Untitled - Sexey's School Moodle

sub-genre of literature that was considered subversive because it rejected accepted
traditions and was neither respected nor valued by the literati operating under the canons
of classicism, Reason, and early Romanticism. In addition, The Monk was perceived to
be politically subversive, a view that was influenced by the novel’s social criticism and
Lewis’ political affiliations. Hence, Lewis’ novel simultaneously operates in the three
divisions of transgression outlined in Chapter Two: it is taboo-breaking because by
depicting scenes of incest and murder it transgresses the accepted conventions of societal
morality; it challenges the reigning artistic practices; and it is politically subversive
because it seems to debase the forms of institutional power. It also complies with the
framework of shock, scandal and subversion, whereas the elements that produce shock
arouse controversy, and are also capable of subverting traditionally accepted norms and
conventions. These characteristics prevented Lewis from belonging to the exclusive list
of canonical authors of the late eighteenth century. However, two centuries and several
paradigm shifts later, the critical estimation of Lewis’ novel has drastically changed, 9 as
the extensive list of scholarly articles pertaining to the novel, the distinguished position it
occupies within the traditions of both the Gothic and Romanticism, and its edition in the
series of the Oxford World’s Classics may testify. The recognized value of Lewis’ novel
as cultural capital has not only increased, it is constantly being reappraised.
As outlined in Chapter One, the late eighteenth century was marked by a frenzied
series of cultural exchanges triggered by shifts operating at all levels of discursive
practices. More particularly, the prevailing cultural climate at the time of The Monk’s
9 Interestingly enough, as it was the case with the work of Edgar Allan Poe, the French were the first to
consider that The Monk was indeed an outstanding work of literature. See for example Antonin Artaud’s
“Avertisement” in his adaptation of Lewis’novel.
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