Ann Radcliffe
(London, the July 9th 1764 - the
February 7th 1823), only daughter of William and Ann Ward, is a British novelist , pionničre of the Roman
Gothic (of English gothic bruises ).
Ann Radcliffe was born in Holborn, with London, it marries in 1788 William Radcliffe,
a graduate of Oxford and studying in right. It leaves its profession to be
devoted to the literature, and becomes then owner and editor of the newspaper The English Chronicle . The couple does not
have children. To occupy itself, Mrs. Radcliffe starts to write fictions,
tendency encouraged by her husband.
She publishes the Castles of Athlin
and Dunbayne ( The Castles off Athlin and Dunbayne
) in 1789. This book gives the tone essentially its work, which puts in
scene innocent and heroic young women confronted with mysterious barons with
last dark in disasters castles.
Its books are then very popular
in the aristocracy and the rising middle-class, in particular among the young
women. One can note the sicilian Lovesong ( The Sicilian Romance ) in 1790, the Lovesong of
the forest ( The Romance off
the Forest ) in 1791, the
Mysteries of Udolphe ( The Mysteries off Udolpho ) in 1794,
and the Italian ( The Italian ) in 1796.
She dies on February 7th, 1823 of
respiratory problems probably caused by a Pneumonie.
Its thoughts on its own work and
the time appear in 1826 pennies the title intrigant On the supernatural one in poetry ,
by late Mrs. Ann Radcliffe. It is a serious work and a reading of good value.
Posterity
The success of the Lovesong of
the Forest had made of Ann Radcliffe the spearhead of the Roman Gothic.
Its following novels were accepted with much attention and had many imitateurs, in particular (in parodic
form) Jane Austen with Northanger
Abbey. They also influenced the work of authors like Sir Walter Scott
and Mary Wollstonecraft (feminist philosopher and mother of Mary Shelley).
On the continent also, it had the
reputation to be at the origin of the Gothic novel. Paul Féval
mentions his name in a news, the Vampire :
Anne Radcliffe, sinks it mother of so
many mysteries and of so much of terrors, was then in all the glare of this
vogue which gave the shiver to Europe.
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Academic year
2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
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