Customer Reviews

The Mysteries of Udolpho

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Though assigned to read for a Gothic Lit. class, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the story moved along quite quickly. It's an extremely easy read, even though the book is rather thick. The beginning of the plot may be thought to be a bit slow since Radcliffe is setting the scene and characters are being introduced. But after the first few hundred pages it really picks up. Some have claimed that Radcliffe was a sensational writer, using plot events to shock readers and keep them reading. Though an argument can be made, it is entirely a Gothic novel and displays all the elements that Edmund Burke elaborated on in his "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful". Radcliffe constantly refers to the Burkeian theme of finding the sublime in nature and not in the Parisian social circles which can only display a false sense of gandeur. Also the requisite Gothic castles(sometimes bordering the sea, or other "sublime" places like the mountains or wilderness, are included). There's also an underlying message of morality weaved throughout the text, and various acceptable forms of behavior are often postulated by the characters. Superstition is also explored and shown to be both dangerous and foolish.

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!