Gothic Readings

by Rictor Norton

Gothic Readings: The First Wave, 1764-1840 is an anthology of Gothic literature, set within the context of contemporary criticism and readers' responses. It includes selections from the major practitioners - indcluding Horace Walpole, William Beckford, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Godwin, Mary Shelley, Charles Robert Maturin and Edgar Allan Poe - and many of their followers, as well as contemporary reviews, private letters and diaries, chapbooks, and anecdotes about dramatic performaces and the design of theatre sets. The volume provides representative samples of the major genres: historical Gothic, the Radcliffe school of terror, the Lewis school of horror, tragic melodrama, comic parody, supernatural poetry and ballads, book reviews and literary criticism and anti-Gothic polemic. Also covered are the major Gothic issues such as the aesthetics of the sublime, religionn and the supernatural and the influence of ancient Romance, 'hobgoblin machinery' (including vampires, spectres, orphans, the Inquisition, banditti, nuns, storms and ruined castles), and social and political themes. A general introduction reviews the major approaches to Gothic literature, and short introductions place individual selections in context. All the texts are based on first editions. The collection is suitable as a textbook for courses on the Gothic novel or on Romantic literature and will appeal to all Gothic enthusiasts. Rictor Norton is the author of Mistress of Udolpho: The Life of Ann Radcliffe.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Gothic

560 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book format wasn't quite what I expected. The basic formula is: brief author introduction of the school of writing (Historical Gothic, Radcliffe style, Gothic Horror, etc.) followed by a brief excerpt from an influential piece (The Castle of Otranto, The Monk, Northanger Abbey, etc.).

Since I read a library copy that I was only able to keep for 6 weeks, I ended up having to rush through it a lot faster than would be ideal. It's more a reference book than a read-straight-through book.

The good
- the brief introduction to prominent Gothic works from this period was a great way for me to see what authors/styles appealed to me and which ones aren't my cup of tea. For example, the zaniness of The Castle of Otranto is why I liked it, so reading that Clara Reeve kept the general concept but deliberately subtracted the goofy parts when she wrote The Old English Baron makes me think it's safe for me to skip that one.

- the commentary about Gothic novels within the context of their time was fascinating, the impact of the French Revolution on the thinking behind some of the novels especially. I suspected that Gothic novels were mocked by the powers that be as being silly brain candy for the female folk because that's how things work, but I had no idea that they were also a target for questioning the social order and women's' (dis)empowerment.

"the attack on Gothic novels in the contemporary press was informed by a conservative political ideology. As the Revolution in France degenerated into the wholesale slaughter of the Terror, which seemed to bury the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity, much of the reactionary ruling class in England condemned such democratic ideals as leading inevitably to the complete collapse of society. Gothic novels were politically censured as 'the terrorist system of writing', and their authors denounced as Jacobins set on destroying England. Gothic novels were un-English -- and unmanly. Even the less demonstrative women novelists were branded as belonging to 'the Wollstonecraft school' of early feminism." (xi)

The less good
- I was hoping for a little more original criticism by the author. The brief pieces that were included here were insightful and engaging, but they served more to whet my appetite than to sate it.

- some of the works the author references are going to be challenging to find. Like Hubert de Sevrac by Mary Robinson? The excerpt was amazing! But unless I want to read it online or on microform (which I don't), I'm SOL and pouty about it.

[Tracey Madeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is essentially a reproduction of extracts from gothic novels with scant commentary. Some are well known, Ontranto, Udolpho and The Recess, others somewhat obscure, Grasville Abbey, Wieland and The Midnight Bell. There is a section on Literary criticism which contains extracts from reviews at the time and some reader responses to the more popular novels, like The Monk and Udolpho. However, academics can obtain a lot of these from their institutions subscription and many older novels are now available elsewhere in full.

I bought this as a cheap second hand copy and for my purposes it was worth it, as it pointed me towards some different areas, such as Anna Seward, but I would have been aggrieved to have paid full price for it.