Essie Fox

Hello, I'm Essie Fox, and welcome to this episode of Talking the Gothic, which I'm going to give the title of Religious Bat Shittery, with that description being suggested by Elsie Winter, my podcast guest today, and the author of Spider Spider, a Victorian-era Gothic novel which censors on the themes of extreme religious cults, poison, asylums, and revenge.

But before I talk to Elsie, I've been thinking of examples of other stories that fit today's Gothic themes, and What Better Than the Monk, written by Matthew Lewis and published way back in 1796, because when it comes to religious bachelorette, there's nothing quite as deranged.

The monk of the title is called Ambrosio, and as the novel develops, he's increasingly consumed by overwhelming lustful urges.