real. And if real, it will be something horribly real--relentless and insistent at best, malevolent and destructive at worst, and only tangentially connected to providence. It is in his radical criticism of providence itself that Lewis differs most markedly from his influences. For Mrs. Radcliff (and Walpole, to a lesser extent) Providence is a benevolent but mischievous uncle who enjoys scaring the children before he rewards them with treats. But for Lewis, Providence is a capricious, unreliable overseer, capable of allowing the spotless innocent to be ravished and destroyed by the wicked. The fact that the wicked one later meets with a terrifying supernatural destruction never quite makes up for the great horror or the grave injustice of the initial violation. In addition, Lewis brings the dark side of Shakespeare plus the spirit of early German Romanticism and the recent French Revolution into the already familiar world of sentimental dialogue, medieval abbeys and Salvator Rosa landscapes, giving the gothic world a wider breadth and a greater force. (A final note: all lovers of Poe should read this novel. Just as "The Fall of the House of Usher" was inspired by "Otranto," so "The Pit and the Pendulum" was inspired by "The Monk." In both cases Poe surpasses his influences, but the comparisons are extremely interesting.)

Review # 2 was written on 2012-10-26 00:00:00 Todd Morrill [We have a few mothers like this. Don't allow their children to read any books with magic in as magic is from the devil. That means no Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Harry Potter or anything else not Chuch-approved. I don't approve of any form of censorship for children. I read what I liked, including my father's literary porn from the age of about 11. (hide spoiler)]