A Book By A Female Author

The Mysteries of Udolpho came within pages of being the third book off one of my reading lists that was left unfinished. Ann Radcliffe's novel relating the ordeals of Emily St. Aubert is an exasperating slog which taxes your patience through the tedious repetition of mundane details intended to elicit sympathy for her melancholy protagonist and multiple ineffective attempts to create mystery by the withholding of crucial facts by an otherwise intrusive narrator.

The first hundred pages of the book see Emily lose both parents in a manner more akin to batteries draining than the effects of disease, as well as Valancourt, the man who wins her lifelong affection despite the lack of meaningful interaction between them leading up to her infatuation. Her tearful brooding over these tragedies occupies all her spare time during this period.

After fulfilling her father's dying wish by burning his secret letters, Emily is placed in the care of her aunt, the first of several characters masquerading as wealthy while seeking to enrich themselves through favorable marriages to someone of actual wealth. Forced to travel from her native France to Venice, Emily is stalked by Count Morano, another charlatan who is so besotted with Emily that he forgets he is royalty and she nothing. His repeated proposals are enthusiastically supported by her aunt's villainous husband Montoni, who conceives to force Emily to wed the Count despite her strenuous objections. In the first but not last unbelievable turn of events, Emily unwittingly agrees to wed Morano while believing she is discussing a different topic.

On the morning before her coerced nuptials, Emily is again forced to flee in the company of her aunt and uncle, this time to Udolpho castle, where she and her aunt are held prisoner by Montoni and his despicable henchmen. During her captivity, she sees a sight so horrible she faints but tells no one what it is, including the reader and alternates between brooding over her lost love Valancourt, investigating the mysterious music and singing outside her window, and vacillating whether to sign over her birth right to Montoni in exchange for her freedom.

Unfortunately, you are only halfway through the novel at this point, and have another three hundred pages of—among myriad other nuisances—Emily's constant tears, tiresome references to her father's mysterious letters and the sight at Udolpho that caused Emily to faint, a chateau haunted by mysterious music and singing (yes, again) and a dying, disreputable nun with a secret upon which the whole novel turns.

Most disappointing about The Mysteries of Udolpho is that it is actually an entertaining and ultimately redeeming story ruined by the way Radcliffe goes about supposedly building mystery and suspense through tiresome repetition of known and uninteresting facts (which adds a significant number of unnecessary pages) and summarizing events she should have instead spent time narrating, as well as swooping in like Agatha Christie's Poirot to reveal—in two unsatisfying pages near the very end of the book—the mystery of Emily's father's letters and the horrid sight at Udolpho. If that is typical of the gothic style, this will be my only venture into the genre.

If you keep in mind the era this novel was written in, the level of sophistication of readers of the time and perhaps the lack of entertainment alternatives that would leave readers no choice but to tolerate writing of this nature, you might enjoy this book more than I did. ( )

The Mysteries of Udolpho was published on May 1794. The book introduces to the readers the Gothic genre: terror, castles, supernatural events, and many pictures of landscapes: cliffs in moonlight, or beneath the shade of tree (obscurity), or the Power of Nature.



Description of landscapes:



‘The deep repose of the scene, the rich scents, that floated on the breeze, the grandeur of the wide horizon and of the clear blue arch, soothed and gradually elevated her mind to that sublime complacency, which renders the vexations of this world so insignificant and mean in our eyes, that we wonder they have had power for a moment to disturb us. Emily forgot Madame Cheron and all the circumstances of her conduct, while her thoughts ascended to the contemplation of those numbered worlds, that lie scattered in the depths of aether, thousands of them hid from human eyes, and almost beyond the flight of human fancy.’



Supernatural events:



‘Dark power! with shuddering, meek submitted thoughts. Be mine to read the visions old which thy awakening bards have told, And, lest they meet my blasted view, Hold each strange tale devoutly true.’



Darkness:



‘A fresher air came to her face, as she unclosed the door, which opened upon the east rampart, and the sudden current had nearly extinguished her light, which she now removed to a distance; and again, looking out upon the obscure terrace, she perceived only the faint outline of the walls and of some towers, while, above, heavy clouds, borne along the wind, seemed to mingle with the stars, and wrap the night in thicker darkness.’



Towards light:



‘But soon, even this light faded fast, and the scenery assumed a more tremendous appearance, invested with the obscurity of twilight. Where the torrent had been seen, it was now only heard; where the wild cliffs had displayed every variety of form and attitude, a dark mass of mountains now alone appeared; and the vale, which far, far below had opened its dreadful chasm, the eye could no longer fathom. A melancholy gleam still lingered on the summits of the highest Alps, overlooking the deep repose of evening, and seeming to make the stillness of the hour more awful.’

( )

Traded someone for it at the Alien cafe circa 2001-2.

Written in the 18th century but set over 200 years earlier in the 16th, this gothic romance feels like an Arthurian fairy tale. I wouldn’t have been surprised to encounter banners and pennants streaming from medieval castles.

The Mysteries of Udolpho is the story of Emily St. Aubert and her classic gothic journey, both literal (it seemed like half of the story took place in a carriage) and figurative. All the gothic elements are present: the heroine is good and beautiful, the man she loves is good and beautiful, the landscape is rugged and beautiful, the castle and its villain are menacing and not beautiful.

Reviews on Goodreads pan this work for its repetitive, scripted style; they don’t take into account the context of its genre and time. Radcliffe knew how to set a mood, and she was popular- so popular that this book plays a signifigant role in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. My review awards high marks for the world she created; rating for plot and character rated average as neither element was particularly original.

I’m nothing if not an escapist reader, and I have been known to jump into any part of this story if I need to get out of the 21st century for a while. I listened to Librivox’s free, volunteer-read audiobook; you can read more about the book when you click on the link. Librivox has several of Radcliffe’s other works available as well. ( )

3.5 rounded up.

Ye Gads! I started this book back in July, had to table it, and started over the first week in December. Still took me a month to finish. I have to say, what Ms. Radcliffe could have used the most in her writing career was the services of a good editor. I can appreciate long descriptive passages, but how many in depth descriptions of someone collapsing into tears does one need. By halfway through the book, she could have just said "Emily wept" and I would have known she was collapsed on the floor and near fainting.

It is hard to put a finger on why this twisting, convoluted, over-populated work works, but it does. By the time the characters finally reached Udolpho, I was hooked and wanted to see where it was going and how on earth Radcliffe was going to tie up all these loose ends. There were so many threads, it was hard to keep track of which Baron, Count or Chevalier was being followed or accused. There were all the likely Gothic contrivances, castles with corridors beyond end and parts of houses not seen in 20 years, ghosts populating the peasant minds, mysterious music, hidden villainies and secrets. There was Snidely Whiplash, poor little Nell and Dudley Do-Right, ugh I mean Montoni, Emily and Valencourt. Perhaps knowing it was the first time made these stereotypes a little more palatable.

In any case, I did enjoy it once I was fully committed and I am glad to have it checked off my list of books I want/need to read. If you are thinking of reading it, I caution you to settle in for a story that can be laborious at times, thrilling at times, and funny in places that it clearly does not intend to be. Enjoy. ( )