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Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne: A Highland Story

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The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne was published in 1989, that fatidic year, and it marked the arrival of Ann Radcliffe upon the English literary stage. Here we find the orgy of gothic drama, such as family-inherited feuds, cases of mistaken identity, aborted fantasies and a mood of passionate abandon. However this specific short novel, (roughly more than 100 pages) differs in its setting from later writings of the queen of Goth. Here we are ensconced in the melancholy beauty of the Scottish Highlands. The castle itself manages to become the focal point of romantic sublimity. In this novella Radcliffe also disavows the use of marvelous supernatural effect, without however dismissing the mysterious flush that is pervasive in all her works.
It is a critical convention today to deem the explosion of popularity of gothic literature as a reaction to the French Revolution. The maligned aristocrats, the proud passions, persecuted maidens, moldering castles, the bleak irruption of terror, all seems to be related to the French Revolution. Hence the particular place of this short read, since it was published prior to the events that led to the Days of Terror in France, and the unease across Europe.
Ann Radcliffe influenced every aspect of 18th century literature, including the drama of romantic jostling of Jane Austen and the heroic rakish verse of Lord Byron. Perhaps it may well be staked that no one, save for Walter Scott, has played such a determining role in English lit and the evolution of the novel.
Scholars, gothic enthusiasts, those seeking an absorbing good story, should do well to grab a copy, since it is shorter than Udolpho but just as representative, influential and enchanting.