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Vathek

THE ENGLISH REVIEW (REVIEW DATE SEPTEMBER 1786)

SOURCE: A review of The History of Caliph Vathek: An Arabian Tale, by William Beckford. The English Review 8 (September 1786): 180-84.

In the following excerpt, the critic offers a negative assessment of Vathek, faulting principally its morality.

We are told in the preface to [Vathek], "that it is translated from a manuscript, which, with some others of a similar kind, was collected in the East by a man of letters, and communicated to the editor above three years ago." In an age that has abounded so much with literary impostures, we confess that we cannot see the propriety of such a palpable fiction. The general strain of the work, and the many allusions to modern authors, indicate the author to be an European.

As an imitation of Arabian tales, this work possesses no in considerable merit. The...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. William Beckford (Novel Date 1786)
   2. William Beckford (Letter Date 9 December 1838)
4. Title Commentary
   1. Vathek
5. Further Reading