Beckford, William

William Beckford
29 September 1760 - 2 May 1844

One of the more colorful characters in the pantheon of British Gothic writers, Beckford was born to wealth (son of a Lord Mayor of London); he's the only Gothic-tradition writer known to have had Mozart as a music tutor. Gifted in languages and art, Beckford's promising future was complicated by the homosexual impulses he was not able fully to restrain, and which got him in rather hot water on more than one occasion. Author of works (some quite satiric) on painting and travel, nobility and authors, he is most famous for Vathek, his Oriental tale written originally in French, and for his houses: first, Fonthill Abbey, his huge and elaborate (and none-too-well-built) neo-Gothic mansion where he lived and stored his extensive art collections; in 1822 Beckford sold Fonthill and moved to Bath, where he began building Lansdown Tower. An M.P. who rarely went to Parliament and a commoner who devoted huge amounts of money and energy to a failed attempt to get a peerage, Beckford in his life and works is often a study in extremes and extravagances. Vathek is a major text in the Oriental tale tradition in British lit, a genre that was extremely popular in the later C18 (cf Samuel Johnson's Rasselas) and in the Romantic period (cf Lord Byron's "The Giaour" and "The Bride of Abydos," among others). Not all Oriental tales have a "Gothic" component, although many do (cf the vampire section of "The Giaour"); Vathek is over-the-top in its wild supernaturalism and its strange, calm mingling of the comically grotesque and the disconcertingly horrific.

Sites:
The Beckford Project
Includes a brief biographical note and some images of Fonthill, as well as some bibliographical research and information on The William Beckford Society. [Kevin Berland, U Penn]
Beckfordiana opens in new tab/window
Maintained by a leading Beckford scholar, this site includes Vathek (although as a series of images, not plain text; this is the web version of a facsimile edition, in this case of the 1823 edition of Beckford's novel). There are also other etexts, some available as PDF files — the little-known Transports of Pleasure — and some as e-facsimile — the even less known The Story of Al Raoui, which is attributed to Beckford. There are also helpful research materials, including a bibliography, information on Beckford's architectural legacy, and other Beckford links. A must for the Beckford fan or scholar.  [Dick Claésson, Göteborg U]
Biographical essay
[Literary Encyclopedia]
Biographical note
[George E. Haggerty; glbtq]
Biographical note
[Rictor Norton]
Brief biographical note
[Bibliomania]
Brief biographical note
[Wikipedia]
Brief biographical note a LitGothic etext
[John W. Cousins, A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910]
Fonthill Abbey
3D images of Beckford's Gothic construct. [Mike Harrisson]
"Beckford's Tower and Museum" page
Some background on Beckford's life and architectural achievements [Bath Preservation Trust]
A Vist to Fonthill
[Rictor Norton, Gay History & Literature]
Brief biographical note
[Keith Parkins]
Brief biographical note
[Gothic Labyrinth]
Bibliography
[FantasticFiction]
Beckford Bibliography
Supernaturalist bibliography. [Guide to Supernatural Fiction, Tartarus Press]
Portraits
At the National Portrait Gallery, London, which identifies Beckford as a "writer, collector, and eccentric dilletante."
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Etexts:
Vathek
- at Project Gutenberg (238K)
- at Beckfordiana opens in new tab/window  [see note above]
- at U Adelaide Library (221K)
--brief discussion of the novel by George Saintsbury, from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature (1907-1921) [Bartleby.com]
-- Brief discussion and extract  [W. W. Norton]
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Essays and Reviews:
William Beckford: The Fool of Fonthill"
By Rictor Norton, the prominent C18, Gothic, and queer studies scholar; this essay focuses on Beckford's homosexuality. This is one of a series of 3 essays on Beckford by Norton; follow the links at the bottom of each essay for more. [Gay History & Literature]

"William Beckford."