The Veiled Picture; Or, the Mysteries of Gorgono, the Appennien Castle of Signor Androssi: A Romance of the Sixteenth Century

by Jack G. Voller (Editor), Ann Radcliffe (Adapted from)

Beautiful young Emily D'Orville lives a peaceful existence in the French countryside with her loving parents. But when tragedy strikes and leaves her an orphan, Emily is separated from her true love Angereau and imprisoned in the Castle of Gorgono, her sinister uncle's fortress in the Apennine Mountains. Can Emily escape the horrors of Gorgono, or will she fall victim to Signor Androssi and his murderous friends? And what is the mystery of the horrifying picture that hangs in a locked chamber, shrouded in a black veil? First published in 1802, "The Veiled Picture" is a chapbook redaction of Ann Radcliffe's Gothic masterpiece "The Mysteries of Udolpho" (1794). "The Veiled Picture" faithfully preserves every major character and plot element from "Udolpho" while eliminating many of its details and descriptions, making it the ideal introduction to the study of Radcliffe's work.

This Valancourt Books edition includes a new introduction and notes by Jack G. Voller, as well as a wealth of appendices, including the complete text of contemporary reviews of "Udolpho," contemporary reactions, mini essays on Gothic architecture and the sublime, and a comparison of key passages in "The Veiled Picture" and "The Mysteries of Udolpho."

Genres: Gothic

121 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1794

Reviews

[Bri Fidelity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange little curio; the appendices of contemporary reviews and references are really what make it worth buying.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voller's notes seem like a useful introduction for those new to the subject, though he provides frustratingly little information on The Veiled Picture itself, instead emphasizing Udolpho. As a chapbook, The Veiled Picture is also a little disappointingly light -- unlike other chapbook redactions which reorganize storylines or add striking new events, this is a very faithful and thorough redaction. Certainly worth looking at, but not I think representative of chapbooks in general, or overly fascinating in itself.

[Ben Jonovich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fourth book on my gothic lit syllabus. The story was uninteresting, but the editor's footnotes and history behind the adaptation from Udolpho was pretty fascinating.

[rather_b_reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced. It was a little difficult to figure out which character is which because sometimes the names change slightly and some people are in fact other people. Because it is a chapbook version of The Mysteries of Udolpho it was a little too condensed into all fast packed action.