The Mysteries of Udolpho (Penguin Classic Romance Thillers)

As a female horror author, I decided last fall it was high time I read what is considered to be one of the first Gothic novels written by a woman, “The Mysteries of Udolpho” by Ann Radcliffe.

My first encounter with Gothic literature came at around the age of twelve. I’ve always been big into vampires, and as luck would have it, my best friend’s brother had a copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that he was willing to let me have it. 19th Century novels are hard enough for most adults, but I was a determined reader and pushed my way through. I went on to read it at least ten more times over the years, each time understanding a little bit more.

From Stoker, I moved on to Poe, Dickens, and Hawthorne all on a voluntary basis, plus whatever reading of that period that was required of us for English classes such as Mark Twain. After high school, I discovered the likes of Willkie Collins, Emily Bronte, and Oscar Wilde. As a Civil War reenactor for nearly ten years, I wanted to learn more about the period based on the diaries which led me to the likes of Sarah Morgan, Rose Greenhow, and Mary Chestnut.

All this being the long-winded way of saying I am familiar with the ins and outs of 18th-19th century writing. Speaking of long-winded, let’s talk about the novel in question.

The Mysteries of Udolpho, published in 1794, takes us on what is now considered a typical Gothic adventure. A life of peace and happiness is shattered when young Emily is left a poor orphan and placed in the cruel hands of her nearest relative. In this case, an aunt. During Emily’s happier days she meets and falls in love with a handsome cavalier named Valencourt. But, alas, this love struck couple will not find it so easy to be married and live happily ever after. First, Emily must be torn from her native land of France to reside in Italy with her heartless aunt and uncle who want to marry her off to a wealthy friend who’s old enough to be Emily’s father. But, Emily’s heart has sworn allegiance to Valencourt and she’ll have no business with her elderly suitor. Next, she is removed to the isolated fortress of Castle Udolpho where, after the death of her aunt, it seems as if Emily is destined to suffer the same fate at the hands of her greedy uncle.

Getting to this point, unfortunately, took half the book and with a total of over 600 pages, that’s a long and somewhat tedious amount of reading. And yet, much like slogging my way through Dracula as a twelve-year-old, I persisted and emerged victorious. But, did Emily? Will she ever escape her treacherous uncle and the prison Castle Udolpho has become? Who is the mysterious male figure she keeps seeing at night moving about on the battlements? What of the female ghost-like apparition being reported by the servants and seen by Emily herself? Will she and Valencourt ever set eyes on each other again? I’m not telling!

Dark, brooding, and suspenseful, it’s easy to see how The Mysteries of Udolpho set the stage for so many other Gothic novels that would follow and why it was so popular with the ladies of its hay day. A tough read at times, but well worth the effort and satisfaction I got when I was finally able to close the covers knowing at long last, the eluded to mysteries of Udolpho.

Due to it taking half the novel to get to the good stuff, I’m giving it –

3 out of 5 Ravens

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Written in 1794, this gothic romance is thought by some to be the origins of the detective novel. It tells the story of Emily St. Aubert, who finds herself under the care of her uncle. Questions and mysteries arise from secrets of her father's past.

I didn't finish this one. I was about 120 pages in when I decided to stop, because nothing had happened yet to keep me going. The majority of those first 100 pages chronicles the travels of Emily and her father, describing the vistas in detail. The appearance of Emily's love interest, Valancourt, made this slightly bearable, but the story moves along so slowly that the thought of going on for another 500+ pages made me cringe.

This one just wasn't for me.

Emily St. Aubuert was imprisoned by her evil guardian, Signor Montoni. We follow her misadventures from his dark fortress in the Apennines as she suffers physical and psychological terror. The Mysteries of Udolpho is told in a dream-like hallucination that gives the reader a sense of Emily's psychological state.

Writing a synopsis for this novel was one of the hardest things about this review. There are so many fragments in this book which makes it difficult to summarise what this book is about. Written in four volumes, Ann Radcliffe's gothic romance manuscript has reported to have been brought for £500 in 1794, I'm not sure if that takes into account the inflation, if not that seems huge I can't imagine an author receiving that much for a book nowadays.

This classic novel is a quintessential gothic romance but there are fragments of so many other genres with the supernatural, psychological mysteries that fill the pages. I really wanted to enjoy this book but I found it incredible wordy and at the time I was not in the right frame of mind for it, but I will do my best to be fair. The major downfall for me was the extensive descriptions of the landscapes; in particular Pyrenees and Apennines which while stunning just caused the book to drag on.

Emily is orphaned after the death of her father and taken in by her aunty Madame Cheron who married an Italian brigand Count Montoni. As romance between Emily and Valancourt, Montoni became increasingly frustrated and Cheron disapproved, believing him too poor, until she realised his aunt is Madame Clairval. When Count Montoni and Madame Cheron married he refused to allow Emily to married as he figured he could sell her. The major theme I got from this novel was the idea of indifference and the cruelty that can go along with it. Count Montoni is the definition of the gothic villain archetype; evil, sinister, greedy, and motivated by money. Even his marriage to Madame Cheron is for mercenary reasons and tried to force her to sing over her estates.

The novel is not all dark and gothic, I did mention that this was a gothic romance. Emily's devotion to Valancourt is unshakeable and his heart seems to belong to her as well. He does make some mistakes and his behaviour eventually causes Emily to renounce him but even after that her thoughts were always towards him. The devotion or loyalty is always fighting against the gothic themes of this novel as you expect from a novel like this. Even the romance between Annette and Ludovico's is not always happy, especially when he locks her up for her safety. Gothic romance is an unusual genre and you always get a sense that the entire book is fighting to counteract the romance, but then this is the type of book I enjoy.

This is a hard novel to review, there are so many plot lines and if I go off and talk about each of them this post will just go on and on. I know trying to condense the review down to a blog post doesn't really do the book justice but I tried to focus on the main plot line. While the book felt wordy and dragged on, this was an interesting book, one I feel needs to be revisited sometime in the future. It would be interesting what I can pull out of the book once I have improved my critical reading skills. Have you read this classic? If so I would love to know your thoughts on it.

In 1580s France, young Emily St. Aubert is orphaned and later imprisoned in a remote castle in this dreamlike, rambling gothic classic. Approach Udolpho burdened by expectation, and the book may be a disappointment. It's an influential, classic piece of gothic literature, yet two thirds of it takes place not in the dark halls of Udolpho but in the French countryside. It's both exemplified and criticized for its gothic clichés of haunted castles and fainting women, yet for every ghostly mystery is a dry, factual explanation, and this insistance upon the "explained supernatural" can be both disappointing and anticlimactic. Slow pacing, clunky narrative arcs, and unrealistic explication may frustrate modern readers, but what makes the book a disappointment is that it doesn't not seem as gothic as it could be--or as popular knowledge represents it.

But approach the book with indulgence and patience, and it has moments to reward both. Fans of gothic literature will still find Udolpho an interesting view into the genre's development, particularly in the role of the sublime and the function of human imagination (in place of literal supernatural events) to create horror. And, in defiance of its other limitations, Udolpho has some exceptional moments--sympathetic and honest human interactions, perceptions into human thought, evocative atmospheric and natural descriptions. These moments vary from indulgently gothic to thoughtful or romantic, but each is a quiet delight. Udolpho may not have stood the test of time ("a lot of the book's emotional force has dissipated (xxi)," states Castle in the incisive, apt introduction to the Oxford World Classic edition), and the book is not for all readers, but it is an important and interesting historical selection of the gothic genre--and to the reader who has patience for the book's failings and interest in its strengths, there is something of value here: a number of surprisingly atmospheric, perceptive moments sprinkled within a dreamlike, rambling story of shifting tone and setting. I give it a mediocre recommendation--to the right sort of reader.

A peculiar, very long, but charming instance of one of the first Gothic novels. Emily, a young, fresh and innocent heroine, loves nature and faints a lot. She is seduced into evil bourgeois society portrayed quite convincingly by Radcliffe in the form of the evil Count of Udolpho (really, one of the better villains of literature) and his wife, Emily's aunt, who provides much of the comic relief of the novel while still being nasty and self-centered. In the course of 700 pages or so, Emily falls in love with the gallant Valancourt, is betrothed and un-betrothed to several rakish scoundrels in pursuit of her money, is kidnapped by the Count to the gloomy Castle Udolpho in the woods, faints some more, and writes a lot of sonnets that appear in the middle of the novel apropos of nothing. Worth your read if you are a literature fan, if you want to understand why evil people believe they are still actually good, or if (like me) you had the flu for three days and had a lot of time on your hands.

Set amidst the glorious backdrop of Europe's natural beauty, Mysteries of Udolpho is the penultimate classic romance of terror and adventure.
The story concerns a young woman named Emily St. Aubert, who through circumstances out of her control finds herself taken far away from her pleasant home by her cruel and stupid aunt, to a dark castle deep within the mountains of Italy: its owner, a sinister and murderous fallen nobleman in charge of an army of fearsome thugs. Events soon begin to spiral further and further out of Emily's control as she and her aunt both find themselves instruments of his sinister plans.
Anyone who has ever been held captive by the monstrous people of this world will identify with Emily's plight: with her feelings of helplessness and despair, and her faint, dim glitterings of hope.
While some of the characterization seems extraordinarily unrealistic (the male romantic lead Valancourt acts more than a little like a stalker), this can easily be forgiven: he prose is beautiful, and the descriptions of the Italian countryside and the dark, decrepit ruins buried among it immerse the reader in the world of the story.
In short, Mysteries of Udolpho is an epic, beautiful tale that should find itself in the hands of anyone looking for a classic that will at times frighten, at times inspire, but always make the reader feel.

After having read the mere 176-page original gothic tale of 1764, Horace Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto", I embarked on this 672-page equally-famous gothic fantasy by Ann Radcliffe, published thirty years later, and a best-selling literary phenomenon of its day.

The opening of Terry Castle's incisive introduction to the work notes that, "Perhaps no work in the history of English fiction has been more often caricatured." It is supposed to be "the greatest (or at least the most famous) of gothic romances ... has an archetypal `gothic villain' ... is loaded with exotic scenery ... [and] its heroine, a victim of `sensibility', faints a lot." But whilst common opinion may see it as "a bit of a `silly' book too", the conscientious reader must actually "feel a twinge of bad faith"; Udolpho is actually "bigger, baggier and more uncanny than one thought it was." This is so true.

Whilst not denying a strong gothic element in the writing, the book is also a travelogue, a morality tale, a commentary on manners, and even a comedy of errors; just like Shakespeare, the servants provide a focus for humour, and Radcliffe is not even averse to parody herself as well as the tale she tells. Indeed, one can even view the novel as a typical Jane Austen romance - a woman, her marriage options, and the descent of landed property feature heavily in the plot - but this time set on the continent and in a gothic milieu; Jane Austen even drew on some of the scenes for her `Northanger Abbey' of 1818. But Terry Castle draws attention to the title of the novel, namely the `mysteries' of Udolpho. Thus one can add to the long list of genres set out above, even that of an Agatha Christie murder-mystery, a product of the new age of enlightenment when old-style superstitious mystery was replaced by its more reasoned newcomer, although "Radcliffe's supposedly `rational' explanations are at times almost more implausible than the supernatural explanations they are meant to displace."

Whilst the consensus about the book's merits might be overwhelmingly negative - "too long, feeble in characterisation ... lacking in moral or intellectual gravitas ... [and] full of absurdities" - a closer examination reveals "a meticulous stylist ... who can create moments of considerable drama". Indeed, the style of writing is worthy of remark. The book is full of long sentences, often beautifully constructed. The book must be read at a stately pace to accord with the natural breath of the author's rhythm. Did she speak in this way, or are the construction of sentences designed so as to be read aloud within family groups as they sat before the fire on cold, dark, late-eighteenth century evenings? This style can lead to artifice, and the excessive number of commas can be exasperating on occasions.

There are whole chapters of descriptive prose about the sublime effects of the natural landscape. These are of more value than mere curiosity; the author writes very well with a sharp eye for detail. Terry Castle sagely compares her prose in this regard to the landscapes paintings of Salvatore Rosa, Poussin and Claude Lorraine that Radcliffe admired. This is all the more amazing, as she never visited the places she describes in such detail, but sees them through the eyes of fancy. Actually, she saw them through the eyes of the likes of Tobias Smollett and Hester Thrale Piozzi whose travel books she greatly relied upon. Geographically, the novel forms an arc: volume one is set in Gascony and Languedoc; volume two in Venice and Udolpho; volume three in Udolpho and Tuscany; and volume four back in Gascony and Languedoc.

Ostensibly set in the year 1584, the book is imbued with the manners and sensibilities of genteel England of 1794. For this reason, I found it convenient to forego imagining a strict rendition of time and place. Whilst the number of precise factual anachronisms is small, they are nevertheless difficult to ignore; they include such items as coffee drinking, the names of English poets, the use of knives and forks, the wearing by ladies of certain hats, and the naming of rooms as `saloons'. Moreover, the description afforded to the city of Venice is more akin to the 1780s, or what Terry Castle in her introduction describes as "the elegant Venice of Canaletto and Goldoni", rather than that of the 1580s and the city of Tintoretto and Monteverdi.

There is very little character development. Indeed, there is very little character at all, since the novel revolves almost entirely around our heroine Emily. People come into her life and then leave only when they have some part to play in Emily's story. Even her dog, who appears to be her constant companion in all her travels, appears a mere two or three occasions in order to heighten tension or play a minor part in Emily's experiences: on his second appearance, as our heroine seeks to escape from the castle in which she is held, the dog's yapping threatens to disclose her position, but I had by then even forgotten the dog's very existence, so notably absent had his presence become.

So, what is this novel to be? A gothic romance? Travelogue? Morality tale? Commentary on manners or comedy of errors? Or enlightenment mystery? Why, all of the above, of course. But in a twist of blazing insight, perhaps Terry Castle is right to recommend this book for 21st century readers as a precursor of Freud's work on the unconscious, for "like a long and complex dream - the kind in which pleasure and apprehension are so closely intermingled as to become indistinguishable - the book repays imaginative introspection." When Radcliffe writes halfway through her novel that, the heroine "blamed herself for suffering her romantic imagination to carry her so far beyond the bounds of probability, and determined to endeavour to check its rapid flights, lest they should sometimes extend into madness", she is warning the incautious reader too.

The usual high standards of the Oxford University Press's World's Classics editions are upheld in this volume. Not only the introduction, but also the standard textual note, select bibliography, chronology and end-notes all appear to guide and enhance the experience. As with all reprints of classic works of literature, I recommend that the so-called introduction (which is really more of a commentary) is best read after the novel.

Emily St Aubert is a young woman of sensibility and deep love for the sublimity in nature. The chateau of the St Auberts in Southern France is a place where to take refuge from disappointment in mankind. Yet after the death of Mrs St Aubert, Emily and her father resolve to set out on a journey that takes them through the Alps, where they can further rejoyce in sublime landscapes. "These scenes", says one character, "soften the heart, like the notes of sweet music, and inspire that delicious melancholy which no person , who had felt it once, would resign for the gayest of pleasures. They waken our best and purest feelings, disposing us to benevolence, pity, and friendship."

It is from the perils of an excess of sensibility that St Aubert tries to warn his daughter on his deathbed: "Above all do not indulge in the pride of fine feeling." Emily soon learns that if we value the works of God (Nature), then it is only fit that we should love and accept the results of God's will (history and destiny). Can it be true that, as her father assured her, a mind can be trained to triumph over affliction?

Castle Udolpho does not upset our expectations: the towers are high, the walls tall and cold, the staircases marbled, and the rooms full of secrets. Between these walls, Emily must learn to conform to Montoni's ideal of womanhood: sincerity, uniformity of conduct and obedience. Yet at Udolpho Emily's susceptible femininity is made to witness and confront teh arousal of "those mysterious workings, that rouse the elements of man's nature into a tempest." Emily discovers that not all is chivalrous in intersexual relations. Yet she is resolved not to fall into error: the problem of self-reproach.

While experience has taught her that male conceptions of ideal womanhood are not always healthy, probably or safe, Emily grows up under Montoni's gaze. While she relinquishes her aunt's properties, she proves him wrong. By what further strategy will he continue to exert his usurpation of authority over her? Would it be imprudent for her to despise the will of Montoni? What is the implication of her surrendering herself to the protection of men who commit such fool deeds?

The castle is therefore the site of psychic suffering, where Emily must fortify her senses against continuous fears and adversities. In teh midst of mental turmoil there lurks innocence and hope in the future with Valancourt. Is this hope to be ultimately relinquished too? Why does the Castle seem to be mysteriously connected with her fate? Can there be hope after imprisonment and suffering? After Valancourt is truly fallen from her own steem, Emily wonders about the real merit behind the sacrifice of their separation. The Count the Villeroi advises Emily not to give way to sadness, which may lead to madness. Is the convent to prove her only ultimate refuge or can Valancourt be reinstated as a worthy human being in her own mind? After many tears, it is not the same Emily that returns to La Vallée at the end of the novel. Her soul has risen in sulphureous circles and she is now capable not only of loe and admiration, but also of compassion, of a deeper understanding of human folly and vice, and perhaps, capable of forgiveness.

Ann Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho" is as much a transitionary work between the enlightenment and romanticism, as it is a traditional horror story. In it, we follow Emily St. Aubert as she tries to reconcile her father's teachings of reserve and moderation with the reckless passions of love and fear.
Between her father's dying requests that initiate the action of the novel, and the mysterious secret chambers of Chateau le Blanc and the ominous Castle Udolpho, Emily attempts to control her overflows of emotion in order to resolve doubts about herself and the world around her.
The first third of the novel will appeal to art-lovers, who will revel in Radcliffe's florid, epic landscapes from the Italian sea-coast to the wine country of southern France. The remainder of the novel shows Radcliffe's manipulation of what have become standards of the gothic-terror genres, foremost being building and maintaining suspense. The ways in which Radcliffe poses questions, answers them, and then retracts the answers keep even the most astute reader in the dark straight through to the end.
While Radcliffe is quick to indulge flights of emotional and poetic fancy, she carefully balances this with the notion that the well-adjusted person can balance these impulses with self-governing rationality. The fact that the story's protagonist is a young woman bears further implications for Radcliffe's vision in terms of female empowerment and ability to cope with the terrors of the 'real world'.
A dense, convoluted plot, still-relevant themes, and charming minor characters keep "The Mysteries of Udolpho" worth reading over 200 years after it was first published.

On one level, this novel defies categorisation. Yes, the Gothic web of mystery and intrigue is obvious. And so too are the beautiful descriptions of nature, the struggle between good and evil, the noble acts of heroism and the ignoble acts of greed.

Anne Radcliffe has taken all of these components and distilled an imaginative creation that still, some 213 years after publication, catches the imagination of the reader. If you do choose to read this glorious novel, make sure that you are prepared for a pace which relies more on descriptive prose and less on implied actions. Set aside the time to immerse yourself in the setting and enjoy the journey.

This is not a novel to be rushed, it is a novel to be savoured.

Ann Radcliffe was 30 years old the year this novel was published. What an accomplished and imaginative young woman she must have been.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO by Ann Radcliffe is an important transition work between an age that prized reason over emotion and a succeeding age that believed in the reverse. Radcliffe's book is not much read today and that is a shame since the feelings of dread that it raised at the end the 18th century can still be felt by contemporary readers. This book is a Gothic thriller, the literary ancestor of Austen's NORTHANGER ABBEY, of Poe's Tales of Terror, and of today just about anything by Steven King.

When THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO was first published in 1794, the Age of Reason was slowly coming to a creaking end. An English populace that was becoming increasingly mercantile and literate was growing tired of a relentless urging to approach life with the clinical detachment of Star Trek's Mr. Spock. They began to demand a literature that in the words of Jane Austen would provide a sensibility over sense. The initial glimmerings of this discontent were met by the writers of sensibility who insisted that their heroines, usually well-born females, would swoon, cry, and weep at the drop of a hat. Radcliffe carried this to the next logical level. She was one of the first writers of the Gothic genre. Here, the female swooner of the novel of sensibility would place herself in a gloomy castle with creaking doors, clanking chains, and secret rooms of a mad monk who would hold her captive for reasons that were then only delicately hinted at as sensual but today we recognize as pretty weird psycho-sexual matters.

The plot of THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO is a hook upon which Radcliffe wrote a harrowing tale that was an instant best-seller. Young Emily St. Aubert and her mother are made prisoners in the castle of the evil Italian Montoni, who married her mother solely to inherit her money and then killed her and planned to force her to marry another. The English reading public flocked to buy this novel because of its novel use of the fear that was engendered by the very thought of a proper English lady being imprisoned in a creepy and sinister castle by a mad Italian. They were further intrigued by the lavish descriptions of natural scenery, all of which were larded with a sense of panorama that was lacking in their restricted lives. Finally, when Emily had her startling dreams, Radcliffe's readers responded to their subtle sexual symbolism that they found endlessly intriguing.

THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO has its faults that seem more egregious to modern audiences. Her style varies little from chapter to chapter. Her use of scenery as an overused prop can pall. Finally, Radcliffe has been accused with some accuracy as selling a sizzle without the steak in that at the story's end, she has contrived a perfectly natural and rational explanation for each of the book's spooky events. Still, the power of the tale to drag the reader into the deepest recesses of a dark and dank cage that is matched only by the equally grim recesses of the human mind is yet quite sufficient to raise the hackles on the back of that reader's neck. Only the best scary books can continue to do that century after century.

This is one of my favorite novels. Radcliffe's narrative impressed me in many ways. The plot is imaginative and complex. Her descriptions of the scenes, though frequently long-winded, are always sumptuously romantic. Her themes (superstition vs reason, moderation vs excess, the relative rewards of virtue vs vice) are clearly and realistically reflected through her characters. However, above all else, her understanding of the psychology of emotion and terror is very keen. The fainting of the protagonist has often been derisively regarded as nothing more than "feminine weakness" but Radcliffe's descriptions of these fits share many of the characteristics and symptoms of panic attacks.

Have had this on the bookshelf for years. Just read it and found it absolutely amazing. Some reviewers thought the first part was slow but I found it so beautiful. Radcliffe’s descriptions of the scenery is unsurpassed and Emily’s emotions are so well done. I can certainly see why it is a classic. I can’t imagine reading anything quite so satisfying.

O, to return to those gentle days of yesteryear when young women of education and good circumstance had nothing better to do than sketch and take nature walks and write melancholy poetry. And when they craved excitement, they could turn to this romantic gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe, with its young heroine who bravely faces one danger after another and experiences many seemingly-supernatural visitations, in between her sketching and walking and poetry writing, only fainting every 20 pages or so.

Radcliffe's novels were tremendously popular in the late 1700s, so much so that Jane Austin even satirized a typical Radcliffe reader in her novel 'Northanger Abbey.' I can only conclude that the young female novel readers of that time were so bored that they were willing to slog through pages and pages of tedium to experience a few chills and thrills.

Out of the 670 pages of this novel's very small print, we have perhaps 250 pages of actual story. So what about the rest? Here's an approximate rundown:
*300 pages of nature descriptions of various landscapes in France and Italy. As it turns out, only good and honorable people appreciate nature; people of doubtful honor or breeding don't properly appreciate it, and really dishonorable people don't even notice it or actually dislike it.
*50 pages of melancholy poetry composed by the heroine in response to nature and events.
*10 pages of repetitions of the word "melancholy." No kidding. Almost every page has at least one "melancholy," and many pages feature it twice.
*30 pages of accounts of fainting episodes. All manner of happenings can bring on insensibility, not just frightening events.
*30 pages of accounts of people dying and the heroine's response to the deaths.

However, in those 250 pages of story, Radcliffe does provide an interesting plot line, suspense, and several cliffhangers. In the most interesting section of the book her heroine is imprisoned in the crumbling Castle of Udolpho, where she faces a suitably heartless villain and his band of banditto, some of whom would like to ravish her! It is there, also, that she sees something supremely frightful beneath a black veil! The description of the sight and its explanation is withheld until the last pages of the book.

My conclusion is that Ann Radcliffe was the Stephenie Meyer of her time, with a huge readership for a mediocre talent. Just as the 'Twilight' series has spawned a myriad of imitators, so did Radcliffe's fake supernatural. All Radcliffe's creepy events are explained rationally, and as for Meyer, it turns out that vampires are really pretty sexy guys.

When published in 1794, this lengthy tale of romance and intrigue became a best-seller, reportedly the first best-seller ever. When reading it, one can very well imagine the author -- a reclusive English lady -- writing this story for her own entertainment and as a record of her own day dreams, her intimate flights of fancy.
There is no question that the sweet, suffering, intelligent, compassionate, level-headed, courageous Emily St. Aubuert of the story is the author's other self, the self she imagines herself to be. The trials she faces as her other self, she faces with courage and intelligence and outstanding patience: the loss of parents, the awful tyranny of her aunt with whom she has been placed as a ward, the terror of the Archvillain Montoni who kept her captive in the remote, ghostly castle of Udolpho and her daring escape -- all were most likely Ms. Radcliffe's day dreams set to paper. Afterall, she was childless and well-bred and in those times, there was little for a well-educated lady of her class do but to read and dream and write.
And she developed her craft grandly. Her descriptions of scenery, the locations of each set-piece of her novel are vivid and memorable. She had an eye for the sweep of detail of a landscape, a forest, a plain, a mountain and she had the talent of painting her scenes under shrouds of mystery and melancholy.
Emily's love affair with the chevalier Valancourt to whom she gave her entire capacity for love, and his betrayal of it and proof of his unworthiness, comes as a disappointment. But then, at the end there is a reconciliation and appropriate romantic solution of the problem, however unlikely.
The novel is long, too long, really. But for the era it was written, when time was more abundant, such lengths are understandable and acceptable.
It is said, with accuracy in my opinion, that this is an important novel for those who study English-American literature because it is the forerunner of the gothic novels that have earned a large modern following. And the way to read it, is not to hurry through the pages, but to relax and relish Ms. Radcliffe's marvelous descriptions which serve as delicious backdrops to her romantic melodrama.

Phew! I finally finished this book. It took me nearly three months to finish--which is ridiculous. It is an incredibly tedious read in which the heroine faints nearly once a chapter, the characters all compose absurdly florid "poetry" and 20 pages are required to describe 5 minutes of action. Since it is the prototypical over-the-top Gothic Romance, I read it for a parody of the genre I want to write. I haven't decided yet whether it was worth it. This book was incredibly popular with all the young ladies of its day, leading me to think of it as the "Twilight" of the 18th century.

Much of the "paranormal" events of the novel will seem to the modern reader to be derivative, but that is because so many of the tropes of Gothic literature originated with Radcliffe. Giving her that much credit, I have to censure her for taking an overly romantic view of life. Every scene is the most beautiful, the most moving, the most dramatic. And all the peasants are simple, sublimely happy folk in total harmony with nature. Everyone's character can be judged by his countenance, and it is always either black or white, never any shade of gray. The novel is occasionally entertaining, but has very little of value to say about the human condition.

The Mysteries of Udolpho is a fantastic book for lovers of a great gothic romance. Austen's reference to The Mysteries of Udolpho in Northanger Abbey was intriguing and led me to Radcliffe's work. Her writing is full of beautiful landscape descriptions and her character development in the first half of the novel captivates you. It is a long novel, but it keeps you in suspense until the very end and takes you on a rollercoaster ride throughout the last 100 -150 pages! The romance, gothic castles, horror, intrigue and mystery are everything you could wish for in a novel of this genre. It is a really great read and I recommend it to all.

I absolutely fell in love with this book. The prose and use of the english language is breathtaking. It's a long novel (but those are my favourite kind) but it kept me up into the wee hours to see what would happen next.

I have read it many many times, I can just choose a paragraph at radom and fall into her lyrical writing.

The ultimate gothic. READ IT!

I absolutely fell in love with this book. The prose and use of the english language is breathtaking. It's a long novel (but those are my favourite kind) but it kept me up into the wee hours to see what would happen next.

I have read it many many times, I can just choose a paragraph at radom and fall into her lyrical writing.

The ultimate gothic. READ IT!

Having an interest in Gothic literature (mostly of the horror variety), and hoping to read a novel length version of the great short stories I read in "the Oxford Book of Gothic Tales", I picked up what was supposed to be THE Gothic Novel, "The Mysteries of Udolpho".

Though Anne Radcliffe may be one of the founders of Gothic literature, I can't say that her work represents the best examples of it.

Characters are two dimensional and often hilariously so. Montoni doesn't even have enough depth to twirl his mustache. He's cruel and calculating, no redeemable qualities to be found, no intriguing facets to be had, not even a charismatic sociopath, you just hate him and his flat, tedious, generic villainy. The aunt, not much of an improvement, might as well be the evil step-mother from Cinderella. The main character Emily, is chaste and ladylike, she likes to recite her own poetry (if you thought all the songs and poems in LotR were a chore, brace yourself). She also faints at the sight of her own shadow. This becomes a running joke in the novel, except the author is being dead serious. And Valancourt, good lord, I can't imagine, even back then, that someone would ever act like this. Extremely sensitive and sentimental, he sighs, he gasps, he clutches his chest, he jumps out of his seat and paces in forlorning, I was surprised that he didn't start fainting as well.

Anne Radcliffe ascribes to "explained supernaturalism". I personally found all the reveals to the supernatural elements disappointing. I think it is partly a case of that troupe being done to death (ie. they were just crazy the whole time), but it is also because Anne way overdoes it. Most stories will only introduce one supernatural element, and it will turn out to be a major plot point. Anne just fires them out one after the other, and none of them amount to anything. One in particular was so built up, you expected some kind of Dorian Grey action, and instead what you actually got, I just laughed.

While it makes heavy use of some troupes, there are other troupes that would have actually been beneficial to it and yet wasn't used. A big climatic showdown with the villain? Nope. The love interest to the rescue? Nope. The heroine takes charge and escapes by her own wits? Nope. The whole thing was equivalent to having the villain defeated by tripping on his own shoelaces and falling down a flight of stairs, returning home to find that your knight in shinning armor had spent the whole time you were in captivity in front of the t.v watching football, and the only reason you escaped in the first place was because everyone guarding you just decided to leave.

Did I mention that all of this is heavily padded with long descriptions of scenery, dialogue about loving scenery, and thoughts about how great the scenery is?

Read Jane Eyre instead. It was inspired by this novel, but the prose, characterization, and story is far superior.

What more can one possibly ask for? Two separate haunted areas, forbidden love, murder, torture, a picture worthy of Dorian Grey, a wing of the house worthy of Rebecca, and a mystery upon mystery. The best way to describe this book is to have you think of every gothic novel's plot you have ever read, heard of, or imagined, and then remember this, it is all in there. Every single gothic plot or image is in this novel. The main character is an interesting and enjoyable character, though she and her lover do spend far too much time weeping, and one really does mean to say FAR too much. She is the exact opposite from Catherine in Nothanger Abby, except in the idea of letting their imaginations get the better of them. Still this book is the epiphany of gothic literature, and any true Jane Austen fan must read it if they truly want to enjoy Northanger Abby