Background
Willian was born on 29 September in 1760.
Willian was born on 29 September in 1760.
Beckford's fame rests largely on his authorship of Vathek (1786), an Oriental tale that exploits the exotic and the bizarre. In this story the Caliph Vathek, a monstrous compound of wickedness and folly dominated by his vicious mother Catharis, falls into the clutches of the demon Eblis. After a journey studded with incidents that illustrate Vathek's inordinate cruelty, he is admitted to the cavernous halls of Eblis, where a terrible doom awaits him and his fellow transgressors. Beckford's other works include Biographical Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters (1780), a satirical treatment of the English painters of the day; Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents (1783); Modern Novel Writing (1796); Azemia (1797); Italy, With Sketches of Spain and Portugal (1834); and Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of AlcobaçaAlcobaca and Batalha (1835).