An Arabian tale
from an unpublished manuscript: with notes critical and explanatory.
About this book
Vathek is one of the earliest and most influential Gothic novels. Its hero is the Caliph Vathek who renounces Islam in a hedonistic quest for supernatural powers, which leads to his downfall. Beckford's genius was in marrying Orientalism with the Gothic, both sources of fascination and delight to reading audiences of the time.
Subjects
- caliphs
- civilization
- classic literature
- databases
- description and travel
- english literature
- fiction
- fiction, general
- fiction, gothic
- french fiction
- french literature
- french literature, translations into english
- inheritance and succession
- long now manual for civilization
- thirty years' war, 1618-1648
- translations
- translations into english