Vathek

novel by Beckford

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Vathek, Gothic novel by William Beckford, published in 1786. Considered a masterpiece of bizarre invention and sustained fantasy, Vathek was written in French in 1782 and was translated into English by the author’s friend the Rev. Samuel Henley, who published it anonymously, claiming in the preface that the novel was his own translated from an Arabic original.

The caliph Vathek is a blasphemous voluptuary who constructs a tower so tall that from it he can survey all the kingdoms of the world. Vathek impiously defies Muhammad in the seventh heaven, thus condemning himself to eternal damnation and expulsion to the netherworld.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.