The History of Caliph Vathek
| Language | en |
|---|---|
| First published | 2000-02-01 |
| Rights | Public domain in the USA. |
| Gutenberg ID | #2060 |
Description
"The History of Caliph Vathek" by William Beckford is a Gothic novel composed in French beginning in 1782 and first published in English in 1786. The story follows Vathek, a depraved and tyrannical caliph with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, who encounters a mysterious stranger promising magical treasures and access to forbidden power. Seduced by promises of ultimate knowledge and the keys to the Palace of Underground Fire, Vathek makes a dark pact that demands terrible sacrifices and leads him down a path of increasingly heinous acts, rejecting salvation at every turn. (This is an automatically generated summary.)