The Romance of the Forest

by Ann Radcliffe

This novel, although not as well-known as Radcliffe's later works, is thought to represent her work at its best. More than just a work of suspense and mystery, it is a work of ideas--a discussion of the contrasts between hedonistic doctrines and a system of education and values.

Genres: Classics, Gothic, Fiction, Romance, 18th Century, Horror, Mystery

326 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1791

About the author

Ann Ward Radcliffe of Britain wrote Gothic novels, including The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794).

This English author pioneered.

William Radcliffe, her father and a haberdasher, moved the family to Bath to manage a china shop in 1772. Radcliffe occasionally lived with her uncle, Thomas Bentley, in Chelsea in partnership with a fellow Unitarian, Josiah Wedgwood. Although mixing in some distinguished circles, Radcliffe seemingly made little impression in this society, and Wedgwood described her as "Bentley's shy niece."

In 1787, she married William Radcliffe, the Oxford graduate and journalist. He often came home late, and to occupy her time, she began to write and read her work when he returned. They enjoyed a childless but seemingly happy marriage. Radcliffe called him her "nearest relative and friend". The money she earned from her novels later allowed them to travel together, along with their dog, Chance.

She published The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne in 1789. It set the tone for the majority of her work, which tended to involve innocent, but heroic young women who find themselves in gloomy, mysterious castles ruled by even more mysterious barons with dark pasts.

Her works were extremely popular among the upper class and the growing middle class, especially among young women. Her works included A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and The Italian (1796). She published a travelogue, A Journey Through Holland and the Western Frontier of Germany in 1795.

The success of The Romance of the Forest established Radcliffe as the leading exponent of the historical Gothic romance. Her later novels met with even greater attention, and produced many imitators, and famously, Jane Austen's burlesque of The Mysteries of Udolpho in Northanger Abbey, as well as influencing the works of Sir Walter Scott.

Stylistically, Radcliffe was noted for her vivid descriptions of exotic and sinister locales, though in reality the author had rarely or never visited the actual locations. Shy by nature, she did not encourage her fame and abandoned literature as a pursuit.

She died on February 7, 1823 and was buried in Saint George's Church, Hanover Square, London.

Reviews

[Justin Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1791, while George Washington served his second year as president and politicians were preoccupied with drafting something called the Bill of Rights, readers across the pond devoured Ann Radcliffe's hotly anticipated new novel The Romance of the Forest. If foreign affairs consumed their mind, these thoughts were easily vanquished to a fictional world of chilling melodrama and gothic romance.

Radcliffe wasn’t yet a household name—she would become one with her next novel, however—but the majority of literate society was familiar with A Sicilian Romance (1790) which was published only months earlier. This new novel, printed over three volumes, was longer, spookier, more atmospheric and more heart-pounding than her last. No surprise that it became an instant bestseller.

I suspect my reaction, 200+ years later, is similar to Radcliffe's original audience: YES!!!! This story has everything I want and more. Can’t wait to read her next book!

The first few chapters alone make this a classic. We begin mid-flight, as a man with a habit for Parisian vice flees his creditors under the cloak of night. When it becomes too dark to continue by carriage, he stops at a nearby cottage for assistance. Instead of receiving room and board, however, he’s held prisoner. His jailers then instruct him to become caregiver to a beautiful young girl, or be killed.

Man, his family, and the mysterious maiden depart into the moonlight, traveling far until they at last find refuge in a ruinous, haunted abbey hidden deep in the forest. But with crumbling bricks, labyrinthine passageways and skeletal remains in the recesses, it’s unclear if this abandoned abbey is a source of safety or certain death.

Romantic prisons and eerie dwellings are staples of Radcliffe’s aesthetics and she really finds her footing with this novel. The few issues I had with A Sicilian Romance are directly addressed. The pacing is more luxurious—almost pastoral, but never boring—and twists are appropriately spaced. Her characters are more complex when compared to the caricatures of good and evil in her previous effort and her web of intricate plot is more carefully orchestrated.

What doesn’t change is her brilliance as a storyteller. She effortlessly builds suspense and intrigue, often becoming a downright tease when resolving unexplained mystery. Just as the answer is within reach, something interrupts and postpones resolution. If Radcliffe was as seductive in bed as she was with her writing, her husband was no doubt a happy fellow.

Once again she masterfully uses “uncommon sounds” to fuel her character’s imaginative nightmares. What they envision is often worse than what is actually happening, but sometimes it really is that scary. This uncertainty keeps everything on edge, for character and reader, so that each sentence has significance, suspense, and/or surprise.

Now that I’ve read two of her superb novels, neither of which are considered her best work, it remains puzzling to me that Radcliffe is not as familiar to classrooms as Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters. I’m not singing solo in this opinion, but I’m not exactly joining a chorus either.

"Given the virtuosity of their plotting and the richness of their allusion,” writes Claudia L. Johnson, an academic of 18th century gothic literature, “it is surprising just how little Radcliffe's works have received in the way of sustained analysis.”

This sentiment is common among us who admire gothic literature, but scarce commentary by literary academia at large. Ask any English major how they feel about Ann Radcliffe and most will likely say they’ve never heard of her. Those who have probably recognized the name only from Jane Austen, E.A. Poe, or H.P. Lovecraft, who were all big fans and reference her works frequently.

As for why she’s less known, I have some thoughts. Stylistically she does reveal her plots in a more summarized manner than most writers, leading to some beautiful descriptions and others which are more generic. For example, a variation of “her emotion cannot easily be imagined” and “her feelings on this occasion were too complex to be analysed” are occasionally tossed in.

Out of context these sentences seem particularly egregious, but in actuality she gets by with it because her characters are so cleanly drawn that we don’t need lengthy description to explain how they feel. We can imagine it on our own just fine.

Other potential flaws, by modern standards, include her characters. It is certainly true that none of her characters are iconic figures of personality. They all have clear motivations and realistic psyche, but the women routinely faint at the drop of a pin and the men are limited to certain roles, such as father, lover or villain. There’s a certain cheesiness with which scares are delivered and how she concludes the novel by wrapping up everything neatly with a bow.

Personally I find Radcliffe’s abbreviated storytelling refreshing. She writes with mathematical precision, delivering the exact amount of description needed for the reader to obtain a sense of character, atmosphere, pacing or mood, and does not bother with a word more.

Rather than stand out as an author of great innovation or unprecedented technique, her legacy seems largely based on delivering pop novels which provided audiences with exactly what they wanted. There’s always been a certain stigma placed upon Radcliffe readers. In Northanger Abbey (1803), Jane Austen pokes fun at the young women who read Radcliffe gothics and start imagining intrigue and conspiracy surrounding their mundane lives. The stigma remains to this day, I believe, among those of us who feel Radcliffe deserves a table among other literary giants.

I still have two major works to read, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1797), which are generally considered her greatest achievements. We’ll see if my strong opinion of Radcliffe is further cemented, or if I become tired of her tried-and-true formula.

More of my reviews can be found on SpookyBooky.com

Let’s discuss! Please like or leave a comment :)

[Sean Barrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Romance of the Forest is a fine gothic novel; it has so many qualities that make the genre so appealing to me.

There’s the usual dark and spooky setting (an abbey in a remote forest) and there’s a strong atmosphere of mystery and suspense surrounding the location. It’s also not very clear what the characters motives are and who exactly may be out to abuse the heroine, Adeline. She seems isolated in a world full of tyrannical males that pursue and entrap her. There are multiple men with villainous behaviour, each of which has their own dark secret. This uncertainty pushed the story into an impressive conclusion with a surprising plot reveal. I really did not see it coming, I was impressed!

In all truth, I’ve been reluctant to read Ann Radcliffe for a very long time. The reason being, Jane Austen satirises her work heavily in Northanger Abbey. That much so, it becomes quite hard not to agree with Austen’s perspective that deems the writing of Radcliffe to be trashy, predictable and cliché. If a writer as great as Austen complains about her, even though she clearly influenced her, then there’s bound to be something wrong. That being said, I wish I’d given Radcliffe a go much sooner because there’s a great deal she does very well here.

The gothic elements are what make the story and, yes, some of it is very typical of other gothic stories but that’s not always a bad thing because Radcliffe was a pioneer of the genre. She helped kickstart it. She was one of the first to use these tropes. And it is clear how strongly she has influenced other writers. Her novels may be a little samey but, then again, so were Austen’s despite their individual brilliance. I particularly liked the way Radcliffe described the forest and the eeriness of it.

However, despite the terrific amount of narrative tension and uncertainty created through the plot and its mysterious characters, the structure of the novel suffers. I think this is mainly because at this time writing novels was still quite experimental. The novel was quite new, and it hadn’t quite been perfected. Here there are a few blunders that affect the storytelling quality. Its not as refined as it could be and there are large sections at the end that add little to the work. The last third of the story could have been reduced down quite considerably as the focus was lost a little.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and it certainly won’t be the last Radcliffe novel I pick up. There's just something special about early gothic novels like this.

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[Warwick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ann Radcliffe takes the bump-in-the-night, crepuscular Catholicism of Horace Walpole, and adds a load of ‘sequestered virgin’ stuff straight out of Richardson. The result is rather a load of old tosh, to be honest, although there are some enjoyable thrills. The plot never makes much sense at the best of times, and by the end it has completely dissolved into dei ex machina, hidden relationships, interminable poetry, and so much swooning from the heroine Adeline that she spends most of the dénouement unconscious. Never mind getting married, she should be getting her blood pressure checked.

Perhaps the most successful part is the first section, where our syncopic heroine and her friends take refuge in an old ruined abbey deep in the forests of the French countryside, where they lounge around being ‘devoted to melancholy and secret grief’. These chapters are full of secret passageways, skeletons, ancient manuscripts and the like, while Adeline fends off the advances of a villain so free from nuance that he might as well be twirling a moustache. After that, rather abruptly, the novel become a weird kind of travelogue, taking in Languedoc, Provence and the Alps as Radcliffe quotes liberally from contemporary travel literature.

As always, the Gothic is linked to a bygone (for England), and hence ‘foreign’, Catholicism. Radcliffe's heroes in this case are seventeenth-century Frenchmen, although for the purposes of expounding her own moral precepts, they generally partake of the values of eighteenth-century Anglicanism: so, when one character discovers the crumbled tomb of a monk in the woods, he launches into an anachronistic diatribe:

‘Peace be to his soul! but did he think a life of mere negative virtue deserved an eternal reward? Mistaken man! reason, had you trusted to its dictates, would have informed you, that its active virtues, the adherence to the golden rule, “Do as you would be done unto,” could alone deserve the favour of a Deity, whose glory is benevolence.’

Similarly, in the heart of Catholic Savoy, our heroes somehow end up staying with a pastor who reels off pages of sensible Calvinist doctrine (ripped mostly out of Rousseau). Though the plot twists and character developments are decidedly hit and miss, there is some interest in seeing how the form of the novel was still coming into focus here, and occasionally Radcliffe's set-pieces work quite effectively. In her brief intervals of consciousness, Adeline can be quite a plucky heroine, and certain of the supporting characters are genuinely compelling – particularly La Motte, who is an unusual combination of hero and villain.

What is most intriguing, perhaps, is to see how Radcliffe's adumbrated Gothic themes – murder, rape and crypto-incest – would be developed with thunderous explicitness by people like Matthew Lewis and the Marquis de Sade. Sade was a great admirer of hers, and it's curious to imagine him leafing through her books in his cell at the Bicêtre. But in this, as in so many things, the marquis and I do not quite see eye-to-eye.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my third Radcliffe title and my least favorite. The GR blurb says it is thought to represent her best work, but either I was seeing her 'formula' too clearly or was simply not impressed with the story itself, because I very much preferred The Italian. That was a hoot. This was more of a whimper.

Of course, the tiny print in my edition may have made the book harder for me to deal with. My old eyes could only handle it in short sessions, and I probably was annoyed with that detail as much as I was with the many many times that our heroine Adeline faints away. She faints a lot. And cries buckets of tears every other page, and is generally melancholy throughout the whole book, but so sweet and noble in her bearing that everyone just loves her to pieces, including the villain. This last fact is of course one of the reasons for all of her tears and fainting.

We start off meeting the La Motte family, on the run from Paris for situations only hinted at, but that would cost Mr. his life if he stays. He is the most selfish person at this point and throughout most of the book, always fretting more about himself and his future than about his family, which he has dragged down with him.

On their escape through a dark forest at night, they meet with some brigands who force La Motte to take the orphan Adeline with them, and from there to the end of the story we fret about what will happen to the poor fainting girl. I guessed at one point who the super villain probably was, but I didn't guess the amazing coincidences in the last section. I must have been somewhat light-headed by that point because of course events would have happened exactly this way, no matter how incredible it might have seemed. The last few chapters are roll-your-eyes hold-your-breath worrying about Adeline and her friends. Will they all escape the clutches of the evil Marquis? Will everyone live through the fainting spells that have begun to affect nearly every character at this point? And what about that romance.....does Adeline ever get to dry her eyes and be happy?!

One note about this particular edition. The introduction has a major plot spoiler in the first few paragraphs. Unless you are a student of the history and traditions of the Gothic genre, I would suggest skipping both the introduction and footnotes. Stick to the story itself. For me it may not have been the most interesting Radcliffe around, but to turn it into a text book about a writing style is not the way to make it better.

[Bri Fidelity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros: Reads like the Good Bits of Udolpho - which is to say, like a sort of very morbid Enid Blyton mystery - minus the Bad Bits. Reasonably compelling mysteries; genuinely tense escape attempts; a grown-up (if delicately/hilariously described) sense of sexual threat; lots of atmosphere. Unlike Udolpho, the reveals aren't thunderingly anticlimactic, and there's some actual ambiguity in the supernatural elements - and there are mercifully few landscapegasms and twee sonnets (though Chapters 18 and 19 have all the missing ones in concentrated form).

Cons: Excessive swooning; Simpleton Servants; a Random Third Act Family; physiognomy. The good people being unimpeachably good and the bad people being excessively bad. Everyone turning out to be everyone else's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate. Serial, abuse, of, commas.

So basically:

Probably the only Radcliffe novel I could actually recommend - or, you know, laughingly 'recommend' - without feeling too guilty. (Like all her books, it's best read in tandem with friends with whom you can lightly eviscerate it as you go. Maybe good fun for a book club?)

The Romance of the Forest has the brevity and the daft sensational quality of Radcliffe's earlier, sillier novels, but is written in the calmer, more assured (dare I say 'literary'?) voice of her later work. It definitely seems to be the product of some very tiny artistic breakthrough. In fact, I have a strong suspicion that the positive critical reception for this went entirely to her head and resulted in the Ann Radcliffe we all know and love - 'if they like my sublime landscape descriptions in Chapters 18 and 19, they'll love three whole volumes of trees!'

The nefarious Marquis de Montalt's love-nest is probably worth the price of the book all by itself:

The storm was violent and long, but as soon as it abated they set off on full gallop, and having continued to travel for about two hours, they came to the borders of the forest, and, soon after, to a high lonely wall, which Adeline could just distinguish by the moon-light, which now streamed through the parting clouds.

Here they stopped; the man dismounted, and having opened a small door in the wall, he unbound Adeline, who shrieked, though involuntarily and in vain, as he took her from the horse. The door opened upon a narrow passage, dimly lighted by a lamp, which hung at the farther end. He led her on; they came to another door; it opened and disclosed a magnificent saloon, splendidly illuminated, and fitted up in the most airy and elegant taste.

The walls were painted in fresco, representing scenes from Ovid, and hung above with silk drawn up in festoons and richly fringed. The sofas were of a silk to suit the hangings. From the centre of the ceiling, which exhibited a scene from the Armida of Tasso, descended a silver lamp of Etruscan form: it diffused a blaze of light, that, reflected from large pier glasses, completely illuminated the saloon. Busts of Horace, Ovid, Anacreon, Tibullus, and Petronius Arbiter, adorned the recesses, and stands of flowers, placed in Etruscan vases, breathed the most delicious perfume. In the middle of the apartment stood a small table, spread with a collation of fruits, ices, and liquors. No person appeared. The whole seemed the works of enchantment, and rather resembled the palace of a fairy than any thing of human conformation.

Adeline was astonished, and inquired where she was, but the man refused to answer her questions, and, having desired her to take some refreshment, left her. She walked to the windows, from which a gleam of moon-light discovered to her an extensive garden, where groves and lawns, and water glittering in the moon-beam, composed a scenery of varied and romantic beauty. 'What can this mean!' said she: 'Is this a charm to lure me to destruction?'

Wow.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was published in 1791. Author Ann Radcliffe was married, never traveled far from London, and she is regarded as one of those writers that began the "romantic gothic novel." She profoundly influenced Jane Austin. The writing is so rich and exquisite, you'll need to go slow and savor each sentence. Is is possible that the English language peaked in the 18th century, and then we began to lose words? Here's an excerpt: "She read a little, but finding it impossible any longer to abstract her attention from the scene around, she closed the book, and yielded to the sweet complacent melancholy which the hour inspired." And Mrs. Radclifee continues this writing for 380 pages of very small print. If you ARE a reader of Gothic Novels, you may want to read this. And if you are NOT, I'll say this. The writing is such that you can read a chapter (and there are XXVI) a week and yet be able to remember the story line. Many of these books were published as weekly series in the newspapers, even though it took a half year to read to the end.

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una cosa es cierta, por muy popular que Anne Radcliffe fuera en su época, siendo admirada por grandes autores como Walter Scott y una de las primeras autoras mujeres a las que se le pagó enormes cantidades de dinero por sus novelas igual que una autora contemporánea de best sellers, mucho antes que Jane Austen o las hermanas Brontë, lo cierto es que actualmente solo se le conoce gracias a la conexión que Austen nos ofrece de ella a través de su novela “La abadía de Northanger”, una sátira al género gótico y donde las obras más famosas de Radcliffe son citadas, pero encontrar sus libros, al menos los tres principales, compuestos por “El italiano”, “Los misterios de Udolfo” y “El romance del bosque” en español fue sin duda una proeza que costó sus años. Pero gracias a editoriales como Cátedra y Valdemar, quienes han hecho un gran trabajo de traducción, he podido conseguirlos.
La historia sigue a la familia La Motte, quienes han escapado de París por las enormes deudas de Monsieur La Motte (no recuerdo si estaba ambientada antes o después de la revolución, pero sí recuerdo que la novela fue publicada en 1791), quienes al huir se encuentran con una abadía abandonada en medio del bosque, que será su refugio hasta encontrar algo mejor. A su viaje se sumará Adeline, descrita como una joven bellísima y culta, que fue entrega por su padre al patriarca de la familia. Este acontecimiento es el que marca el real inicio de la novela en la que poco a poco se van sumando más personajes y más lugares.

Cuesta creer que una autora como Anne Radcliffe comenzó a escribir solamente para matar el tiempo y por recomendación de su marido porque usualmente es al revés, donde las mujeres buscaban en la literatura y la creación de historias escapar de una existencia cerrada y poder lograr una compensación económica por sus esfuerzos, publicando con pseudónimos masculinos, pues incluso la literatura estaba cerrada al pensamiento de la mujer. Además de que nunca la motivó el dinero, debido a que ya lo tenía con su marido. Sin duda que Anne es la excepción a la regla en cuanto a las mujeres escritoras de la historia y también me sorprende porque con todos estos antecedentes no tiene nada que envidiar a otras autoras famosas. La prosa de Radcliffe es preciosa y aunque cae en los típicos clichés sobre sus protagonistas femeninas, los excesivos desmayos, los ataques de pánico, el llanto desproporcionado, bajo todo eso, hay una fuerza y fortalezas que las motiva a seguir adelante y no rendirse. Esas fueron las cosas que me transmitió “El romance del bosque”. Adeline es una protagonista que por muy ingenua que sea y esté hecha a través del clásico comportamiento que una dama debía tener, me gustó que a pesar de todo no quería rendirse y luchar por su vida y su dignidad. Ese mensaje, si es el mensaje que Anne buscaba entregar, está muy bien dado.

En general disfruté muchísimo del libro, más que editorial Cátedra, como siempre, trae un análisis de la vida y obra del autor, junto con el contexto en que está ambientado la obra. No conocía mucho de la literatura gótica, más bien, casi nada, solo un simple esbozo de lo que era gracias a Jane Austen, pero adentrarse en la literatura gótica es solo una antesala a lo que sería el género del terror y sus derivaciones. Pero me ha gustado el enfoque que le da Anne Radcliffe y como usa los recursos de la naturaleza para crear una atmósfera que al lector del siglo XVIII podía poner los pelos de punta. Ese también fue otro detalle que me dio mucha risa. Como leía este libro, me decía que era imposible que una novela escrita hace tantos años, con cosas que en pleno siglo XXI ya estaban más que explicadas, podría asustarme, pero hubo momentos en que no podía soltarlo, la tensión y el suspenso crecían cada vez más y quería saber qué pasaría con sus protagonistas. Suspenso que un día fue agrandado debido a que cuando leía de camino a mi casa, un joven se subió al bus y con su violín comenzó a tocar piezas de música clásica que fueron la perfecta banda sonora para este libro y justo en una escena donde parecía que iban a descubrir a la familia La Motte, escondida en la abadía. Actualmente me he dicho que, si vuelvo a leer algún otro libro de género gótico, sin duda que lo haré escuchando música clásica, para darle un toque extra al momento.

Otro detalle que me ha dado risa fue en un pasaje donde Adeline encontraba un manuscrito en un rincón escondido de la bodega y buscaba cómo leerlo en medio de la oscuridad que la rodeaba. Conforme lo leía, más me acordaba de Catherine Morland, hasta que me di cuenta de que Austen había parodiado la misma escena en su propia novela. Y aquello me hizo entender la enorme influencia que debió tener Radcliffe en sus lectores contemporáneos y lo triste que actualmente nadie la conozca, porque Anne merece que sus libros estén en todas las librerías, no solo para aquellos que aman la literatura inglesa clásica, sino para todos quienes les gusta leer. Sin ella, muchos de los autores, hombres y mujeres, que dejaron su huella en la historia, no serían quienes conocemos. Para que exista un legado, siempre hay un comienzo y Anne Radcliffe es quien representa ese comienzo.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

“He never read the Romance of the Forest, nor the Children of the Abbey. He had never heard of such books before I mentioned them, but he is determined to get them now as soon as ever he can.”

Chapter 4, Emma, by Jane Austen

(Contains spoiler alerts)

I decided to read Romance of the Forest to see what kind of books Harriet Smith recommended to poor Mr. Martin. While I have a long way to go on Children of the Abbey (640 pages!) I can safely say that they are very silly books. I now understand what a joke it is for Harriet to want Mr. Martin to read such books. They are universally dubbed gothic books, but in my mind they would be more accurately described as sentimental novels with gothic elements.

Adeline, a young woman is spirited away from a convent and is holed up in an abbey where she thinks she’s protected by a nobleman and his wife, but is really being set up to become the mistress of a marquis. She later finds out the marquis is a murderer (boo!) and her dad (ewww!). But he totally didn’t know she was her daughter. And it turns out he’s her uncle. (Not quite as eww-y, but still…eww.)

You know how Marianne in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility has romantic notions and is always seeking intense emotions and feelings? Well, that’s the “Sensibility” part. Marianne is the embodiment of characters like Adeline. Adeline actively embraces melancholy, as do many of her friends and lovers. It strikes the modern reader as very odd. I think melancholy had a slightly different definition back then than it does now, that it didn’t necessarily equate to clinical depression. Still, the characters in this novel are pretty self-indulgent in the readiness to feel sad. There’s lots of talk of characters trying to exert themselves against their overwhelming ennui, but that serves mostly to illustrate just how overwhelming and intense the emotions they are feeling.

This is the sort of nonsense that Austen warns against in her depiction of Marianne. Her heroines are sensible ladies like Elinor, Marianne’s sister, the “Sense” of Sense and Sensibility. But there can be no doubt that Austen truly loved these books. Once can see scenes and situations in these novels that Austen picks up on and writes variations of in her novels.

Some of Austen’s juvenilia mocks the gothic novel style through absurd mimicry. But her adult work strikes me as a direct response to the literary style of Radcliff and others. The author of Romance of the Forest, Anne Radcliffe, takes shortcuts that no writing workshop would tolerate. Main characters are often not described in any sort of detail. Action is described in a haphazard way. She doesn’t quite write “and then they talk a bunch and then went to bed” but she comes close in many circumstances. Radcliffe and other novelists were working in a relatively brand new medium. It took pioneers like Austen to show how to properly pace action and how to describe people’s thoughts and actions in a sensible manner.

Reading Romance of the Forest has made me more fully appreciate Jane Austen. I am now motivated to read more of the novels of her era so I can better understand not only her work, but how novels have taken on the traditions that we all take for granted.

[Dafne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ann Radcliffe fu una delle prime scrittrici, se non la prima in assoluto, a pubblicare un romanzo con il suo vero nome senza nascondersi dietro pseudonimi maschili. L'autrice inglese fu l'antesignana di un nuovo genere letterario, quello gotico, di cui divenne la regina incontrastata e ispirò moltissimi autori dell'Ottocento, tra i quali Austen, Dickens, Collins, Poe, Mary Shelley e tanti altri.
Il romanzo della foresta fu il suo secondo romanzo e venne pubblicato per la prima volta in forma anonima nel 1791, ma è il primo che ottenne un grande successo.
Ambientato nel sud della Francia, il romanzo si apre con una carrozza lanciata a tutta velocità nel cuore della notte. A bordo ci sono cinque persone: Pierre de la Motte, un nobile decaduto in fuga dai suoi creditori e dalla giustizia, sua moglie, il suo servitore Peter e la sua consorte, e la giovane Adeline. Durante la fuga i cinque fuggiaschi sono costretti a cercare un rifugio, mentre attraversano una fitta foresta, a causa di un incidente capitato alla carrozza e del maltempo in arrivo; lo trovano in un'abbazia mezza diroccata dove si fermano per la notte.
Il giorno successivo i cinque fanno una ricognizione dell'abbazia e dei suoi dintorni e decidono di stabilirsi lì eleggendola come loro dimora. Il sollievo per aver trovato un rifugio sicuro, però, dura fino a quando il proprietario dei boschi, il marchese di Montalt, arriva all'abbazia e mette gli occhi su Adeline...

Fino a pochi anni fa questo romanzo della Radcliffe non era mai stato tradotto nella nostra lingua; meno male che si è colmata questa lacuna perché Il romanzo della foresta è uno di quei romanzi che si deve leggere almeno una volta nella vita. Se non fosse per merito di Jane Austen, che cita la Radcliffe più volte ne L'abbazia di Northanger, chissà se i suoi romanzi sarebbero stati tradotti anche dopo più di 200 anni. Secondo il mio modesto parere la Radcliffe è un'autrice che merita di essere conosciuta e letta anche in questo secolo in quanto ancora oggi riesce a intrattenere e incuriosire il lettore.
È il primo libro che leggo di quest'autrice e devo dire che mi è abbastanza piaciuto; al suo interno ci sono tanti elementi tipici dei romanzi gotici: castelli o abbazie in rovina, fanciulle rapite, inseguimenti, cattivi da manuale con un oscuro passato, segreti misteriosi, passaggi nascosti, suspense, stanze o sotterranei segreti, scheletri nascosti, rivelazioni finali.
La prima parte del romanzo è cupa ma molto avvincente e suggestiva, perché ambientata nell'abbazia, vista come un luogo pauroso e misterioso, all'interno di una fitta foresta impenetrabile; le descrizioni della natura, dei paesaggi sono molto belle e coinvolgenti. Tutto questo, però, sfuma in una seconda parte molto più lenta, faticosa e macchinosa, che però si rivelerà fondamentale per la risoluzione degli enigmi finali.
Il romanzo della foresta riesce a catturare il lettore sin dalle primissime pagine; si resta col fiato sospeso mentre assistiamo al susseguirsi degli eventi che riguardano la vita di Adeline; è lei, infatti, la protagonista indiscussa dell'opera della Radcliffe. Adeline è una protagonista tipica dei romanzi di quel periodo: è una ragazza orfana, bella, dolce, ingenua, che non conosce le sue origini; passa da un'avventura all'altra, scambia i buoni per i cattivi e i cattivi per buoni; sviene, piange e si lamenta per gran parte del romanzo ma dimostra sempre tutta la sua fermezza nelle proprie decisioni. Alla fine riesce a tirare fuori tutto il suo coraggio e a salvare colui che ama, realizzando così la sua storia d'amore.
Nel romanzo l'autrice riesce a mescolare sapientemente vari generi letterari: giallo, sentimentale, storico, avventura e anche la poesia. È una lettura affascinante, moderatamente o per nulla paurosa, a tratti divertente; un romanzo incantevole, intrigante, avvincente, scritto con eleganza e dallo stile ricercato; a volte un po' troppo prolisso e con qualche lungaggine di troppo dovuta alla presenza di poesie di varia lunghezza inserite nel testo, che vengono a noia e che ai fini della trama sono del tutto inutili e possiedono solo la facoltà di appesantire la lettura (io le ho saltate tutte) oppure la presenza di dialoghi spesso un po' assurdi o anche la ripetizione di cose che magari sono già state dette. Nonostante questi ultimi difetti che ho citato, Il romanzo della foresta è stata una una vera scoperta e racchiude in sé tutte le migliori caratteristiche del genere gotico, con un finale pieno di colpi di scena in cui l'autrice inglese riesce a dimostrare tutte le sue capacità invettive e narrative.

Erano entrati nella foresta come un rifugio, […] e per qualche tempo avevano trovato in essa la sicurezza che cercavano; ma altre colpe, […] presto si sono succedute, e la sua vita, […] ora gli offriva un altro esempio di questa grande verità, “che dove c'è la colpa la pace non può entrare.”

[Krodì80 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il romanzo della Foresta (1791) rappresenta un’opera fondamentale nella produzione di Ann Radcliffe, regina incontrastata del genere gotico, che tuttavia viene ricordata oggi per I misteri di Udolpho e L’italiano, opere sicuramente più riuscite e affascinanti. La quarta di copertina dell’edizione Elliot, che pubblica per la prima volta il libro integralmente, ci rammenta che fu d’ispirazione per Austen, Keats, Balzac, Dickens, fra gli altri. Con tutto il felice corredo di abbazie in rovina, l’eroina in perenne svenimento, inseguimenti, cattivi da manuale, segreti e passaggi segreti, suspense, e una storia che alla fine “quadra”, The Romance of the Forest riesce a intrattenere e incuriosire anche a distanza di secoli dalla pubblicazione, e con gli attuali gusti dei lettori agli antipodi rispetto alla sensibilità di fine ‘700. Non ci vengono risparmiate stucchevoli poesie che inframmezzano il testo; i dialoghi sono spesso insopportabili e assurdi, con i ‘buoni’ in perenne odore di santità. Eppure tutto questo ha un suo fascino, e risulta piacevole pur nelle scusabili contraddizioni, sdolcinatezze e lungaggini. Abbiamo bisogno di storie che vedono trionfare il bene e la speranza, di questi tempi.

“Quando ero piccolo, durante i lunghi inverni, i miei genitori mi leggevano per ore i romanzi di Ann Radcliffe. Li ascoltavo con la bocca spalancata per il terrore e l’eccitazione, poi quelle storie mi invadevano il sonno”, Fedor Dostoevskij.

Beh, sostituiamo “inverni” con “quarantene”, e voliamo con la fantasia.

[W.D. Clarke · Rating 2 out of 5]

They say that wine critics default to giving wine 40 out of 100 merely for being wine, and not, say, grape juice.

This, my friends, is a novel.

A novel in which pretty much nothing happens for some 300pp, I might add, and though I am certainly not one for whom something has to actually happen in a book, if nothing is going to happen, then what remains (the sentences) have to do something, anything, other than what Ms. Radcliffe's sophomore effort provides: leaden prose, preposterous dialogue, interminable longueurs (of...? well, of description, though not even of things, but merely of abstractions–all kinds of atmosphere, psychological inclination, of the interpersonal climate, the horrific and the sublime, whether out there in nature or within the walls of a ruined abbey (always in that damn abbey!) etc., mountains and mountains of abstractions—and then theres all that exposition, that telling instead of showing (which I do actually normally enjoy), where even a soupcon of the dramatic, of at least some kind of movement of something, anything, would have been received with the gratitude afforded to a tablespoon of water in a vast desert)...

And yet: it started well, in medias res actually, with a man and his family fleeing the law and his creditors, being abducted in a rain storm at night—which, after reading the author's first novel, was a bit of a welcome shock. And it ended well (and, of course, felicitously). But that only accounts for an eighth or so of its pages. I'm not sure what possessed readers of its day to clamor for it so, but by the by I do hear that Ms. Austen places the book in the hands of a character whose name I now forget, but one whose author does not, quite, esteem. Ah, the life—and afterlife—of D.O.A books.

I have two more of Ms. Radcliffe's in my near-ish future, her famous ones. I look forward to them, actually. I'm sure she hits her stride at some point, for there are flashes of...something... in this one, though seldom encountered, and alas, with insufficient effulgence.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ann Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest was, for the first half of the book, a good read -- taking place, as it did, at an old ruined abbey rumored to be haunted. But once Adeline, the heroine, had decamped to Switzerland to stay with a benign old clergyman, the number of chance encounters increased, and everyone seemed to be related to everyone else. I would rate the first half of the book at four stars and the second half at two stars.

While I loved The Mysteries of Udolpho, I thought this book was much weaker. To make matters worse, it was interspersed with what I considered to be mediocre poetry.

In general, however, I thought that Ann Radcliffe's prose style was excellent, such that I look forward to reading her other novels.

[Omaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
“Este globo parece una masa de átomos en la inmensidad del universo, y el hombre un simple insecto. Sin embargo, ¡oh maravilla!, ese hombre, cuya estatura es tan diminuta en escala de los seres vivos, debe de tener poderes para desdeñar los estrechos límites del tiempo y el espacio, para remontarse más allá de la esfera de la existencia y descubrir las secretas leyes de la naturaleza y tener en cuenta sus afectos progresivos”

La novela El romance del bosque fue publicada en 1791 dividida en tres volúmenes. En ella son narradas las desventuras de Adeline, una joven que ha vivido toda su vida bajo los atentos cuidados de las monjas y que decide rebelarse ante su inminente destino, tomar el hábito. Por ello ruega a su padre que la saque de allí y le permita vivir junto a él. El padre, lejos de sentir cualquier cariño por la chica, lleva engañada a Adeline a una cabaña en medio del bosque donde permanece recluida hasta la fortuita llegada de Monsieur La Motte y su mujer. Los tres marchan raudos y veloces en carruaje, perseguidos por los hombres del padre de la heroína, hasta que encuentran en su huida una abadía abandonada donde fijan su morada y adoptan a la pequeña como su propia hija hasta la inesperada visita del dueño del lugar, el Marques, con una oferta matrimonial.

La historia, situada en pleno siglo XVII, nos trasporta a los bosques franceses, a los Alpes e incluso a las costas italianas. Radcliffe entendió perfectamente lo que para Burke era «lo sublime» no solo porque se hacen constantes alusiones en los tres volúmenes a tal idea, sino también por la increíble forma que tiene la autora de provocar que los personajes se sientan perdidos y al mismo tiempo encuentren la redención que tanto anhelan al observar atentamente el medio que les rodea. Hay un esfuerzo notable en dotar a las descripciones paisajísticas de vida, intentando en todo momento traspasar el papel con el objetivo de que el lector pueda ver con claridad los Alpes saboyanos o los árboles mecidos por una brisa que porta melancolía y misterio. En resumen, lo que Radcliffe busca en todo momento a través de sus logradas descripciones es que el lector pueda deleitarse ante tal placer estético.

Por supuesto no todo es paisaje, placer estético, también tenemos unos personajes que cabe la pena analizar (aunque no voy a detenerme en profundidad). Adeline, la protagonista de este romance, encarna el ideal de mujer radcliffiano. A pesar de provenir de una familia relativamente humilde lee a los clásicos con deleite y lo más importante: encuentra belleza en ellos. Toca el laúd, sabe escribir poesía y cantar, y por supuesto se mantiene fuerte. No es una “protagonista fuerte” como entendemos dicho termino el siglo veintiuno, no, el triunfo de la virtud sobre la iniquidad ya supone algo muy grande. Adeline no es débil pero tiene sus profundas recaídas, momentos de gran desesperación que consiguen maltratar a fondo su alma, dejándola peor como un muñeco viejo y ajado; y no me extraña. Por otra parte tenemos a Théodore, el pretendiente, el cual aunque no lo parezca también refleja mucho de la autora. Théodore sirve a su regimiento pero la aparición de Adeline en su vida, la amistad y los gustos y opiniones similares que comparten, le lleva a dejarlo todo por protegerla del Marqués y enamorarse de ella. Después se descubre lo que hay tras las apariencias y todavía me parece un personaje más rico y lleno de matices, solo que no están ahí explícitamente, hay que reflexionar, y con la reflexión aparecen los mensajes ocultos. Hay mucha imperfección en cada personaje de esta novela y eso es algo que Ann Radcliffe sabe bien, porque la vida real es así. En la vida real no hay villanos ni héroes, hay personas. En la novela hay antagonistas, como es lógico, pero no son malvados sino personas con unos intereses que los llevan a cometer faltas muy grandes, pecados capitales y el resultado es la muerte o algo similar. Este mensaje en el que Radcliffe pone énfasis en transmitir me gusta, es pesimista y realista. Pesimista porque no hay oportunidad para la redención, realista porque más allá de las páginas de una novela, la vida es así. Cuando cometes una falta tan grave que dañas a los seres que hay a tu alrededor no puedes esperar salir indemne, no puedes pretender que todo siga igual. El dolor es el precio a pagar.

“¡Cuán terrible es esta quietud! ¡Oh, vosotros que habéis conocer lo que es vivir en medio de la soledad más profunda, que habéis pasado vuestros monótonos días sin ningún sonido que os alegrara; vosotros, solo vosotros, podéis saber lo que ahora siento y lo que estaría dispuesto a soportar con tal de oír los acentos de una voz humana”

Ya que me he metido en los temas, creo que es conveniente abordar este punto. Hace tiempo estuve hablando con una compañera de “profesión” sobre «lo sublime». En aquel entonces me resulto difícil de entender, hay que tener cierta madurez mental para entenderlo de la que, humildemente admito, yo todavía carezco. Lo sublime (véase página 496) es aquello que genera deseo y te destruye según Burke. Obviamente es mucho más complejo que esta frase tan intensa que os acabo de soltar y la novela sabe llevar tal idea como tema de manera apropiada. Lo sublime está en el aire.

El incesto es tratado de pasada aunque muy bien llevado para estar situada la novela en el siglo XVII y escrita en el dieciocho.

Por otra parte, la utilización de la formula “veo algo que me impacta entonces me desmayo” se emplea de forma tan reiterada que puede llegar a convertir la novela en una lectura tediosa. Está bien, es truco bastante útil pero utilizarlo tanto puede dar la sensación de no saber cómo abordar el problema, y efectivamente, la da. La misma autora debió de acabar de los desmayos bastante harta. Al final los personajes adquieren la capacidad sobrehumana de desmayarse escasos segundos para no darse contra la mesa.

Otro punto negativo destacable es que hay explicaciones muy pobres de hechos muy importantes y en muchos casos cogidos por los pelos. El total y absoluto abuso en el tercer volumen del cambio de escena fue otra cosa que no me gusto. La historia se torna caótica porque en un mismo capítulo aborda demasiados puntos de vista, primero los de unos personajes que están en la punta del país y luego otros que están en la Conchinchina. El cambio de escena no se hace de manera sutil y da la impresión de querer terminar con la historia de una vez por todas. Los hechos se suceden de forma muy precipitada y el lector no puede asimilar tanta información, información importante cabe añadir, en menos de cincuenta páginas.

Como he dicho antes los paisajes es uno de los elementos más logrados de la novela y captan la esencia de cada lugar. Hay gran variedad de escenas en diferentes lugares de Europa por lo que da la sensación de que el libro avanza bastante rápido y contrarresta con la sensación agridulce que deja tanto desmayo.

El recurso de poner poemas o fragmentos de obras de diferentes poetas o dramaturgos del siglo XVII y XVIII parece casi necesario de la obra de Radcliffe, al menos para mí. Cada uno de ellos da una pequeña información sobre lo que vamos a encontrar en el capítulo que abre y me parece una buena forma de hacer que el lector vaya con ciertas maneras a leer tal capítulo. Nuestra autora en una gran seguidora de la obra de Shakespeare, no cabe duda.

Los elementos sobrenaturales son escasos , muy escasos. En el tercer volumen no aparece ninguno que sea digno de mención y en el resto de volúmenes son bastante mediocres comparados con otros que crea en novelas posteriores ella misma. Los sonidos del viento que parecen voces fantasmales no son tampoco gran cosa, y las descripciones de ellos mismos pueden ser hasta mediocres. Lo más próximo que hay al horror, el manuscrito hallado en la abadía y cierto cuerpo en estado de putrefacción son lo más interesante y logrado sin duda. Pero repito, he leído cosas mejores de ella.

Y llegamos al final de la reseña donde necesito hacer un inciso. Juan Antonio Molina Foix que amablemente ha engrandecido esta obra con esa preciosa traducción (y ese pedazo de introducción que me solucionó muchísimas dudas de la novela gótica) afirma que para él la mejor novela de la autora es esta. Personalmente lo veo así ya que es una obra donde las características góticas se vean continuamente. Está bien nos encontramos ante una obra claramente gótica pero…suavecita. Como siempre afirmo El Italiano me parece mejor lograda en este aspecto.

En resumen si pretende leer una buena obra dieciochesca y nadar en los inicios de la novela histórica y la novela gótica recomiendo encarecidamente esta novela . No solo por lo bien escrita que está, también por los personajes, por la edición tan cuidada que tiene y porque la historia vale muchísimo la pena. La tita Radcliffe es la mejor.

[Victorian Spirit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ann Radcliffe, la madre de la novela gótica, nos ofrece una historia que bascula entre el terror y el romance y que sirvió de referencia a buena parte de los autores que la precedieron en el siglo XIX.

La familia de La Motte huye de París, asediada por las deudas y perseguida por la justicia. Por el camino, recogerán a Adeline, una joven sin familia y de pasado misterioso. En medio del bosque encontrarán una abadía en ruinas que les servirá de refugio, pero pronto descubrirán que para guarecerse allí tendrán que pagar un precio muy alto.

Esta novela, rehén del género al que pertenece, ha envejecido mal y confirma el gran salto cualitativo que en lo narrativo se vivió con los autores del siglo XIX. Cercano al cuento, la historia arrancará repleta de incógnitas y con una fuerza que irá perdiendo según avanza.

RESEÑA COMPLETA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKgbA...

[Inese Okonova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jāatzīst, ka ar manu dzēlīgo komentāru pa aplami minēto gadsimtu uz grāmatas vāka viss ir mazliet piņķerīgāk. Romāna darbība patiešām notiek 17. gadsimtā. Par to nešaubīgi liecina tekstā minēts gadaskaitlis. Tas gan nemaina faktu, ka karalienes kaklarotas afēra notika 18. gadsimta beigās. Tātad Redklifa, pat ja izvēlējās par saviem varoņiem dēkā iesaistītos de la Motus tieši dēkas dēļ, pārcēla viņus uz citu laiku un nekur tekstā afēra arī netiek pieminēta. Un vāka komentārs, kas liek domāt, ka kaklarotas afēra notika 17. gadsimtā, IR aplams.

Bet pats romāns? Gribēju to izlasīt kā gotiskā romāna piemēru, un tāds tas arī ir. Noslēpumainas abatijas drupas, čīkstošas grīdas, rēgi, biezs mežs, ļaundari, cēli bruņinieki un galvenās varones izcelšanās noslēpums - tas viss tur ir. Lasīt bija interesanti un uzjautrinoši. Domāju, ka tieši tā nākamās paaudzes uztvers vairumu labāko mūsu laika modes romānu.

P.S. Nelāgi, ka lielisko tulkojumu mazliet iebojā paviršības kļūdas. De la Motas kundze kaut kur kļūst par de la Motes kundzi. Pītera māsa vienbrīd minēta kā sieva, un dēla pienākums sajaukts ar tēva pienākumu.

[Lindsay Bilgram · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me: I love everything Gothic!
*reads a Gothic for the first time*
Me: maybe I don't love everything gothic

[Cynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Emma, Harriet Smith likes this book so much that she recommends it to her friend Mr. Martin. So I have long been curious about this book, knowing that Harriet is literate enough to be a novel reader, but not literate enough to figure out the word puzzles others work out with rather more ease. So what is the narrator indicating about this novel? Oh what is the writer Jane Austen playing at?

Having finally read the novel, I now have a clue to my own riddle. This is a good novel, a respectable piece of literature much in the same way that Harriet is a good friend and will make a good respectable wife to a respectable farmer.

The plot starts slow as Harriet starts slow and then gains command of itself, its plot, all in a hurry toward the end of the nkvel.

The characterization is filled out in the way that character of Harriet Smith is filled out.

Seems the narrator--and writer--of Emma liken Harriet and The Romance of the Forest. Aptly done.

[Charlotte L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Si vous devez lire ce livre, je pense que le plus important est de connaître d'abord le titre original de l'oeuvre, à savoir "The romance of the forest". Ce qui est quand même très différent de la traduction. Si j'avais lu le titre original dès le début - et non pas après 300 pages - j'aurais peut-être été moins profondément ennuyée par la première moitié du roman. Je m'attendais à tout sauf à ce qui est conté dans ce livre. Je m'attendais à de vrais mystères, voire à un peu de mystique, mais en fait il s'agit plutôt de la destinée d'une jeune femme et des coups du destin qu'elle endure.
Mais il n'empêche que je n'ai vraiment pas accroché au style de l'auteure, et que je donne 2 étoiles (enfin plutôt 2,5) seulement parce que la fin connaît des rebondissements assez prenants et auxquels je ne m'attendais vraiment pas. Les coïncidences du livre sont franchement dures à croire, il y a un côté vraiment naïf parfois et l'héroïne s'évanouit environ 50 fois dans l'histoire c'est insupportable.
Je l'oublierai vite et je n'en serai pas fâchée !

[Lady Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Well, I will say this for Ann Radcliffe: I liked this better than The Mysteries of Udolpho, but not as much as The Italian.

Looking back to what this counts as, a Romantic Gothic, I think I'm beginning to see where the root of soap operas comes from. It's a plot that starts off fairly simple, but with layers upon layers of mystery surrounding it, and those layers just get more and more complicated as we peel them back. You know, the whole "it's not what it seems" gambit, with that unexpected twist that reveals to us how messed up everything really was the whole time.

Again, in some cases, like the ever-terrifying and ever-incredible The Monk, this works because of how far the authors are willing to go, and how everything is constantly full of action and darkness and with mystery. Ann Radcliffe definitely kickstarted a bunch of these things put into play, but, apart from The Italian (which I will need to re-read and reassess to determine whether I can go the full five stars on it), I wouldn't say that she's my favourite Gothic author or anything like that anytime soon.

Much as I've grown to like and have a respect for the Romantics, the Victorians still uphold my favourite gothics. (Again, Matthew Lewis is an exception here, but...come on, he kind of has to be, what with a villain like Ambrosio as his frontrunner. The Marquis in this story just can't compete.)

[Lola Pearce · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I read this novel, The main heroin Adeline, reminded me somewhat of Penelope Pitstop. She was always in grave physical danger, always being rescued by either villains dressed up as saviours, or dashing would-be lovers, she does a lot of crying and fainting ( and being quite useless). She also never suspects that ‘the hooded claw’ is also a wicked uncle.
I can say though, that I was never bored. We go from one tense or terrifying standoff to another, and the backdrop for the drama is ‘enchanted’ forests, gardens, ruined Abbys and deserted tombs.
It’s easy to see why this was a popular book of the gothic romance/horror genre when it was written in 1791 ( not a literary favourite, but a best seller).
The Romance of the Forest has been on my must read list for about 5 years, as I wanted to read any book Jane Austen read, and mentions in her own novels.
I did enjoy this work and would read other books by Radcliffe.
3 stars from me overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[El · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to review a book like this without giving away some key points (aka, spoilers), so I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut. The story got better as it went on - the beginning sort of bored me. There's a lot of preamble and mood-setting which is all fine and dandy, except I just wanted to get to the meat of the matter. Enough foreplay already.

It's totally Gothic. It's filled with secrets, a lot of darkness, plenty of mystery, and a whole lot of freaking tears. Seriously, I was ready to build an ark due to all of Adeline's tears. She cried more than an adolescent girl reading Twilight. She cried more than that guy who sat in front of me that time I had to see Titanic in the movie theater.

If Adeline made money off of every tear that fell, she would have been a rich literary character.

Other than the excessive tears (which I understand is really an aspect of Gothic literature, so whatevs), there were some 18th-century things taht just sort of bugged me because I'm totally a 20th/21st-century gal - things like people in the story don't open their eyes. They "unclose" them. I believe this word was used in relation to a door as well. "Unclosing" eyes or doors or whatever else is a little creepy to me. It sounds... unnatural. And then there were other little British things that bugged me. Like the spellings of "surprize" and "apprize". Totally distracting.

I have never felt so modern than I did while reading this.

In all seriousness it was a fine story. A bit melodramatic for what I needed right now though. If I have to hold my own shit together, I don't have much sympathy for characters who faint, swoon, cry, whatever at every drop of a pin. I sorta wanted to bitch-slap Adeline a few times, but then realized that all of the characters were a bit wussy.

I'll still read The Mysteries of Udolpho. Radcliffe was incredible at describing environment - whether it was nature or a ruined abbey. I'm interested in seeing how her other Gothic novels hold up in comparison.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

In literature, few things stir my ire quite like ridiculous coincidences being used as a means of advancing or tying together a plot. It's a testament to the charm of Ann Radcliffe's fiction that the last quarter of this book didn't derail my enjoyment all that much. I am completely won over by her painterly descriptions of landscape (not quite as accomplished here as in The Mysteries of Udolpho, a better work overall), as well as the portrayals of idyllic family life that bookend her works. There is an edifying quality, an essential goodness akin to that found in Dickens, about her novels which I think will always attract me and fill me with wonder and longing for a world (or a caliber of man) better than this one. I even like the poetry. This is an essential writer in the Gothic/Romantic tradition, and I intend to read her oeuvre.

[Martine Liponoga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: This was my first Ann Radcliffe novel. It was, I would say, my first proper encounter with anything of this infamous genre. I’d say the closest I’ve been before was with Dracula, and that has so much horror and fantasy that I just think it’s almost apples and oranges.

I was fully braced for delicate, weeping females of noble, virtuous heart and positively dripping with good qualities. I was prepped for gloomy forests which contained many dark secrets. Love a good ruined castle; was expecting one of those.

It absolutely did not disappoint, on all those points. There’s murder and foul play, there’s the poor but beautiful orphan without a friend in the world, to whom will she turn, will no one help her? and there’s the evocative imagery that the title conjures. And by and large, I found it immensely enjoyable. I needn’t wax lyrical about the Gothic Novel, and honestly I don’t think I need to go in any great depth into the plot, but here are a few random observations:

The Romance of the Forest was written in 1791. What I have found in reading works from the 1700s is that this is the period (for me, at least) when one of the biggest changes in prose style occurred, particularly regarding sentence length and use of commas. Check out the length of the second sentence of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, written in 1719:

“He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called—nay we call ourselves and write our name—Crusoe; and so my companions always called me.”

Cripes. It’s a lot to untangle if you’re not used to it. And Robinson Crusoe isn’t even particularly hard going. If you fancy a challenge, try Lady Mary Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters, from about the same time.

By the end of the 18th Century the syntax seems have made a big shift towards shorter and more comprehensible sentences, and it was that change from which I benefitted when reading The Romance of the Forest. There were still a few things that jarred, but by and large the prose differed little in sentence structure to present day.

The main difference between eras of literature was sheer length! Was Radcliffe paid per word? The longer the better? Copious amounts of description abounds, paragraph after paragraph, in a manner to which a modern-day editor would immediately take the red pen. And it took some getting used to, but honestly, once I was in the right gear, I didn’t hate it. It was certainly a chance to wallow in prose.

The other very obvious observation was in the depiction of the lovely heroine, Adeline. Adeline, in a nutshell, wept throughout the entire novel. Not a page could go by without her eyes filling with tears. If there was a The Romance of the Forest drinking game, and it was one sip of wine for “tears” and two for “gloomy”, you’d be on the floor halfway through the first chapter.

Which is weird, for two reasons. The first is that she’s not a pushover. She does faint a few times (because of course she does), but she goes exploring, and trying to solve mysteries (even when they involve skeletons in dungeons), and walks alone in the forest, and flees when imprisoned. All in all, her actions are fairly ballsy given the era, despite the fact that she does it all while crying and fainting and sighing over things.

And the second reason it’s strange is that for heaven’s sake, it was written by a woman! Is this what Radcliffe wanted to be, a delicately weeping young lady who was beyond reproach, but to whom deliciously horrible things just kept happening? Apparently we don’t really know enough about her to draw a conclusion on why her heroine is so feeble. But this isn’t a product of the era alone – plenty of female characters from this time were decidedly practical, from Lizzie Bennet to Fanny Hill.

Apart from that there were a couple of other aspects of note. The first was that, towards the end, the chapters seemed to start rambling. There was a whole chapter, I think set in Nice, which seemed to serve no real purpose, and which only made me forget the villains of the piece who went a long time without a mention. And as I ground my way through these towards the end, and the remaining pages grew fewer and fewer, I found myself wondering how on earth the novel could possibly be resolved in time. I started suspecting that it never would be, and that the distancing of the antagonists was deliberate, so that when they never got their comeuppance, the reader wouldn’t be as indignant.

I needn’t have worried. The final chapter or so suddenly launches into such a frenzied high gear that I found myself wondering when cocaine had entered English society, and if Mrs Radcliffe had just been offered some. All loose ends are tied, all villains bite the dust, and all heroes and heroines live happily ever after, and find themselves conveniently rich to boot. Huzzah, say I.

I enjoyed The Romance of the Forest a great deal. It was an education for me, in a classic genre that I’d never really explored, and one which plays an important part of the development of English literature. I loved the free rein and joyful abandonment which was given to descriptions of places which the author had surely never visited, and I smiled at the occasional French character who declared that English writers were certainly the best there were.

One to give a go when you’ve plenty of time and patience!

[Yasmina · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai au final a-do-ré ce livre ! Passé les langueurs des premières pages (qq centaines de pages quand même) & en faisant fi des éléments gothiques à peine développés j'ai été bluffé par l'intrigue. On se surprend à être happé par l'histoire & éprouver les émotions des paysages.
Enfin la dimension romanesque prend une part importante dans ce récit, fait que je n'avais pas forcé soupçonné au vu du titre du roman. Un bon classique ? Très certainement :)

[Monica. A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo aver letto tutti i romanzi reperibili in italiano dell'autrice,  Il Romanzo della Foresta, primo successo di Ann Radcliffe, sembra racchiudere tutti gli elementi del gotico ma nella giusta misura.
Pur continuando a tollerare poco i sonetti, che anche qui non ci vengono risparmiati,  la trama è scorrevole e misurata. Sì, Adeline continua a svenire eccessivamente ed è più caduca di una foglia autunnale, però tutto il resto risulta più credibile rispetto agli altri romanzi.
La causalità degli incontri inverosimilmente fortuiti è già presente in questo romanzo, ma sembra essere leggermente più misurata.
Mancano totalmente scene da horror, quindi niente fantasmi o gli eventi soprannaturali che sembrano caratterizzare le opere successive.
Tutto sommato, questo sembra essere il romanzo più leggibile e privo di inutili fronzoli.
La prima parte,  dedicata alla vita clandestina dentro la vecchia abbazia, è quella più affine al gotico,  la natura selvaggia incute timore, così come le segrete e le stanze fredde e buie dell'abbazia. 
Poi la seconda parte,  dedicata alla nuova vita in Savoia, vede una natura più mite e accogliente,  il ritorno della speranza e della luce in contrasto con il buio della natura ostile che Eveline si è lasciata alle spalle.
La terza parte,  quella solita dei chiarimenti e delle relazioni di parentela svelate,  si svolge a Parigi ed è totalmente volta al futuro ritorno a casa.
In questo più che in altri suoi romanzi,  si comprende appieno il significato di "sublime", considerato come quel senso di orrore che attrae e affascina accresciuto dalla tensione e dalla mancata soddisfazione della curiosità.
Largamente citato da molti altri romanzi e scrittrici ottocentesche, una fra tutte Jane Austen che faceva leggere il libro ai suoi personaggi, anche a distanza di secoli, visto che risale al 1791, non delude le aspettative.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free download available at Project Gutenberg

I made the proofing the book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.

Thanks dear Dagny for making the smooth-reading of this book!

[Estrella · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐
Qué pena haberlo terminado, he estado leyéndolo por casi tres semanas y me sumergí en sus páginas desde el principio. Sin ninguna duda leeré otros libros de Ann Radcliffe. Él que más curiosidad me produce es “Los misterios de Udolfo” ya que es el libro que más veces menciona Catherine Morland, la protagonista de “La Abadía de Northanger” de Jane Austen y la culpable de que yo esté tan metida en la novela gótica. Pero, también tengo anotados “El italiano” y “A sicilian romance”.
El libro empieza con la huida del matrimonio La Motte de Paris, les persigue la ruina económica y algunos delitos de fraude cometidos por el señor La Motte. Huyen con lo poco que han conseguido meter en el carruaje, les acompañan un par de criados, entre ellos el fiel Peter. Al poco de dejar la ciudad y en la oscuridad de la noche se hallan perdidos y el marido decide parar a preguntar en una casucha que ve, allí es donde hará acto de presencia la heroína de la novela, Adeline. No sabemos cómo ha acabado medio prisionera de unos hombres que parecen bandidos. Uno de ellos decide entregársela a La Motte con la promesa de que se la llevarán lejos de allí. Al final el matrimonio decide acoger a la muchacha que parece estar completamente desamparada.
Este grupo tan variopinto parece encontrar refugio en medio del bosque en una Abadía medio derruida, no parece una morada muy acogedora y más después de la vida que habían llevado en la ciudad, pero creen que allí nadie los encontrará. Al fin y al cabo, La Motte está huyendo de la justicia. Peter se hace con unos pocos muebles en un pueblo cercano y hacen de la abadía su nuevo hogar.
El libro se rodea desde el principio de una atmósfera misteriosa, oscura, llena de parajes bucólicos. Las descripciones del paisaje hacen que te sientas dentro de la historia. La narración es fluida y aún siendo un libro de más de 500 páginas en ningún momento se te hace pesado. Continuamente están pasando cosas, el lugar mismo donde se asientan, la abadía, encierra muchos misterios, pero también la vida de los personajes, de Adeline no sabemos apenas nada al principio. Aparte de que ha sido abandonada por su padre y de qué pasó gran parte de su adolescencia en un convento. De Madame y Monsieur La Motte parecido. Pronto aparecerá además cierto personaje que les pondrá las cosas muy difíciles a todos, sobre todo a Adeline. La narración está llena de tensión, intrigas, en muchos momentos me temí lo peor, la verdad. También me arrancó más de una sonrisa alguna que otra escena que me recordaba a otras escenas vividas por Catherine Morland en “La abadía de Northanger” aunque en su caso sólo eran fruto de una imaginación influenciada por el gusto hacia las novelas góticas.
Añadir que la edición de Cátedra es magnífica, cuenta con muchas notas a pie de página, una introducción a la obra, a la autora y al contexto histórico, biografía, bibliografía, índice. Una traducción excelente.
Es una pena que no se la conozca más, al menos en español, sí que había oído hablar de Udolfo, pero poco más y a la hora de buscar sus libros en las librerías no he encontrado ninguno, sólo estaba bajo pedido. Ann Radcliffe es conocida como la madre de la novela gótica y su legado ha influenciado a muchos escritores como Matthew G Lewis, Byron o las hermanas Brönte. Fue “la primera poetisa de la ficción romántica” en palabras de Walter Scott.

Antes de ponerme con otra de sus novelas, quiero leer alguno de los clásicos que tengo en casa pendientes. Estoy entre “El monje” de Matthew G Lewis (también lo mencionan en el libro de Jane Austen) o “La dama de blanco” de Wilkie Collins. Me propuse a principios de año retomar los clásicos que tanto leí en el instituto y parece que he entrado por la puerta grande. Sobre todo gracias a las lecturas conjuntas en las que estoy participando para celebrar el 250 aniversario del nacimiento de Jane Austen. Y ahora con mi entrada en el mundo de la novela gótica.

[Adelyn Olson · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️
I'm surprised anyone got anything done considering the preponderance of faintings and weepings and gnashings of teeth. Entirely too much emotion

[Emma Care · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó!!!

Es la primera novela que leo de esta escritora, pero ya digo que no será la última.
Se considera la primera novela gótica y la verdad, no me extraña, su exquisita pluma lo merece. En cada página sientes y vives lo sentimientos de cada uno de los personajes, que no son pocos. La historia está entretejida con maestría y la pareja protagonista... Hacía tiempo que no leía una historia con tantos "padecimientos". Pero el sufrimiento merece la pena.

[emilia .·:*¨༺ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book probably had the most beautiful imagery I have ever encountered in a classic novel. I like how throughout the book, the gothic elements faded into a sort of melancholy beauty.