Book Description
The Mysteries of Udolpho follows the fortunes of Emily St. Aubert who suffers, among other misadventures, the death of her father, supernatural terrors in a gloomy castle, and the machinations of an Italian brigand. The author, Ann Ward (1764-1823) was born in Holborn. She married William Radcliffe, an editor for the English Chronicle, at Bath in 1788. The couple were childless. To amuse herself, she began to write fiction, which her husband encouraged. Her works were extremely popular among the upper class and the growing middle class, especially among young women. Her works included The Sicilian Romance (1790), The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and The Italian (1796). The success of The Romance of the Forest established Radcliffe as the leading exponent of the historical Gothic romance. Her later novels met with even greater attention, and produced many imitators, and famously, Jane Austen's burlesque of The Mysteries of Udolpho in Northanger Abbey, as well as influencing the works of Sir Walter Scott and Mary Wollstonecraft. ... Read more

Book Description
"Mrs. Radcliffe wrote six novels; The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789), A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Romance of the Forest (1792), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), The Italian (1797), and Gaston de Blondeville, composed in 1802 but first published posthumously in 1826. Of these Udolpho is by far the most famous, and may be taken as a type of the early Gothic tale at its best. It is the chronicle of Emily, a young Frenchwoman transplanted to an ancient and portentous castle in the Apennines through the death of her parents and the marriage of her aunt to the lord of the castle -- the scheming nobleman, Montoni. Mysterious sounds, opened doors, frightful legends, and a nameless horror in a niche behind a black veil all operate in quick succession to unnerve the heroine and her faithful attendant, Annette; but finally, after the death of her aunt, she escapes with the aid of a fellow-prisoner whom she has discovered. On the way home she stops at a chateau filled with fresh horrors -- the abandoned wing where the departed chatelaine dwelt, and the bed of death with the black pall -- but is finally restored to security and happiness with her lover Valancourt, after the clearing-up of a secret which seemed for a time to involve her birth in mystery. Clearly, this is only familiar material re-worked; but it is so well re-worked that Udolpho will always be a classic. Mrs. Radcliffe's characters are puppets, but they are less markedly so than those of her forerunners. And in atmospheric creation she stands pre?minent among those of her time." -- H. P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror In Literature" ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Utopian Studies, published by Society for Utopian Studies on March 22, 2000. The length of the article is 8193 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Gothic Utopia: Heretical Sanctuary in Ann Radcliffe's The Italian.(Critical Essay)
Author: Brenda Tooley
Publication: Utopian Studies (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2000
Publisher: Society for Utopian Studies
Volume: 11Issue: 2Page: 42

Article Type: Critical Essay

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Book Description
The Civilized Imagination is a study of literature in a period of cultural change. As part of the transition from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century a great transformation occurred in the relations among aesthetic theory, literature, and society. This study analyses such changes as they appear in the works of Ann Radcliffe, Jane Austen, and Sir Walter Scott, three apparently distinct novelists whom the author locates within a unified cultural movement. Although the works of these writers are extremely different in many respects, in Professor Cottom's view they are all preoccupied with the changing relation between aristocratic and middle-class values. In Ann Radcliffe's works middleclass values are beginning to emerge within a governing aristocratic context; in Jane Austen's novels these newer values are precariously balanced against the old; in Sir Walter Scott's books they have become victorious, at least superficially. Professor Cottorn examines the way these writers deal with such topics as taste, landscape, communications, morality, and women, in order to show how certain aesthetic problems result from social change. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Women and Language, published by George Mason University on September 22, 1996. The length of the article is 7687 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe's 19 poems embedded in her novel, 'The Mysteries of Udolpho,' help readers understand the fiction better. These poems open various levels of meaning within the plot. Like Emily, the heroine restricted by patriarchal society, Radcliffe displays uneasiness and ambivalence toward her poetic voice as shown by her decision to bury her poetry within the chapters of her novel.

Citation Details
Title: Deconstructing the patriarchal palace: Ann Radcliffe's poetry in 'The Mysteries of Udolpho.'
Author: Ellen Arnold
Publication: Women and Language (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1996
Publisher: George Mason University
Volume: v19Issue: n2Page: p21(9)

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