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MONTAGUE SUMMERS (ESSAY DATE 1938)

SOURCE: Summers, Montague. "Matthew Gregory Lewis." In The Gothic Quest: A History of the Gothic Novel. 1938. Reprint edition, pp. 202-38. New York: Russell & Russell, 1964.

In the following excerpt from his influential study of Gothic literature first published in 1938, Summers surveys Lewis's fictional and dramatic works and asserts that Lewis had tremendous influence upon other authors who wrote in the Gothic tradition.

He was a child, and a spoiled child, but a child of high imagination…. He had the finest ear for the rhythm of verse I ever heard—finer than Byron's…. He was one of the kindest and best creatures that ever lived.

                                    SIR WALTER SCOTT

Lewis was a good man.

               I would give many a Sugar Cane
               Monk Lewis...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Matthew Gregory Lewis (Poem Date 1796)
   2. Matthew Gregory Lewis (Essay Date 1798)
4. General Commentary
   1. Montague Summers (Essay Date 1938)
5. Title Commentary
   1. The Monk
6. Further Reading