Untitled - Sexey's School Moodle

they represented wanted to diffuse the perceived threat posed by the novel. They
succeeded. Finally, as a result of these numerous threats of legal action, Lewis resolved
to auto-censor the fourth edition of The Monk in 1798. In “A Note on the Variant
Readings,” Louis F. Peck lists the alterations of the various editions of The Monk. A
close review reveals that for the fourth and fifth editions, Lewis elected to eliminate some
sexually charged words such as “Lust” and “Lustful” and alter passages that depicted
sexual activity. For example, the entire rape scene (379-384) was reduced to the single
paragraph below:
Antonia! Wretched Antonia! Too soon were the villain’s words
verified. Heaven. For purposes no doubt wise in themselves, but
whose aim the sight of mortals is too weak to discern, interposed
not in the unhappy girl’s behalf. Animation was only restored to
make her sensible that the monk was a villain, and herself undone!
131
Since The Monk was considered to contain elements of sedition, it is quite clear
why certain loci of institutional power felt the need to limit its distribution by trashing it
in the press and prosecuting it in the courts in an attempt to downplay its popular appeal.
Ironically enough, however, this process was ineffective in suppressing the novel’s
immense popularity. As the lines between popular culture and high culture would
eventually grow more blurred in the following centuries, popular culture became another
form of institutionalized power and would gradually play a major role in canon-formation
discourses. As Richter points out, “important books help to mold and shape the audience
just as much as the audience shapes the literary Canon” (109). This view concurs with
Jauss’ perspective for he argues that “in the triangle of author, work, and public the last is
no passive part, no chain of mere reaction, but rather itself an energy formative of history.
The historical life of a literary work is unthinkable without the active participation of its