Ann Radcliffe | Author Spotlight

[@discoveralia]

I like your up beat tone. Even though you didn't speak very much about the author you made me want to read her novels.

[@mark-madison]

thank you for a very good commentary and analysis !

[@anjie5423]

I’m reading the Mysteries of Udolpho now! 😂 I’ll reread NAbbey after finishing! Love your delivery…so cheerful, and I can sense your whimsy! Subscribed!

[@GraemeBell9864]

Oops! Wrong Radcliffe. I expected Harry Potter references.

[@colleencupido5125]

Your video is a lot of fun. I haven't yet started The Mysteries of Udolpho or The Italian, but I now have copies of both. Like you, I first heard her name in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. On Amazon for Kindle(I don't have one) is The Horrid novels, mentioned by name by Isabella to Catherine. It was long thought Jane Austen merely made those books and authors up, but now we know those were real books. You also mentioned old scary movies that didn't gross out an audience. In a terrific documentary Universal Horror about the movies of Universal studios way back when movies were in there infancy, there is a priceless clip of Ray Bradbury, born in 1920, seeing the silent Phantom of the Opera of Lon Chaney with his older brother. On the dark walk home from the theater, near a ravine, his brother came out of nowhere to purposely scare him. Ray Bradbury ran screaming and crying home where his father then " beat the hell out of my brother"

[@lynnem7595]

This was fantastic! You really hit on what makes a novel Gothic. I just read the romance of the forest. We are doing it for our upcoming book group and I am the discussion leader. I have been surfing the net to try to find all things Radcliffe and came across your review. Not sure when you filmed this but was wondering if you now have read the romance of the forest? I really enjoyed it!

[@LuminousLibro]

Sounds like a great book group! Most of the book clubs in my area are not interested in reading classics.... which is why I'm not IN any book clubs. haha! I still have not read Romance of the Forest yet, but it is definitely on my list. Is it the first Radcliffe you have read? I really recommend Mysteries of Udolpho for new Radcliffe readers. It is great!

[@pavelusa3423]

Stupendous my dear.you put Ann on the map..for that I'm grateful.. I first learned about her though none other than the great marquis de sade. I myself have not as of yet gotten around to reading anything by her but your take on her writings would inspire anybody. I'm 76 and still going quite strong but for how long. Thanks a million for that and I fund out about a French man paul courier who was quite an interesting character in his time just after Ann.. c ja

[@schlotheim]

I'd like to add that Add Radcliffe also wrote some beautiful poetry. Below is just one of her poems: Dear, wild illusions of creative mind! Whose varying hues arise to Fancy's art, And by her magic force are swift combin'd In forms that please, and scenes that touch the heart: Oh! whether at her voice ye soft assume The pensive grace of sorrow drooping low; Or rise sublime on terror's lofty plume, And shake the soul with wildly thrilling woe; Or, sweetly bright, your gayer tints ye spread, Bid scenes of pleasure steal upon my view, Love wave his purple pinions o'er my head, And wake the tender thought to passion true; O! still-ye shadowy forms! attend my lonely hours, Still chase my real cares with your illusive powers!'

[@LuminousLibro]

Wow! That's beautiful. Just as good as anything Keats wrote, that's for sure. I had no idea she wrote poetry! I'll have to look it up and read some. Thank you for sharing that lovely poem!

[@schlotheim]

Glad to hear you liked it. For me it was also a revelation she wrote poetry. I found this poem when reading The Romance of the Forest. Raddcliffe inserted several of her poems in the plot of the story. At least three of them I really liked and it's true they can be compared to those of Keats. While Jane Austen definately had great sense of humor, Ann Radcliffe possessed a great poetic talent. As for her poems from The Romance of the Forest, I specially liked one called "Night". Look it up.

[@colleencupido5125]

@@LuminousLibro The real poet John Keats very much admired Ann Radcliffe for her beautiful descriptions of natural settings

[@miranda8598]

@@LuminousLibro I just read Udolpho. It was great.

[@Charles-Anthony]

Thanks for your review of Ann Radcliffe. Radcliffe is definitely one of my favourite authors. Like you, I discovered Radcliffe by reading Emma and Northanger Abbey. I just _had_ to go out and buy her books. I've read four of her six novels, and I happen to have the final two (The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, and Gaston de Blondeville) coming in the mail, and I can't wait to read them. If you haven't read The Romance of the Forest and A Sicilian Romance yet, I highly urge you to read them: you won't regret it. But as for your statement that her plots are outlandish and highly improbable, I do agree; however, those coincidences and improbabilities should not sully one's opinions of the works. All of the great writers wrote like that! Dickens's plots were just as improbable and yet we regard them as brilliant (and such they were), and we should _do the same for Ann Radcliffe_. You just gave me the idea to search the web for scholars' opinions of her works. I'm kind of scared of what I might find, though. She deserves to be more widely known and read; and I personally think that she should be regarded as one of our literary giants, alongside Dickens, the Bronte sisters, and Shakespeare (the negative opinions of critics, notwithstanding).

[@LuminousLibro]

AWinterDemise Thanks for your thoughtful comment! In regards to plots being improbable or predictable, I try to keep in mind that these authors (Dickens and Radcliffe and others) were writing the first works of their kind. Radcliffe basically invented and defined Gothic literature, so although we might be able to predict her plot now, when it was first published it was the only one of it's kind. The reason it feels familiar to us is because so many authors since then have copied her same techniques and ideas. She really was revolutionary in her era!I am excited to read more of Radcliffe, and I'll have to do another video about the next books I read! Thanks for watching! Happy Reading!

[@amitasangeet2913]

Hello, thank you for your great review on Ms Radcliffe’s books. My attention was also drawn to her through Jane Austen novels as well as the fictional interview between her and Ms Austen in the movie ‘On becoming Jane’. Being myself also a lover of poetry, I browsed through some of Ann Radcliffe’s poems, that by many accounts, are supposedly not as good in quality as her fiction. I must say though that the meter, rhyme and language have a melodious quality and are in themselves enjoyable despite the content not having (in my humble view) particularly deep meaning. I’m also curious to know how she developed such eloquence of language and style at a time when women writers had limited education. Perhaps a library of books available in her own home?

[@AETorrePuerto]

Well, Quixote also has that kind of over the top coincidences. Udolpho is basically a surviviors manual for girls. But it did lead me to do a little research into the virtues and ended up adding to my personal set of values

[@captainnolan5062]

There is also "The Sicilian Romance" by Radcliffe

[@leovolont]

Yeah, this video goes a ways back, but there was a reason why Jane Austen tossed out a mention of "The Romance of the Forest". I read them all and while "The Italian" was significantly different from all the rest, and ties for being the best of all, "The Romance of the Forest" is the best of the usual Ann Radcliffe formula. So if you only had to read two of her books, go with "The Romance of the Forest" was the best of her most representative works, and "The Italian" to see how she was able to grow as an author and reach beyond herself with great success.

[@robynfindley7623]

Good reviews. I have mysteries of udolpho but i have yet to read it and am looking forward to reading it. And

[@je1suis1julz]

Northanger Abbey was the first Austen I read as a young teen, and our copy at home also included The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Udolpho. After reading Northanger Abbey, I had to read The Mysteries of Udolpho because I wanted to know what the hype was all about haha. I remember enjoying it but disliking the characters. I can't really remember any of the plot now though! I really enjoyed this video, Kailey. It was a really interesting focus for discussion.

[@LuminousLibro]

Thanks! I also was frustrated with the characters in Mysteries of Udolpho. I wanted to tell the women, "If you would stop fainting every time someone sneezes in your direction, maybe you could figure out the mystery! Grow a little backbone, make your own decisions, and defend yourself!" But in those days, it was the fashion to wait around for a prince to rescue you. Not much female empowerment in the olden times. Still, the story is wonderful!

[@Paul1970]

Thoughtful review. Thanks for posting. I think today we often overlook the fact that in her time her literary devices were indeed revolutionary. Her works have never gone out of print, which in itself says something.

[@LuminousLibro]

+Paul 1970 Yes! Her writing then influenced so many other generations of writers. People don't realize what an impact she had on literature. Thank you for your comment!

[@StragusLore]

It's a great review. By the way, she has a sixth book called A Sicilian Romance. It was her second novel, published in 1790. It's pretty good and definitely worth checking out.

[@LuminousLibro]

+N Alison I know! I forgot about Sicilian Romance when I was making the video. It's on my TBR though! Thanks!

[@StragusLore]

Yeah I noticed after posting that someone else had already covered that. It's a pretty decent book. If you like horror classics, check out, Eliza Parsons, Francis Lathom and Elizabeth Bonhote. Melmoth the Wanderer is convoluted but it's a great read as well. My list of TBR is so long.

[@evaderidder9394]

Hey :). I don't think you have mentioned 'A Sicilian Romance'. Radcliffe wrote 6 novels, not 5. 'A Sicilian Romance' was her second one, after 'The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne'. I haven't read it myself, but I am planning to read it some day, but for now, I am kind of tired of her novels :p, as I am writing my master thesis on Radcliffe. So far, I have read The Romance of the Forest, The mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian, which I all liked, but I didn't like The Italian as much as the other two. You're right about her style and characters, and I really loved how the heroines are examples of 'sensibility', as in Jane Austen's novels. As you say in one of the comments below, it can be frustrating, but I kind of read it like a parody sometimes, so I just laughed when one of the female protagonists fainted again. Love that. I hope to read some other Gothic novels in the near future, like The Castle of Otranto. Thanks for your video!

[@LuminousLibro]

Wow, thank you so much! I'm kind of nervous now, since a "master thesis" writer is watching my vids! Agh. I probably missed "Sicilian Romance" because it's one I don't own. Forgot all about it, since it's not on my shelf. haha!Thanks for all your kind words! I would love to hear from you about other Gothic novels too.

[@lynnem7595]

Consider yourself invited! We love having new members. Our official title is the becoming Jane Austen book club. We commenced in 2007 and read all of Austens novels. We stayed together and kept reading the classics! Our unofficial motto is no motorcars. If the book has cars, it's too modern. Last month we read Evelina by Francis Burney. Next month is the romance of the forest. This was my first Redcliffe novel, although two other club members have already read the mysteries of Udolpho. I watched a few other videos on your site and love your reviews. You are so well read. Is there a way I can search through your KZbin videos to see if you've done a particular book or author? I would really like to use your reviews as a resource for each book that we discussed in our group.

[@LuminousLibro]

Thank you for those kind words! You could always search through my Goodreads books to see what I've been reading. Anything I read after Sept 2013 will be in a video somewhere. I have a similar view of classics; my cutoff year is usually 1914. Anything before WWI could be a classic. I have another Fanny Burney book on my TBR list, "Cecilia". Not sure when I'll pick it up though. God Bless!

[@sallybee19]

Love it. Thank you!

[@CarolynsReadingRamblings]

I am making a book order right now and I am debating which to start with and I'm debating mainly between Mysteries of Udolpho or Romance of the Forest, I know you haven't read the latter yet but have you heard which people liked more? I am having trouble finding reviews on Booktube to help make my decision. Excellent video!

[@CarolynsReadingRamblings]

also I realize that by now you may have read romance of the Forest since I am so late getting to this video lol.

[@LuminousLibro]

Actually I still haven't read Romance of the Forest, so I can't compare them. But I can tell you that Mysteries of Udolpho is wonderful!

[@JGalBel]

Hello! I'm from Europe and I have to do a work about Ann Radcliffe to my university. Thanks for this video, it has helped a lot to me! Keep reading, huggs! Jaime

[@LuminousLibro]

Thanks you, Jaime! I'm glad that this video was helpful to you. Good luck with your classes in university!

[@MadDogRebecca]

Thanks SO much for sharing this Kailey! It has given me a bit more info on Radcliffe and her writing's. You have convinced me, you just might see one of her books in my possession one day. xD

[@LuminousLibro]

Excellent! She's a wonderful writer for her time, and I have loved discovering her books. I KNOW you will love them!

[@AMindNeedsBooks]

Great video, was really interesting to hear your thoughts. I haven't actually read any Radcliffe yet, but I'm a huge Austen girl so I really want to. I'm actually writing both of my final undergrad essays on Austen right now, one of them on Northanger Abbey and how she deals with gender and reading- which is just Austen at her best really because on the surface she seems to be mocking Catherine, when really she's shown to be right in her mistrust of General Tilney- he is shown to be a domestic tyrant after all- kinda sounds a bit like Radcliffe in a way, where supernatural is superseded by 'real' dangers/ 'rational' explanation- though from the critical reading I've been doing there might be something to that in Radcliffe too- obviously I haven't read it, but perhaps, as well as the general disdain towards women's writing and novels in the period (*which I'm sure had nothing to do with men being worried about women dominating the literary sphere in the period at all*) and an attempt to distance herself from that, maybe she's also saying something about the very real dangers women faced in this period- they weren't supernatural, but very real? Oh but the women fainting- I actually have just been reading Austen's Juvenilia, and there is a fantastic parody of that trope in her short story Love and Friendship.

[@LuminousLibro]

Sounds great! I agree that there can be a fine line between an author seeming to make fun of their characters but then vindicating them too, proving them right, and showing the true dangers they face. I would love to read Austen's Juvenilia. I wonder if I could find it on Gutenberg. Thanks for your insightful comment!

[@Elwood_McCable]

Not "Let's Talk About Anne Radcliffe", but "Let's Talk Radcliffe". I'll lose nothing in passing this by before viewing. I might not garner Lovecraft thumbs or false feminist thumbs, but there isn't any loss.