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The Mysteries of Udolpho (Oxford World's Classics) |  | Author: Ann Radcliffe
Creators: Terry Castle, Bonamy Dobrée
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £5.57
as of 7/9/2010 16:34 PDT details
You Save: £3.42 (38%)
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Seller: Amazon.co.uk
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 4415
Media: Paperback
Pages: 736
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0199537410
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.6
EAN: 9780199537419
Publication Date: September 11, 2008
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Thoughts on The Mysteries of Udolpho December 12, 2009
K. McMullen (USA)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
Well...I can't speak for everyone (e.g. a lot of my male classmates did not like this book), but I LOVE this book! It is now one of my favorites, even though it is very long and is not the kind of book that you can finish in just two days. I thought it was amazing, and of the early gothic literature classics, this is definitely my favourite. Swooning heroines...desperate heroes...midnight graveyard visits...flitting bats in half-crumbled castles...sublime voyages through the countryside...villainous rich men...this is the story of my life! (just kidding) ;) But really, it is a very good book...perfect on a cold night with a hot cup of chocolate! (and it's not scary, although it might have been scary in 1794) Happy reading!
Her Most Famous Novel August 14, 2010
M. Dowden (London, UK)
I have heard people describe this as 500 pages of boredom with nearly 200 pages of excitement, but thast isn't really true. After the success of her previous novel Ann Radcliffe was paid a whopping £500 for this, which is her largest novel, and is nowadays her most famous, mainly due to its being mentioned in Northanger Abbey.
It could be argued that this is too big and baggy, but if it was 'tightened' up it would inevitable lose something. As for its being gothic, like her first novel this is gothic in places, but contains so much more. Apart from the gothic element you have romance, adventure, a thriller, a mystery, some humour, and so much more. There is a supernatural element, but those who know Radcliffe's works will know that apart from her last novel which was published posthumously, all supernatural elements are eventually explained, also there is a locked room mystery here as well. I know that her husband was scared to read this book alone, I don't know however if it was just this novel, or other works of hers as well. Today of course it isn't scary, but with a brilliant use of cliffhangers and other hooks this is something that is full of suspense, and is fun to read. Ultimately this novel cannot be explained fully enough to do it justice, which is one of the things that have kept people coming back to it time and time again. The narrative pace is a bit slow in places, and also there is quite a lot of poetry here, but don't let that put you off. Currently I am working my way through all Radcliffe's novels, both those I have read before and those that I am coming to for the first time. After reading this you will like me, always have a copy on your bookshelf.
 Big and Gothic August 17, 2010
D. J. H. Thorn (Hull, UK)
Having studied Jane Austen's 'Northanger Abbey' on a literature course, I thought I'd read the novel she uses to parody contemporary reactions to all things Gothic. To be fair to Ann Radcliffe, however, Austen isn't concerned with attacking her work.
The first thing to note is that if you can get through the first hundred pages, you should get through the rest of the six hundred plus without much trouble. It takes nearly that for the story to take any shape. Thereafter, it rattles along like a good yarn should (and it is a yarn), although you will have to regularly put your disbelief on hold, particularly at moments of remarkable coincidence. In that respect, it reminds me of 'The Count of Monte Cristo', although Dumas goes much more over the top yet gets away with it more convincingly.
The heroine, Emily St Aubert, is remarkably adept at fainting and the word 'melancholy' appears on every other page. This is perhaps not surprising as the novel fits in with the then fashion for Romantic writing and art, in which the sublime is evoked through the depiction of vast, overpowering landscapes, fuelling a sense of despair.
The main villain, though there are several shady characters, is the Italian Montoni, and most of the conflict surrounds his schemes. There are some radical shifts in the story, however, which sometimes take the momentum away and this affects much of the last hundred or so pages.
'Udolpho' is a reminder of how much less status and power women once had, though it's worth noting that this was a historical novel even when it was written in 1794, being set at around the turn of the seventeenth century. In commercial terms, it was 'The Da Vinci Code' of its day (a novel I hate, although its allure is understandable). The dialogue between Emily and her suitors is mostly cringeworthy, but I guess it wasn't considered so when it was written. Having read Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto' (the novel that kickstarted Gothic) and Lewis's 'The Monk' I would at least say that 'Udolpho' is superior, but you may need some patience to find this rewarding.
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