Vathek (Annotated)

Vathek is a dazzling Gothic-Orientalist fantasia that follows the impious Caliph Vathek in his pursuit of forbidden knowledge, sensual excess, and supernatural dominion. Written in ornate, ironic prose, the tale blends the eighteenth-century conte philosophique with the emerging Gothic mode, replacing medieval castles with palaces, deserts, and infernal halls. Its luxuriant imagery, sardonic moral...