When The Monk first appeared in 1796, critics were shocked and outraged. That a Member of Parliament should publish a novel filled with blasphemy, rape, murder, incest, rotting corpses, and devil worship was unthinkable and unprecedented. But efforts to suppress the book failed, readers loved it, and it became a worldwide bestseller. Today it is regarded as one of the finest Gothic horror novels ever written. M.G. Lewis"s novel - written when he was only nineteen - centers on Ambrosio, a monk renowned for his piety, who finds himself faced with temptation when his passions are aroused by Matilda, a beautiful girl who has entered the monastery disguised as a boy. But after he succumbs to her charms, Ambrosio"s lust for sensual gratification quickly becomes insatiable, and he begins a precipitous descent into depravity, indulging in sorcery, demonic rituals, rape, and murder as he seeks to sate his unquenchable desires. . . . This definitive edition of The Monk reprints the unabridged text of the three-volume 1796 first edition from the copy in the British Library and features an introduction by one of the most popular and acclaimed horror writers of our time, Stephen King. Also included are six lurid full-page illustrations from the 1797 and 1807 Paris editions of the novel, along with a portrait of the author and a reproduction of the original title page.