Customer Reviews

The Castle of Wolfenbach: A German Story (Gothic Classics)

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A long-forgotten Gothic tale by a writer who seems to have amused Jane Austen. The young heroine, who's pluckier than you might expect, spends her time exploring (seemingly) haunted castles and fleeing from an incestuously motivated uncle. At first the prose seems ridiculously stilted - no writing teacher seems ever to have told the author to "show, not tell" - and the high ideals and sentimentality of the nobler characters, who burst into tears on every other page, is a bit of a stretch. But there's something refreshing about reading a work by someone who believed strongly in good and evil, and in the possibility of redemption and forgiveness for even the most blackened and depraved of sinners. If you like the period, and you can stomach melodrama, it's not a bad read. The introduction gives some insights into the changing attitudes toward marriage that fuel the story's themes. Nicely produced by Valancourt Press (long may they prosper!).

This certainly is a delightful "horrid novel," as it is termed in Austen's _Northanger Abbey_. Blood, guts, and gore pique interest in the first few pages. Pirates and scoundrels keep up the intrigue throughout. Because this edition follows the initial printing of the novel, the lack of paragraphing and awkward punctuation means rereading some of the sections for clarity; it is worth it. The plot is fun and sordid (the moralizing nationalism is entertaining too).

A fun read. Thanks Valancourt Books.

I enjoyed almost every minute of this book, although it was in dubious taste even in its day, a best seller written to meet the demand of late eighteenth-century readers for bloody deeds, virtuous victims and aristocratic madmen.

Jane Austen ridiculed it, among other gothic novels, in Northanger Abbey, in which her well-bred young lady characters devour "horrid mysteries."

Eliza Parsons had a good excuse for being "horrid." After the financial ruin and death of her husband, she was the sole support of her eight children. Her books had to make money.

The Castle of Wolfenbach is felt to be one of her best productions. There are two parallel stories of women shockingly oppressed by men: the middle-aged but still lovely Countess of Wolfenbach who's been locked up in her husband's castle for eighteen years due to his insane jealousy; and the even lovelier young orphan, Mathilda Weimar, who's fled her home to avoid being raped by her creepy uncle.

Mathilda, though prone to tears and fainting fits, is courageous, rational, high-principled and refined. On her flight she ends up resting at the Castle of Wolfenbach, where she's seized with a desire to explore the notorious haunted rooms. This daring act precipitates a great variety of terrible and marvelous events.

The reader can look forward to dastardly intrigues, violent murders, frustrated lovers, catty scenes in high society, chilling deathbed confessions, fortunes lost and found - and a great deal of dashing all over Europe and England and as far off as Tunisia.

The excellent introduction sees this novel as an important historical document revealing "the fears, beliefs and prejudices of its era." For that reason, and as a fun experience of eighteenth-century escapism, I highly recommend The Castle of Wolfenbach.

The first few pages were interesting, but fell short after the "ghost" was discovered. The remaining 3/4ths of the book is about how two women conquered their woes through their virtuousness. I love Jane Austen's books, which is why I purchased this one out of curiosity. Unfortunately for me, it was definitely a horrid tale.