The Mysteries of Udolpho

Posted on 24 August 2018 by Ann Radcliffe

With The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe raised the Gothic romance to a new level and inspired a long line of imitators Portraying her heroine s inner life, creating a thick atmosphere of fear, and providing a gripping plot that continues to thrill readers today, The Mysteries of Udolpho is the story of orphan Emily St Aubert, who finds herself separated from the man she loves and confined within the medieval castle of her aunt s new husband, Montoni Inside the castle, she must cope with an unwanted suitor, Montoni s threats, and the wild imaginings and terrors that threaten to overwhelm her This new edition includes an introduction that discusses the publication and early reception of the novel, the genre of Gothic romance, and Radcliffe s use of history, exotic settings, the supernatural, and poetry. Download The Mysteries of Udolpho – kino-fada.fr This mammoth, prolix book the first wildly popular gothic novel is indifferently written, poorly planned,and inconsistent in purpose and tone Radcliffe s style is irritating, filled with continual redundancies, superfluous commas and dialogue that is often stilted and improbable The plot doesn t even get in gear until a third of the way through two hundred pages , and it loses its focus and dissipates its power in the last one hundred and fifty pages or so when Radcliffe introduces some This mammoth, prolix book the first wildly popular gothic novel is indifferently written, poorly planned,and inconsistent in purpose and tone Radcliffe s style is irritating, filled with continual redundancies, superfluous commas and dialogue that is often stilted and improbable The plot doesn t even get in gear until a third of the way through two hundred pages , and it loses its focus and dissipates its power in the last one hundred and fifty pages or so when Radcliffe introduces some pallid new characters and orchestrates a few second rate thrills that in their similarities to events of the earlier narrative verge on self parody Yet the novel has an undeniable power and charm A lot of this is due to Emily, the virtuous and loving but never stuffy young lady protagonist who would certainly become a model for Austen as well as a source of parody not only because of her sensible ...A well informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and vice The vacant mind is ever on the watch for relief, and ready to plunge into error, to escape from the languor of idleness Store it with ideas, teach it the pleasure of thinking and the temptations of the world without, will be counteracted by the gratifications derived from the world within Castle UdolphoEmily St Aubert has done her best to prepare her mind for the outside world, but when ...Emily St Aubert, has it all, loving parents, a nice, little, charming estate, she lives on, in southern France, Anno Domini 1584 The young gentlewoman, adores walking around her father s land, looking at the nearby, exotic Pyrenees Mountains, watching the calm Garonne River, flow by, hearing it making soft noises, as it goes along The lady likes playing an instrument, singing songs, to her affectionate father and mother, while sitting on a hill, with a great view, an enchanting moment, never Emily St Aubert, has it all, loving parents, a nice, little...I m reading this book again to get back in touch with some of the early English gothic novels I m struck, in these early pages, by the extreme romanticization and lush description of nature The natural w...You speak like a heroine, said Montoni, contemptuously we shall see if you can suffer like one And if all the sentences in this book were half as good as that one, we d be looking at a five star book here, but sadly the rest of it is just hella boring You might be reading a lame book if you have this thought Oh great, it s one of the heroine s long, shitty poems that s three fewer pages I ll have to actually read And if you think Montoni s threat means that the torture device you You speak like a heroine, said Montoni, contemptuously we shall see if you can suffer like one And if all the sentences in this book were half as good as that one, we d be looking at a five star book here, but sadly the rest of it is just hella boring You might be reading a lame book if you have this thought Oh great, it s one of the heroine s long, shitty poems that s three fewer pages I ll have to actually read And if you think Montoni s threat means that the torture device you briefly glimpsed 50 pages ago is going to make a second,exciting appearance, you are wrong My...3.5 rounded up Ye Gads I started this book back in July, had to table it, and started over the first week in December Still took me a month to finish I have to say, what Ms Radcliffe could have used the most in her writing career was the services of a good editor I can appreciate long descriptive passages, but how many in depth descriptions of someone collapsing into tears does one need By halfway through the book, she could have just said Emily wept and I would have known she was 3.5 rounded up Ye Gads I started this book back in July, had to table it, and started over the first week in December Still took me a month to finish I have to say, what Ms Radcliffe could have used the most in her writing career was the services of a good editor I can appreciate long descriptive passages, but how many in depth descriptions of someone collapsing into tears does one need By halfway through the book, she could have just said Emily wept and I would have known she was collapsed on the floor and near fainting.It is hard to put a finger on why this twisting, convoluted, over populated work works, but it does By the time the characters finally reached Udolpho, I was hooked and wanted to see where it was going and how on earth Radcliffe was going to tie up all these loose ends There we...I chose to read this book the same way many other people did I was reading the Jane Austen novel Northanger Abbey as part of a group read, and the topic of The Horrid Novels came up The Mysteries Of Udolpho was the only one I had access to, so it was the one I read.This is a long book, old fashioned in style naturally, being published in 1794 but I enjoyed it very much, even though I had my doubts going in because I lost my taste for the Gothic genre years ago I expected to give up on it, I chose to read this book the same way many other people did I was reading the Jane Austen novel Northanger Abbey as part of a group read, and the topic of The Horrid Novels came up The Mysteries Of Udolpho was the only one I had access to, so it was the one I read.This is a long book, old fashioned in style naturally, being published in 1794 but I enjoyed it very much, even though I had my doubts going in because I lost my taste for the Gothic genre years ago I expected to give up on it, but I was intrigued by Emily and her life, and found myselfandcurious about what would happen next with each page I read.I also had fun with this book, as I try to do with anything I read I learned new words like IZARD, MASSY, and DINGLE I actually have wild dingles close to me and never knew it until I looked up the definition to see why they seemed to make Emily so nervous.But it was when I read this sentence that I becamecurious about Ann Radcl...I believe that memory is responsible for nearly all these three volume novels Oscar Wilde One thing I will say for this book is that it made Oscar Wilde s plays evenentertaining for me I now know what he was talking about when he trashes books of unusually revolting sentimentality And what he says is very true I am absolutely certain that Ann Radcliffe wrote this book as a sort of extended journal for her travels At least half of it is devoted to scenery descriptions Now this is I believe that memory is responsible for nearly all these three volume novels Oscar Wilde One thing I will say for this book is that it made Oscar Wilde s plays evenentertaining for me I now know what h...2.5 Every author and aspiring author should read this book Not because it is a great book it really wasn t but because they will look at their proofreaders, copy editors and beta readers with a whole new appreciation Another reader I know decided to read the audio version fell asleep When she awoke a few hours later Emily her father were still endlessly travelling through Europe A ruthless, modern day editor would have halved this book in size would have produced a 2.5 Every author and aspiring author should read this book Not because it is a great book it really wasn t but because they will look at their proofreaders, copy editors and beta readers with a whole new appre...As British literary scholar Bonamy Dobree notes at the outset of his introduction to the 1966 Oxford Univ Press edition of this late 18th century classic, Radcliffe s best known novel held its place in the canon of British literature for half a century It was subsequently eclipsed byaccomplished works, and by changing stylistic tastes but its historical prominence and influence testify to some literary strengths which merit attention for it even today in its own right, as well as for As British literary scholar Bonamy Dobree notes at the outset of his introduction to the 1966 Oxford Univ Press edition of this late 18th century classic, Radcliffe s best known novel held its place in the canon of British literature for half a century It was subsequently eclipsed byaccomplished works, and by changing stylistic tastes but its historical prominence and influence testify to some literary strengths which merit attention for it even today in its own right, as well as for its historical interest Some modern readers curiosity about it is also excited by Jane Austen s mention of it in Northanger Abbey as one of a number of horrid novels horrid in terms of their morbid and frightening subject matt...

English
24 August 2018

Ann Radcliffe