The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

Nevertheless Radcliffe’s novels and her technique of the supernatural explained have been and still are heavily criticised, not only by modern literary critics. Several editions of her books and a 500 pound salary paid by her publisher George Robinson, an immense sum for the time, might be proof. Ann Radcliffe has become famous for this method, that is for “a sequence of evasions and withdrawls, condluding with long-subsequent explanations.” Radcliffe developed the technique of the so-called ‘supernatural explained’ and became famous for this device a device that was well received in her times and made her one of the most famous novelists of her age. The reader is left baffled as to what caused Emily all this pain and has to resort to guesswork, only to find out that she had simply seen a wax figure, shaped like a human being who was tortured to death. Whatever Emily, the main character in Ann Radcliffe’s novel The Mysteries of Udolpho, might have perceived behind that black veil will not be revealed for several hundred pages. She paused again, and then, with a timid hand, lifted the veil but instantly let it fall – perceiving that what it had concealed was no picture, and, before she could leave the chamber, she dropped senseless on the floor.

She then hastily entered the chamber, and went towards the picture, which appeared to be enclosed in a frame of uncommon size, that hung in a dark part of the room.

This brought to her recollection the veiled picture, which had attracted her curiosity on the preceeding night, and she resolved to examine it. A new Approach: Terry Castle’s “The Spectralization of the Other” Recent Reception of Radcliffe’s work: Praise and Critiqueĥ. Contemporary Reception of Radcliffe’s work: Praise and CritiqueĤ.

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe