What is the book vathek about?
The novel chronicles the fall from power of the Caliph Vathek, who renounces Islam and engages with his mother, Carathis, in a series of licentious and deplorable activities designed to gain him supernatural powers.
Where does Vathek take place?
Obeying a message written on a mysterious piece of parchment, Vathek and his court set out on a pilgrimage in search of the mountains of Istakhar, where the secrets of the dark world are to be revealed to him.
When was vathek written?
1786
Vathek, Gothic novel by William Beckford, published in 1786. Considered a masterpiece of bizarre invention and sustained fantasy, Vathek was written in French in 1782 and was translated into English by the author’s friend the Rev.
Who wrote vathek?
William Beckford
Vathek/Authors
Who is the author of vathek?
What are the Orientalist features that you can trace in vathek?
This paper aims to trace the elements of Gothicism and Orientalism in William Beckford’s novel Vathek that manifests a mirror of the old, mystic, fearful atmosphere with blurring of different ideas such as life/death, conscious/unconscious, and demonic ideas that merely exist in the orient and contain quite …
What are the Orientalism features that you can trace in the novel?
One of the main characteristics of the orientalism is the oppression and “othering” of the female. Also the males are shown throughout the novel by the majority of eunuchs that are without the power of sexuality. Depicting female as an object of pleasure and a tool of childbearing.
What is the first novel of RK Narayan?
Swami and Friends (1935)
His first novel, Swami and Friends (1935), is an episodic narrative recounting the adventures of a group of schoolboys. That book and much of Narayan’s later works are set in the fictitious South Indian town of Malgudi.
What is Orientalism and what are the Orientalist features that you can trace in the novel?
According to an article published by The New Criterion, the principal characteristic of Orientalism is a “subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arab-Islamic peoples and their culture,” which derives from Western images of what is Oriental (i.e., cultural representations) that reduce the Orient to the …
Why is Vathek Gothic?
The genre has a strong focus on the supernatural, which Vathek has in abundance. Other lesser elements such as the weakness of clergy and strong distinctions between innocence and malice are also present. What is not present is a hero or heroine, and many of the genre traits are connected to these.
Who is the author of the book Vathek?
Beckford’s Gothic novel, Vathek, an Arabian tale, was originally written in French when the author was 21. It is the story of Caliph Vathek, whose eye can kill at a glance, who makes a pact with the Devil, Eblis.
Why does Vathek look at the merchant with an evil eye?
When the merchant does not respond to Vathek’s questions, Vathek looks at him with his “evil eye”, but this has no effect, so Vathek imprisons him. The next day, he discovers that the merchant has escaped and his prison guards are dead. The people begin to call Vathek crazy.
Where does Vathek get his thirst from in the book?
Vathek then develops an insatiable thirst and often goes to a place near a high mountain to drink from one of four fountains there, kneeling at the edge of the fountain to drink. One day he hears a voice telling him to “not assimilate thyself to a dog”.
Where does Vathek go to claim his reward?
Carathis performs another ritual and learns that for Vathek to claim his reward, he must go to Istakhar. Vathek goes away with his wives and servants, leaving the city in the care of Morakanabad and Carathis. A week after he leaves, his caravan is attacked by carnivorous animals.