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The Episodes of Vathek
Written as a continuation of Vathek, these are tales told in Hell by perverted individuals doomed to an eternity of suffering. They treat of such themes as necrophilia, tranvestism, incest, un-limited lust and the arbitrary use of power. The Episodes of Vathek is a cry of despair from a man committed to a forbidden love.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1912
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About the author
William Beckford
297 books89 followersWilliam Thomas Beckford was an English novelist, a profligate and consummately knowledgeable art collector and patron of works of decorative art, a critic, travel writer and sometime politician, reputed at one stage in his life to be the richest commoner in England. His parents were William Beckford and Maria Hamilton, daughter of the Hon. George Hamilton. He was Member of Parliament for Wells from 1784 to 1790, for Hindon from 1790 to 1795 and 1806 to 1820.
He is remembered as the author of the Gothic novel Vathek (1786), the builder of the remarkable lost Fonthill Abbey and Lansdown Tower ("Beckford's Tower"), Bath, and especially for his art collection.
He is remembered as the author of the Gothic novel Vathek (1786), the builder of the remarkable lost Fonthill Abbey and Lansdown Tower ("Beckford's Tower"), Bath, and especially for his art collection.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 10, 2014
This book actually consists of material William Beckford wrote for inclusion in VATHEK (which I reviewed in Three Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto, Vathek, The Vampyre, and a Fragment of a Novel) (you can even tell at which point, late in the novel, it would have been inserted). But this never happened (for a number of reasons) and while scholars knew these "episodes" were written, they were deemed lost for quite a while, until found and eventually published in 1912.
Some argument could be made as to why they were "lost". All the stories concern tales narrated to Vathek as he awaits judgment in Hell, told by sinners to explicate how they ended up there. So the contents are almost necessarily tales of unseemly behavior and great perversion (within the framework of what could be gotten away with when they were written, of course). So, for example, the first episode, "The Story of Prince Alasi and the Princess Firouzkah", is stunningly obvious as a coded tale of homosexual love. Prince Ali promises a fleeing regent that he will look after the young prince of a neighboring kingdom and raise him as the child of a simple farm-boy. Ali almost instantly finds that "Prince" Firouzkah is exactly the soul-mate and boon companion he's been mooning for, a friend he loves dearly. But Firouzkah is one of those figures that literature, especially coded homosexual literature, is replete with: a beautiful but cruel creature who has no morals and no compunctions about indulging his every whim, manipulating all around him. The narrative "saves" Ali from any dubious interpretations of his friendship when Firouzkah is revealed to be a princess in disguise, but that fact only seals his fate as he follows her down the pathway to Hell.
The second, and longest story, is the complicated "The Story of Prince Barkiarokh", in which a prodigal son, who admits to being bent towards evil from birth, must fulfill his father's demands to gain a great treasure, and ends up married to a Peri (think another kind of Genie or Djinn) who then relates her own long and complicated history before she gets involved in the tale. The tale of the Peri, Homaiouna, is very entertaining on its own as she wishes to help humanity (almost like a superhero) and quickly discovers that even with magical powers at her command, teasing out the differences between good and evil in the human heart can be quite confusing. When we dovetail back into the story, Barkiarokh takes possession of his great treasure (an invisibility ring like that of famed Gyges) and proceeds to do malicious and self-interested evil while neglecting the chance to fight and regain his family's throne. He quits Homaiouna's company and sets himself up as the indulgent ruler of a kingdom he steals, causing much consternation and misery including the suicide of his new wife. Many more terrible things happen (read it and find out) including intended incestuous pedophilia, if you can believe it, before his Peri wife fixes things so he ends up in Hell. The moral seems to be that once a man indulges his simple badness, corruption quickly multiplies.
The last part is an unfinished episode, "The Story of Princess Zulkais and the Prince Kalilah" involving twins who are raised as magical superhumans but only have eyes for each other. I would like to know how it turns out....
Which is kind of funny because all of these stories turn out the same, in that you know where they are being narrated from. So really, the point of the reading is more for all the marvelous Orientalist/Arabian Nights window-dressing like opulent harems, wicked magic, satanic fakirs and lots and lots of powerful spirits like Afrits, Peris and Djinns, and they are a lot of fun, although I found Homaiouna's sub-story the most interesting, narrative wise.
Which leads to one final comment. This book is, generally, up to Dedalus' usual beautiful standards (the cover photo-montage is very striking!) but I was a bit disappointed in the introduction, which seemed a bit rushed and obtuse, failing to note interesting details like how these tales, if they had been included in VATHEK, would have made the novel a great example of that old fairy-tale standard - a story with tales within tales within tales, like The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. Or for that matter, as I noted above, how the knowledge of their point of origin (narrative wise) casts a sad spell over any good events that transpire, as we know things will eventually go badly, giving an almost sour, decadent cast to the proceedings, as all venality leads to the arms of Eblis. Finally, it would have been nice to include a note that Clark Ashton Smith, famous master of the weird tale, completed the unfinished third episode himself (which I have yet to read, but will trace down). But still, a very nice collection and, in a way, I enjoyed it more than its nested source VATHEK (or at least the mid-portion, which dragged a bit).
Some argument could be made as to why they were "lost". All the stories concern tales narrated to Vathek as he awaits judgment in Hell, told by sinners to explicate how they ended up there. So the contents are almost necessarily tales of unseemly behavior and great perversion (within the framework of what could be gotten away with when they were written, of course). So, for example, the first episode, "The Story of Prince Alasi and the Princess Firouzkah", is stunningly obvious as a coded tale of homosexual love. Prince Ali promises a fleeing regent that he will look after the young prince of a neighboring kingdom and raise him as the child of a simple farm-boy. Ali almost instantly finds that "Prince" Firouzkah is exactly the soul-mate and boon companion he's been mooning for, a friend he loves dearly. But Firouzkah is one of those figures that literature, especially coded homosexual literature, is replete with: a beautiful but cruel creature who has no morals and no compunctions about indulging his every whim, manipulating all around him. The narrative "saves" Ali from any dubious interpretations of his friendship when Firouzkah is revealed to be a princess in disguise, but that fact only seals his fate as he follows her down the pathway to Hell.
The second, and longest story, is the complicated "The Story of Prince Barkiarokh", in which a prodigal son, who admits to being bent towards evil from birth, must fulfill his father's demands to gain a great treasure, and ends up married to a Peri (think another kind of Genie or Djinn) who then relates her own long and complicated history before she gets involved in the tale. The tale of the Peri, Homaiouna, is very entertaining on its own as she wishes to help humanity (almost like a superhero) and quickly discovers that even with magical powers at her command, teasing out the differences between good and evil in the human heart can be quite confusing. When we dovetail back into the story, Barkiarokh takes possession of his great treasure (an invisibility ring like that of famed Gyges) and proceeds to do malicious and self-interested evil while neglecting the chance to fight and regain his family's throne. He quits Homaiouna's company and sets himself up as the indulgent ruler of a kingdom he steals, causing much consternation and misery including the suicide of his new wife. Many more terrible things happen (read it and find out) including intended incestuous pedophilia, if you can believe it, before his Peri wife fixes things so he ends up in Hell. The moral seems to be that once a man indulges his simple badness, corruption quickly multiplies.
The last part is an unfinished episode, "The Story of Princess Zulkais and the Prince Kalilah" involving twins who are raised as magical superhumans but only have eyes for each other. I would like to know how it turns out....
Which is kind of funny because all of these stories turn out the same, in that you know where they are being narrated from. So really, the point of the reading is more for all the marvelous Orientalist/Arabian Nights window-dressing like opulent harems, wicked magic, satanic fakirs and lots and lots of powerful spirits like Afrits, Peris and Djinns, and they are a lot of fun, although I found Homaiouna's sub-story the most interesting, narrative wise.
Which leads to one final comment. This book is, generally, up to Dedalus' usual beautiful standards (the cover photo-montage is very striking!) but I was a bit disappointed in the introduction, which seemed a bit rushed and obtuse, failing to note interesting details like how these tales, if they had been included in VATHEK, would have made the novel a great example of that old fairy-tale standard - a story with tales within tales within tales, like The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. Or for that matter, as I noted above, how the knowledge of their point of origin (narrative wise) casts a sad spell over any good events that transpire, as we know things will eventually go badly, giving an almost sour, decadent cast to the proceedings, as all venality leads to the arms of Eblis. Finally, it would have been nice to include a note that Clark Ashton Smith, famous master of the weird tale, completed the unfinished third episode himself (which I have yet to read, but will trace down). But still, a very nice collection and, in a way, I enjoyed it more than its nested source VATHEK (or at least the mid-portion, which dragged a bit).
December 12, 2020
Me ha sorprendido, me han gustado las historias.
.
Muy bien ambientado y muy amena la lectura.
.
Muy bien ambientado y muy amena la lectura.
March 27, 2024
Está es la continuación de las aventuras de Vathek, donde escuchamos las desventuras de los otros príncipes que encontró en el infierno y cuales fueron sus pecados para terminar en el abismo.
Me gustó bastante y lo encontré mucho más, como decirlo, serio, que las aventuras de Vathek, ya que en cierta forma, Vathek fue algo cómico a mi gusto en comparación a los episodios, donde los pecados eran mucho más explícitos que en Vathek.
Debo decir que las desventuras de príncipe Barkiarokh fueron infames y me alegro que al final haya recibido justicia.
Me gustó bastante y lo encontré mucho más, como decirlo, serio, que las aventuras de Vathek, ya que en cierta forma, Vathek fue algo cómico a mi gusto en comparación a los episodios, donde los pecados eran mucho más explícitos que en Vathek.
Debo decir que las desventuras de príncipe Barkiarokh fueron infames y me alegro que al final haya recibido justicia.
April 19, 2022
As lush and richly imagined as its parent novel, and still -for all its age- capable of raising an eyebrow even today. These three tales drip their Arabian Nights setting, but with a definite leaning toward the darker side (they are, after all, related in Hell); covering evil for evil's sake, lust (of all varieties - I mean, incest and necrophilia get a look in!), utter single-mindedness and self-absorption, fratricide (and most of the other 'cides), and many other black delights besides.
The prose, even from a contemporary viewpoint, never cloys, and is clear, consistent, and engaging throughout. I could happily have read many more of these, but we only have three (and the third is unfinished). If you've read Tanith Lee's Flat earth sequence (the first modern stories that spring to mind as comparable), and -of course- if you've read Vathek itself, I can't see why you wouldn't find much to enjoy in The Episodes.
The prose, even from a contemporary viewpoint, never cloys, and is clear, consistent, and engaging throughout. I could happily have read many more of these, but we only have three (and the third is unfinished). If you've read Tanith Lee's Flat earth sequence (the first modern stories that spring to mind as comparable), and -of course- if you've read Vathek itself, I can't see why you wouldn't find much to enjoy in The Episodes.
October 7, 2024
No está mal, es más, me ha sorprendido, me esperaba una lectura complicada. Buena ambientación, buen desarrollo de las historias y protagonistas bien caracterizados. Se le rápido, así lo permite la intriga y el desarrollo de los relatos. Por poner un pero, lo enormemente machista que es la novela, lógico por otra parte siendo de la época que es y más aún la cultura en la que está basada.
August 21, 2019
Specially loved the story of Zulkaïs and Khalila and even more the ending that Clark Ashton Smith makes of it with the subterranean adventure.
April 22, 2022
The story of Prince Alasi and Princess Firouzkah is the first story of three that continues Vathek.
The Prince is given a thirteen year old Firouzkah, who is the child of a King under seige, to find a guardian for them or the child would be killed. A Shepard becomes the chosen parent. Alasi shortly sees how ill-hearted Firouz really is. Alasi is soon to wed Rondabah bringing out the jealousy in Farouz. The two then start a campaign to ruin Rondabah with the help of the Mage and Dives.
The story of Prince Barkiarokh who is the third son of of a fisherman and the favorite of the Dervise Alsalami. This favor makes him arrogant,he also has an evil nature. His Father tasks his son's in setting out to find a wife on the same day and whoever has the most beautifully hearted wife will get the key to a cupboard that has unknown value within it. Homaiaiouna becomes his wife,but she is a magician herself and Barkiarokh becomes infatuated with another woman and inevitably causes harm to himself by trying to hide from his wife who constantly saves him from danger.
The story of the Princess Zulkais and Prince Kalilah who are twins and Kalilah is the first born son to The Emir. The twins however are incestual to the horror of the Emir. Shamelah, her nurse, tries to warn her to ward off these feelings she has by having her read the Korean. She, who having seen to the punishment of theives is punished herself for Zulkais' wounds when she inflicted them herself.
Zulkais' and Kalilah are caught in their desires and Zulkais' is sent beyond the Nile to the Isle of Ostriches where the Palm tree climber will look after her and tell her stories.
The Musselman, Dives and Euniches all together with fictional places and some fictional characters, Calili the dwarf, Peris and Afrites are just as imaginative as Vathek.
They all sit together in damnation speaking of their lives and what brought them to hell.
The Prince is given a thirteen year old Firouzkah, who is the child of a King under seige, to find a guardian for them or the child would be killed. A Shepard becomes the chosen parent. Alasi shortly sees how ill-hearted Firouz really is. Alasi is soon to wed Rondabah bringing out the jealousy in Farouz. The two then start a campaign to ruin Rondabah with the help of the Mage and Dives.
The story of Prince Barkiarokh who is the third son of of a fisherman and the favorite of the Dervise Alsalami. This favor makes him arrogant,he also has an evil nature. His Father tasks his son's in setting out to find a wife on the same day and whoever has the most beautifully hearted wife will get the key to a cupboard that has unknown value within it. Homaiaiouna becomes his wife,but she is a magician herself and Barkiarokh becomes infatuated with another woman and inevitably causes harm to himself by trying to hide from his wife who constantly saves him from danger.
The story of the Princess Zulkais and Prince Kalilah who are twins and Kalilah is the first born son to The Emir. The twins however are incestual to the horror of the Emir. Shamelah, her nurse, tries to warn her to ward off these feelings she has by having her read the Korean. She, who having seen to the punishment of theives is punished herself for Zulkais' wounds when she inflicted them herself.
Zulkais' and Kalilah are caught in their desires and Zulkais' is sent beyond the Nile to the Isle of Ostriches where the Palm tree climber will look after her and tell her stories.
The Musselman, Dives and Euniches all together with fictional places and some fictional characters, Calili the dwarf, Peris and Afrites are just as imaginative as Vathek.
They all sit together in damnation speaking of their lives and what brought them to hell.
August 18, 2020
"Such was, and should be, the punishment of unbridled passions and atrocious deeds ..."
The original tale of Vathek was published in the 1780s, but the additional tales (or "episodes") did not appear in the early editions and were feared lost. In 1909 the original manuscripts of the episodes were found in a collection of Beckford papers. They were published in their original French and then translated into English the next year.
For the next 60 years, the tale of Vathek continued to only be published separately from the episodes, and the entire work did not appear in one volume (in English) until the Ballentine paperback edition of 1971. The episodes continue to be published separately (as is the case with this volume).
It's worth reading the entire work even though it took nearly 200 years to appear as a single volume in English.
The original tale of Vathek was published in the 1780s, but the additional tales (or "episodes") did not appear in the early editions and were feared lost. In 1909 the original manuscripts of the episodes were found in a collection of Beckford papers. They were published in their original French and then translated into English the next year.
For the next 60 years, the tale of Vathek continued to only be published separately from the episodes, and the entire work did not appear in one volume (in English) until the Ballentine paperback edition of 1971. The episodes continue to be published separately (as is the case with this volume).
It's worth reading the entire work even though it took nearly 200 years to appear as a single volume in English.
September 30, 2021
Pondría una estrella, pero como la primera mitad del libro me ha gustado, algo tenía que valer eso jajajaja pero tampoco es que me haya apasionado.
En esa primera mitad me dio la impresión en un momento estar metida en un anime de los mios 😂 esos romanticos bizarros, pero nada, nada fue lo que parecía !!
Dio otro giro brusco y la historia mejoró aun más. La verdad, no es que la manera de narrar me haya parecido del tipo que me gusta, no me enganchaba, pero me ha gustado la historia que se trataba de transmitir.
Igualmente, en la segunda mitad el libro me ha perdido y ya no sabia bien hacia donde iba la historia.
En esa primera mitad me dio la impresión en un momento estar metida en un anime de los mios 😂 esos romanticos bizarros, pero nada, nada fue lo que parecía !!
Dio otro giro brusco y la historia mejoró aun más. La verdad, no es que la manera de narrar me haya parecido del tipo que me gusta, no me enganchaba, pero me ha gustado la historia que se trataba de transmitir.
Igualmente, en la segunda mitad el libro me ha perdido y ya no sabia bien hacia donde iba la historia.
October 7, 2024
Este libro es cuando te juntas con tu grupo de amiguis para contar sus desgracias de la vida
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