The Anaconda

Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775 - 1818) was an English novelist and dramatist, often referred to as Monk Lewis, because of the success of his 1796 Gothic novel, The Monk. As a writer, Lewis is typically classified as writing in the Gothic horror genre, along with the authors Charles Robert Maturin and Mary Shelley. Lewis was most assuredly influenced by Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and William Godwin's Caleb Williams. In fact, Lewis actually wrote a letter to his mother a few months before he began writing The Monk in which he stated that he saw resemblance between the villain Montoni from The Mysteries of Udolpho and himself. He took Radcliffe's obsession with the supernatural and Godwin's narrative drive and interest in crime and punishment, Lewis differed with his literary approach. Whereas Radcliffe would allude to the imagined horrors under the genre of terror-Gothic, Lewis defined himself by disclosing the details of the gruesome scenes, earning him the title of a Gothic horror novelist. By giving the reader actual details rather than the terrified feelings rampant in Radcliffe, Lewis provides a more novelistic experience.