Ann Radcliffe

The Romance of the Forest, published by Ann Radcliffe in 1791, inaugurated a trilogy of novels published on the threshold of the 19th century.

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.

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. 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.

`Her present life appeared like the dream of a distempered imagination, or like one of those frightful fictions, in which the wild genius of the poets sometimes delighted. Rreflections brought only regret, and anticipation terror.' Such is the state of mind in which Emily St. Aubuert - the orphaned heroine of Ann Radcliffe's 1794 gothic Classic, The Mysteries of Udolpho - finds herself after Count Montoni, her evil guardian, imprisions her in his gloomy medieval fortress in the Appenines. Terror is the order of the day inside the walls of Udolpho, as Emily struggles against Montoni's rapacious schemes and the threat of her own psychological disintegration. 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. As the same time, with its dream-like plot and hallucinatory rendering of its characters' psychological states, it often seems strangely modern: `permanently avant-garde' in Terry Castle's words, and a profound and fascinating challenge to contemporary readers. 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.

Gothic Classics presents Ann Radcliffe's archetypal gothic novel "The Mysteries of Udopho", adapted by Antonella Caputo and Carlo Vergara. This book also contains: Jane Austen's gothic parody "Northanger Abbey" by Trina Robbins and Anne Timmons; Poe's "The Oval Portrait" by Malaysian illustrator Leong Wan Kok, along with "At the Gate," a ghost story with dogs by Myla Jo Closser, illustrated by Shary Flenniken; and, J. Sheridan Le Fanu's great vampire tale "Carmilla," by Rod Lott and Lisa K. Weber. It also contains a dramatic cover painting from "Carmilla" by Lisa K. Weber.

Udolphos mysterier är ett klassiskt verk inom den gotiska litteraturen, som influerade både Marquis de Sade och E. A. Poe. Med en drömlik och hallucinatorisk blick fångar Radcliffe sina karaktärers psykologiska tillstånd och låter oss moderna läsare få en kännedom om romantikens stora gordiska knut.

Ann Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest, first published in 1791, is the epitome of the Gothic novel: a beautiful, orphaned heiress, a dashing hero, a dissolute, aristocratic villain and a ruined abbey deep in a great forest are combined by the author in a tale of suspense where danger lurks behind every secret trap-door. Reprinted four times between 1791 and 1795 and satirised as represented of the Gothic genre by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey, Radcliffe's tense masterpiece, in which the heroine is afraid even to look in the mirror for fear of what she might see behind her, established her reputation as a writer and her brilliant descriptions of both characters and scenes serve to create the perfect atmosphere for a novel packed with emotional intensity.

Udolphos mysterier är ett klassiskt verk inom den gotiska litteraturen, som influerade både Marquis de Sade och E. A. Poe. Med en drömlik och hallucinatorisk blick fångar Radcliffe sina karaktärers psykologiska tillstånd och låter oss moderna läsare få en kännedom om romantikens stora gordiska knut.