Customer Reviews

The Romance of the Forest (Oxford World's Classics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The story of a persecuted girl who is delivered from one person to another who are compelled by different motives to decide her destiny. Her beauty and refinement of character attract many to her, but only one wins her love and proves worthy of it by his noble actions.

The plots of Radcliffe's mysteries have been efficiently summarized by Russell Noyes in an introduction of 1956:

"The hero is a gentleman of noble birth, likely as not in some sort of disgrace; the heroine, an orphan-heiress, high-strung and sensitive, and highly susceptible to music and poetry and to nature in its most romantic moods. A prominent role is given to the tyrant-villain. He is a man of fierce and morose passions obsessed by the love of power and riches. The villain can usually be counted on to confine the heroine in the haunted wing of a castle because she refuses to marry someone she hates. Whatever the details, Mrs. Radcliffe generally manages the plot and action so that the chief impression is a sense of the young heroine's incessant danger. On oft-repeated midnight prowls about the gloomy passageways of a rambling, ruined castle, the heroine in a quiver of excitement (largely self-induced) experiences a series of hair-raising adventures and narrow escapes. Her emotional tension is kept to the pitch by a succession of strange sights and sounds . . . and by an assorted array of sliding panels, trap doors, faded hangings, veiled portraits, bloodstained garments, and even dark and desperate characters."

Many reviewers claim that no other Radcliffe mystery measures up to her Mysteries of Udolpho. I was hesitant to read others after reading Udolpho and loving it, but I decided not to trust the reviewers and read three more. The same beautiful descriptions, the stories within stories and the mysteries appearing and perplexing the reader, then having full explanations continued to adorn her most marvellous writings. If you want one more page-turner, you have it in this story. The literary beauty and the mysterious characters and events will keep you reading.

Today Ann Radcliff is known for two thrilling Gothic novels -- 'Mysteries of Udolpho' (1794) and 'The Italian' (1797) -- but her talent was first recognized by 'The Romance of the Forest' (1791). 'The Romance' is now obscured by the more famous works, but can still offer some thrills common in the 18th-century Gothic world in its own way.

The narrative of 'Romance' is typically set in Roman Catholic Europe, and we see a family -- La Motte and his wife -- fleeing from Paris for debt. In the middle of the deep forest, La Motte is caught by the banditti (so he thinks). But the latter would not demand money; the ruffian instead brings a young, innocent girl Adeline, and places her under the protection of the family.

The episode above is just a beginning. Next we see La Motte et al. keep on running, until they decide to settle in a remote ruined abbey in France, of which owner Marquis is away from the estate. The deserted abbey provides them a good hiding place until Adeline realizes that something is wrong with the place -- there are a rusty dagger, a faded manuscript, a trap door, strange bahavior of La Motte, who daily vanishes in the woods, etc. And when finally Marquis arrives there in person, she must face another danger, typically Gothic situation for an innocent lady.

If you have read Radcliff, you find in 'Romance of the Forest' her distict touch here and there, which she was to develop in her later works. Besides the trademark tricks of Gothic fiction (which is to be parodied in 'Northanger Abbey'), we see Radcliff's obsession with the "sublime" landscapes, and her heroine is always allowed to escape from the dangers, only to frequently faint later. Lengthy poems are often quoated to express the sentiment of her and the writer, and the identities of some characters are revealed in the final act in order to solve the problems as rewards for the good.

Though Ann Radcliff has shown considerable skills of presenting thrills, the novel gets weaker in the third (and final) book, in which Adeline has virtually nothing to do. One strange thing is (from the viewpoint of us today, I mean) that portions of the third book are devoted to her travel, far from 'The Forest,' partly written as if it is a book of travel literature. And because of the too many characters rather carelessly introduced, the conclusion suffers from the complex (and often confusing) relations between them. So who is this sinister Marquis after all? Like the ending of 'Oliver Twist' the book explains too hastily, and you need to stop and think a while.

Good as it is, generally 'Romance of the Forest' is not regarded as Ann Radcliff's best, and probably it remains so in the future. And it even ceases to be a Gothic novel in the fianl section, in which the heroine, who should be in distress trapped in the distant castle somewhere in the Alps, leaves the dark forest far behind, and is allowed to look at the sunset in the sea and read a poem.or two. So if you want a genuinely Gothic version of Radcliff's novels, you should read 'The Italian' first.

I admire the way in which the authoress took all of her threads at the end and made them part of a carpet intricate in design. The heroine was lovable, but the romance between her and her lover was too restrictive and cold that I was often disappointed with it and not convinced, all though perhaps it suits the stereotype of the times, but I doubt I could ever keep my feelings so hidden. Despite my many qualms with the book, it was often exciting, and I do credit Radcliffe's ability to set words on paper. It is a perfect example of the gothic genre.

I didn't love this book with the fervent devotion I love her Mysteries of Udolpho or The Italian, you can tell it was one of her first. Radcliffe's writing improved immensely. I wouldn't start out with this book, read Mysteries of Udolpho first!

I am a die hard fan of Radcliffe's, this is another excellent and grand novel.

This edition of the novel, unlike the older Oxford edition, includes absolutely no information about the novel. From what printing is this edition taken, for example? No introduction, no footnotes or glosses--nothing at all to help students read this novel.

But what is far more annoying are the deliberate OMISSIONS OF TEXT! A total of five chapters are missing, described as "tedious" and summarized briefly. Also, though Ann Radcliffe selected epigraphs for each chapter before the novel's 1791 publication, none of these are included, despite being rather interesting and insightful.

All in all, this edition is ridiculously bad as a scholarly text and not much better as entertainment, since the missing chapters really DO contribute to the enjoyment of the plot and characterization! Teaching with this edition is a nightmare.

I enjoyed this book. It seemed a bit slow to get going but when it did, I couldn't put it down. When I got to the high point of the story I was anxious to read on and find out what the fate of poor Adeline would be.(The suspense kept me going).
I don' want to give the plot away but, while reading this book I enjoyed the story about the La Motte family. If you like suspense and a bit of turmoil and agony that goes with a gothic tale then read this book! You'll wonder why you didn't read it before.
I gave this book 4 stars because some of the text has typos but otherwise well worth the effort.

I had very mixed feelings about this one- the story itself was sometimes very interesting, but there were also some really annoying aspects to it.

For one thing, Adeline (the heroine) is so excruciatingly perfect that sometimes I just wanted to slap her upside the head. She is stunningly beautiful, ridiculously intelligent, and on top of that, she never has anything less than an entirely virtuous motive for any action she takes (or lack thereof). Apparently Mrs. Radcliffe was not aware that pictures of perfection make most people sick and wicked, not sympathetic. On top of this, as another review pointed out, she cries at a drop of a hat. I am myself rather sensitive, but there were times that it got fairly ridiculous.
Another annoyance was that there were several hackneyed plot ideas that really shouldn't have been used- the worst being the tired device of a character suddenly being found to be of noble birth and great fortune near the end. I don't know why this is a popular plot twist, but it seems to add little to the story as a whole.

The third was the overuse of poetry and descriptions of scenery. Having read The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian, I thought I would be prepared for this, but there were times in The Romance of the Forest that I got so fed up that I skipped these parts to get back to the main story. I can understand a little bit here and there, but there were portions that it went on for several pages at a time.

So why have I given it a three, then? Because there were also several things that somewhat redeemed it. Peter, La Motte's servant, was a delightful character, and I thought it was very unfair of Adeline and La Motte (the latter especially) to constantly be belittling him since it wasn't his fault he was not very bright. La Luc was also an endearing character, as were Theodore and Louis. I also liked Madame La Motte because she was more of a mixed character than any of the others- she had both good and bed qualities, unusual in Radcliffe's works.

So all in all, I would say that though there were many frustrations, the novel was not with its charms as well.

I am only partly through the book, but so far am loving it. However, there are numerous flaws with this digital edition. All dashes, French city names, and other symbols have been replaced with an N with a tilde. Additionally, there are multiple formatting errors, and often s's are replaced by f's, so many of the lest's are incorrectly rendered as left's. though the book is engaging, these flaws make it frustrating to read.

The first chapters of this gothic romance deal with the misfortunes of a Mr. La Motte and his wife. He has to run away from the city to avoid being imprisoned for debts. In their journey they meet the lovely and quintessential gothic heroine, Adeline, in very strange circumstances, that will be explained in the next chapters.
From the beginning there are beatiful landscape descriptions, and an all pervading feeling of sadness, despair, and melancholy. The characters are uncertain about their safety, and their future, so they are unhappy.
Mrs. La Motte and Adeline, feel the pangs of loneliness. Maybe this is a book about loneliness, and the way people feel about it. Like most horror and fantasy books, it is a book about loneliness.
Mrs. Radcliffe creates an atmosphere of uncertainty, nobody really knows what is going to happen, and they always wait for the worst. The greatest terror is the terror of uncertainty, when everything people consider stable and firm, start to collapse. When things fall apart.
I particullary liked when Adeline, while talking to Mr. La Motte, said that people can extract comfort from most situations. Even in a desperate moment, it is possible to find pleasure and forgetfulness, appreciating a quiet and peaceful place or relaxing in a lovely scenary, instead of always concentrating on your problems, or misfortunes.
People, do not have to suffer the cloud of sorrow to tinge every object they look upon, - said Adeline-. Was not she right? Adeline always found comfort, in the contemplation of nature. Mrs. Radcliffe insists that people may find relief to their sorrows, contemplating a sublime place, or inmersing in nature.
Mr. LaMotte and his family settled in an abandoned abbey, surrrounded by a thick wood, and a deserted countryside. A beautiful, and - at the same time - dreary place.
Typical of this genre, the abbey has many recesses, secret chambers, cells, and apparently, a ghost. It seems that somebody dissapeared in the derelict abbey, a long time ago, in strange circumstances, and his spectre haunts the place. These facts succeed in creating a gloomy, melancholy and dreary atmosphere. A manuscript is found in one of the many recesses, that may explain what really happened in the abbey, and who were responsible for the misdeeds.
There are some good sonnets interspersed in the text, like one dedicated to fancy, that may help people to forget their misfortunes, or some other dedicated to the night, and to a lilly.
More disgraces await poor Adeline, she had to find out that people are not always what they seem to be. That certain persons she considered friends are not real friends. But in spite of her dissapointments, she still keeps faith in the goodness of humanity. She does not want to become a bitter person, who does not trust anybody, just because some people deceived her. With time, Adeline will learn that people may repent, and never are completely bad.
The moods and feelings of Adeline, - fear, dispair, terror, etc.- sometimes correspond to alteration in weather.
When she is afraid, there are violents storms, gusts, etc. It is as if her feelings were related with nature, and her gloomy moods are reflected outside. It is a way to enhance the feeling the writer wanted her readers to experience.
It is a book for people fond of gothic fiction. In spite of the naive plot, and somewhat idealized characters.

France, 1640s. Adeline has had a difficult life. After her mother dies, her father places her in a convent, where, in misery, she begs him to release her. When he finally acquiesces, it is to imprison her inside a shabby home. Then, without logic or explanation, she is sent off with a family that is passing by. Monsieur La Motte, along with his wife and two servants, has fled Paris after he resorts to a life of crime in order to pay his many debts. He accepts to care for Adeline. They find the perfect hiding place: an abandoned abbey in a forest. They try to live a semi-normal life in the ruins -- until the Marquis de Montalt, lord of the abbey, comes along and ruins everything. The marquis' appearance, along with the findings of a skeleton, a manuscript and hidden passages within the abbey, sets off a string of bizarre events and enormous revelations that have Adeline risk not only her virtue but also her life.

First published in 1791, The Romance of the Forest began a trend of gothic novels that is still enjoyed today. Ann Radcliffe had very likely inspired authors like Emily and Charlotte Bronte, who in turn inspired Elizabeth Gaskell, Daphne du Maurier, Mary Stewart and others. The dark language and romanticism of the novel's setting of seventeenth century France enthralled me from beginning to end. The marquis is a despicable character, La Motte is not much better, and you fall in love with Theodore and feel sorry for Louis. The best part about the story is the narrative. Radcliffe describes scenery, mood and suspense with a romantic air that is difficult to resist. She even sprinkles the narrative with poems and sonnets. They do become tedious after a while though, and I admit to have skipped through some of them. I was confused through a major chunk of the novel, but, of course, everything makes perfect sense when the author ties all loose ends toward the end. The mystery is very well woven and there are some very surprising twists and turns in the story. The narrative does drag at times, especially during the middle of volume three, but it gets better toward the end, where is so riveting that you cannot wait to see how it all unfolds. All in all, The Romance of the Forest is a wonderful piece of classic gothic literature. The only Radcliffe I had read before this was The Italian, and now I cannot wait to reread that, but not before I read The Mysteries of Udolpho. Now THAT I cannot wait to get my hands on! Just call me a new Ann Radcliffe fan.