Ann Radcliffe

Ann Radcliffe introduces Schedoni, the villainous scheming monk, whose brooding presence dominates her novel, and who has become archetypal in Romantic literature. The Italian tells of the romance between the young Neapolitan nobleman Vincentio di Vivaldi and Ellena di Rosalba, a match opposed by the Marchesa, Vivaldi's haughty, manipulative mother. It is she who enlists the help of Schedoni. What ensues is intrigue, abduction and the terrors of the Inquisition. This edition includes a detailed introduction which examines the literary background to the novel, the historical context of the Inquisition and the French Revolution, and explanatory notes.

The Italian

A best-seller in its day and a potent influence on Walpole, Poe, and other writers of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Gothic horror, The Mysteries of Udolpho remains one of the most important works in the history of European fiction. With its dream-like plot and hallucinatory rendering of its characters' psychological states, The Mysteries of Udolpho is a fascinating challenge to contemporary readers.

The Mysteries of Udolpho

In A Sicilian Romance (1790) Radcliffe began to forge the unique mixture of the psychology of terror and poetic description that would make her the great exemplar of the Gothic nove, and the idol of the Romantics. This early novel explores the cavernous landscapes and labyrinthine passages of Sicily's castles and covents to reveal the shameful secrets of its all-powerful aristocracy. Julia and Emilia Mazzini live secluded in an ancient mansion near the Straits of Messina. After their father's return to the island a neglected part of the house is haunted by a series of mysterious sights and sounds. The origin of these hauntings is only discovered after a series of breathless pursuits through dreamlike pastoral landscapes. When revelation finally comes, it forces the heroines to challenge the united forces of religious and patriarchal authority.

A Sicilian Romance

Il romanzo della foresta. Ediz. integrale

Sicilya'da Bir Ask Hikayesi

The Romance of the Forest (1791) heralded an enormous surge in the popularity of Gothic novels, in a decade that included Ann Radcliffe's later works, The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian. Set in Roman Catholic Europe of violent passions and extreme oppression, the novel follows the fate of its heroine Adeline, who is mysteriously placed under the protection of a family fleeing Paris for debt. They take refuge in a ruined abbey in south-eastern France, where sinister relics of the past - a skeleton, a manuscript, and a rusty dagger - are discovered in concealed rooms. Adeline finds herself at the mercy of the abbey's proprietor, a libidinous Marquis whose attentions finally force her to contemplate escape to distant regions. Rich in allusions to aesthetic theory and to travel literature, The Romance of the Forest is also concerned with current philosophical debate and examines systems of thought central to the intellectual life of late eighteenth-century Europe. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Romance of the Forest

Nella Francia del 1584 la giovane e sensibile Emily St. Aubert, rimasta orfana di entrambi i genitori, viene rinchiusa dalla zia Madame Cheron e dal suo compagno, il perverso zio Montoni, nel tenebroso castello di Udolpho, sugli Appennini. Solo dopo una convulsa serie di avvenimenti agghiaccianti Emily riesce a riacquistare la libertà e a ricongiungersi con il suo innamorato, Valancourt.

I misteri di Udolpho

El romance del bosque

Romanzo siciliano

A Sicilian Romance begins when a tourist meets a local monk at the crumbling ruins of the castle Mazzini. The monk invites her to the monastery to view a manuscript that records the mysterious happenings that occurred hundreds of years ago in the once-great castle. The manuscript tells of the plight of two sisters, Julia and Emilia Mazzini, who, after the return of their tyrannical father, witness supernatural phenomena around the castle’s neglected southern wing. Radcliffe was viewed as the greatest writer of the Gothic literary style by most early 19th century critics and literary historians despite Horace Walpole seemingly “inventing” the genre in The Castle of Otranto. A Sicilian Romance was first published anonymously in 1790, making it the second of her published works.

by Ann Radcliffe

Set against the backdrop of the Inquisition, this Gothic romance from British novelist Ann Radcliffe is sure to please fans of the genre. Protagonists Vincentio di Vivaldi and Ellena di Rosalba fall in love at first sight and attempt to escape the siege of religious persecution and marry. Will they succeed, or will their romance fall prey to the hysteria and senseless destruction that defines the era?

Gaston de Blondeville (Valancourt Classics)

Sicilyada Bir Ask Hikayesi - Klasik Kadinlar

The Gothic Terror MEGAPACK

mysteries of udolpho

Complete Works of Ann Radcliffe

On the supernatural in poetry

Ann Radcliffe publie en 1794 The Mysteries of Udolpho. Les romantiques anglais, et les Victoriens, lui ont voué un culte. En France, Balzac, Hugo, Nodier, Féval, Sue, se souvinrent d'elle. On ignore ce qui a pu pousser cette petite bourgeoise à la vie ordinaire à raconter des histoires terrifiantes, qu'on appelle " gothiques " en Angleterre et " noires " en France parce qu'elles cherchent à provoquer la crainte chez les lecteurs. Emilie explore le château mystérieux, chandelle à la main, à minuit. La menace (surnaturelle ?) est partout présente. Les séquestrations, les tortures ne sont pas loin. Quel est le dessein du maître des lieux ? Quels sentiments éprouve la jeune fille pour son tuteur et geôlier ? Qui épousera-t-elle, après cette quête de soi à travers les corridors du château, qui ressemblent à ceux de l'inconscient ? Ce n'est pas pour rien qu'un chapitre porte en épigraphe ces mots de Shakespeare : " Je pourrais te dire une histoire dont le moindre mot te déchirerait le cœur. "

Les mystères d'Udolphe

Ann Radcliffe, nee Ward (1764-1823) was an English author and a pioneer of the gothic novel. 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; or, The Confessional of the Black Penitents (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.

Poems

Un carrosse lancé à toute allure, dans la nuit, en pleine tempête, un couple fuyant la justice, un arrêt devant une vieille maison isolée sur la lande, occupée par des bandits tenant prisonnière une belle jeune fille... Les Mystères de la forêt est un roman gothique, baignant dans une atmosphère inquiétante, sur fond d'architecture médiévale et de surnaturel. C'est pour ce livre qu'Ann Radcliffe mérite particulièrement son titre de "maîtresse du suspense". Roman d'aventures, c'est aussi un roman de la sensibilité : volupté dans le malheur, émotions exacerbées sont mises en avant. Mais le désir et la sexualité refoulée ne sont jamais loin, dans ce livre dont le sous-titre pourrait être "Adeline ou les malheurs de la vertu".

Ann Radcliffe

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