About the book: 2004 / An adaptation of the 18th century Gothic novel, “The Monk” by Antonin Artaud is a universal work, designed for both the pickiness of an intellectual and the consumerism of mass culture. The founder of the Theater of Cruelty turned to the work of Gregory Lewis at a time when his main goal was the annihilation of all moral standards. The famous “literary terrorist” dissected The Monk, exposed the frame of the text, tore off the veils hiding the entrance to the labyrinths of death, vice and horror. “The Monk” can be perceived both as an example of “black prose”, combining sexual obsession with cruelty and blasphemy, and as a surreal fantasy - the escalation of events that contradict the laws of logic. A translation of the novel is being published for the first time.