Product Description

Witches, demons, human sacrifices and other spectral horrors: all intercept Vathek as he journeys to the underworld in this weird and wonderful gothic masterpiece.

This classic of 18th century Gothic literature, was highly acclaimed by such eminent writers as Byron and H P Lovecraft and remains the most extreme example of this genre.

Originally composed in French, Vathek was translated into English in 1816, and it is this version which is now presented as part of the popular Creation Classics series. The book includes lithographs by the symbolist artist Odilon Redon, complementing the bizarre text and making this the most completely decadent edition available in print. An introduction by Jeremy Reed illuminates both the text and the eccentric life of William Beckford, a youthful millionaire who spent his fortunes on building the ultimate Gothic folly, where he indulged in such homosexual indiscretions that he was finally exiled from England.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4690418 in Books
• Published on: 2000
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Review
"... first true appreciation of Beckford as a literary innovator, oriental scholar, social visionary, and plain old curious character." -- Kevin L. Cope, Louisiana State University

"...the first true appreciation of Beckford as a literary innovator, oriental scholar, social visionary, and plain old curious character." -- Kevin L. Cope, Louisiana State University

"With its careful editing, its appendices, maps, and bibliography, this new, expanded edition of Vathek is, all in all, superb." -- Sydney Conger, Western Illinois University

Language Notes
Text: English, French (translation)

From the Publisher
The Broadview Literary Texts series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, lesser-known literature. Newly type-set and produced on high-quality paper in trade paperback format, the Broadview Literary Texts series is a delight to handle as well as to read.

Each volume includes a full introduction, chronology, bibliography, and explanatory notes along with a variety of documents from the period, giving readers a rich sense of the world from which the work emerged.

Customer Reviews

Beckford's Soulscape?
The tale of Vathek is undeniably a wonderful oriental fable, where enlightenment ethics are presented and critiqued. If read in conjunction with Samuel Johnson "Rasselas", Montesquieu's Persian Letters and "Arabian Nights" one may be able to better understand the landscape upon which orientalism (a term used by Beckford himself to illuminate the period's infatuation with the orient, not to be confused with Said's) and enlightenment values where divulged. Beckford's tale however speaks of a more prescient sphere where the author's inner struggles and thwarted tragic desultoriness devolves. As with all literature this compact gem stands on her own; however many have tried to extract a moral import and some have even described a mystique of knowledge and a system of ethics with undue fastidiousness. In a more likely scenario we have a wonton fable whimsical and indulgent, crafted as a parody of "orientalism". Knowledge of Beckford's life may serve the reader well but should not hinder her enjoyment. The author's disquietude trumps an increasing distance from the absurd drive and hedonistic tendencies of the protagonist, while we feel a sympathetic kinship laxed the more into the novella we proceed. The author wrote this fable in French and supervised the translation as best he could. The grotesque and the sublime are here married insolubly but tend to find a balance suspended over a void that derides and insinuates the emptiness of a spiritual fantasy in turmoil.
The ending paragraphs are singed with a sad glow that seems to recriminate as much as it moralizes: much like a father that punishes a child only to feel remorse over the fact that his own blood cannot enjoy what is most enjoyable. He is not convinced and Beckford created a wonderful fable where much is exposed, but the simplicity, the arrogance and the conviction are to be regaled with the same comic grotesque sprightliness with which he infuses his narrative.
A quick fun read that demands little of us, but in degrees can disclose a sensibility we may be dismissive of if we are to package it as a tale where orientalism meets enlightenment values.

The Price of Knowledge
Beckford's "Vathek" is the tale of Vathek, a Caliph from the near east, for whom gluttony is a way of life. He partakes of everything to extremes in his marvelous palace - food, wine, women, and most importantly, knowledge. His mother Catharis encourages and fosters his love of the dark arts, by which he comes to summon a Giaour, a foul demon.

The Giaour promises the voracious Vathek to grant him access to the realm of Eblis and Soliman, where he will command all demonic forces and be privy to enough knowledge to satisfy his curiosity. To this end, Vathek engages in wanton and reckless murders, seductions, and blasphemies against the patient divinity 'Mahomet' and his benificent spirits.

One sees in "Vathek" a comparable theme with Montesquieu's "Persian Letters". In both, we have a tyrant, (Montesquieu's Usbek is a domestic tyrant) who abandons, and ultimately relinquishes all capacity to control their dominions or themselves - All for the pursuit of knowledge.

Vathek can thus be seen as a critique of the Enlightenment and of enlightened despotism, so much the rage in Europe in the late 18th century. Beckford seems to rail at knowledge being held above respect for a common humanity. Overall a very interesting novel in many respects and aside from Beckford's unnecessary authorial interruptions, a solid read.

An exotic dark fantasy
Leaving aside the question of whether this book is a 'gothic' novel or not, it is a dark fantasy. It shares with its more conventionally gothic brethren a tale of dark deeds in an exotic setting, where an alien and exciting religion is practised.

In the standard Gothic tale, allusions to Roman Catholicism, thought of by respectable Englishmen as a dark, oppressive, and half-pagan faith, were part of the conventional apparatus. Beckford chose instead to imagine the world of Islam, an even more exotic milieu that added some flashes of bright colours to the dark and sorcerous background of his book. His choice of an even more exotic setting allowed him greater freedom in portraying characters who defied social convention and fell into exotic habits of mind.

My understanding is that it is a matter of some debate to what extent the English text of -Vathek- is a translation from the French, or an original English composition. I do not have the French text in front of me, but it has been represented to me that Beckford's "original" French is rather like the French of Oscar Wilde's -Salome-, and needed extensive editing to be acceptable to a French readership.

At any rate, -Vathek- is a prime example of early dark fantasy. The description, of course, will be richer than you are used to, but Beckford's prose actually seems to move quite quickly. Fans of H. P. Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith will find that it is quite easy to slip into. And the tale is indeed a vivid one, right up to the exceptional ending when Vathek and Carathis are damned to the halls of Eblis, their hearts seared with unquenchable fire.

This is a good edition of the story, and the notes and maps are helpful.