The Gothic novel so shocking that Parliament denounced it and its own author was forced to censor it.
Ambrosio is Madrid's most revered holy man - until temptation enters his monastery and drags him into a spiral of obsession, black magic, and unspeakable crime. Published in 1796 when its author was just twenty, The Monk scandalized Europe, was condemned from pulpits and in the press, and became the most notorious Gothic novel ever written.
This Annotated Edition includes the complete original text, an introduction on the scandal and censorship history that made the book infamous, and notes on its Gothic machinery and 18th-century context.
Contains dark and mature themes consistent with the original 1796 text.