pickA short story? novella? about a monk and his back-and-forth feelings about the hangman‘s daughter. A hangman‘s family was reviled by the townspeople, due to the nature of the job. They weren‘t allowed to be buried on consecrated ground, for instance. This book was so much more than I expected. December #BookSpin prompt: Litsy/GoodReads TBR
pickI thought I was picking up a story of forbidden passion and sundered lovers, but instead got a portrait of religious hypocrisy and, intensely depicted, narcissitic obsession and objectification of the "loved" person as a recepticle for the emotions of the protagonist. It's clear that Bierce has no sympathy for the actions of the main character, the monk, Ambrosius, but neither is he portrayed as a stock, moustache-twirling gothic villain. ??
My early evening in the garden sorted 📖🍸🎸
[Drunk-posting, as I've actually finished the cocktail and am lightly hammered 🔨- toffee rather than mjolnir, but definitely 'relaxed']
A mid-week day off work, and distancing/isolating in the garden with Bierce's novella of the forbidden love between the naïve monk, Ambrosius, and the even more naïveier hangman's daughter, Benedicta. Possible significance in those names? 🤔 I'll have to see.
Their first meeting beneath the gallows as Ambrosius guiltyly notes her charms while Benedicta shoos vultures away from a new-hanged corpse sets the tone for what's to come.
Nothing to do with #stmartinsday except it involves a monk, though the monk in this story did not share his cloak with a beggar.
This is a retelling of a 1891 German novel/folktale. Brother Ambrosius, a Franciscan monk, takes an interest in a young woman who is shunned by the townsfolk, much to the disapproval of the monk‘s superiors.
#litsyclassics
The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter | 
