Ann Radcliffe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ann Ward (1764-07-09)9 July 1764 Holborn, London, England |
| Died | 7 February 1823(1823-02-07) (aged 58) London, England |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Genre | Gothic |
Ann Radcliffe (néeWard; 9 July 1764 – 7 February 1823) was an English novelist, a pioneer ofGothic fiction, and a minor poet.[1] She has been credited with gaining respectability for Gothic fiction in the 1790s through her technique of explaining apparentlysupernatural elements in her novels.[2] Her fourth and most popular novel,The Mysteries of Udolpho, was published in 1794.
Radcliffe was the most popular writer of her day and almost universally admired; contemporary critics called her the "mighty enchantress" and theShakespeare of romance-writers, and her popularity continued through the 19th century.[3] Interest in Radcliffe and her work has revived in the early 21st century, with the publication of three biographies.[4]
Radcliffe was born Ann Ward inHolborn, London on 9 July 1764.[5] She was the only child of William Ward (1737–1798) and Ann Oates (1726–1800).[6] Biographies of Radcliffe typically emphasize her illustrious distant relatives over her close relatives, who were intrade, as part of cultivating a genteel and ladylike reputation for her.[7] At the time of her birth, her father owned ahaberdasher shop in London.[6] Her mother came from a family of leadmakers andglaziers.[8] Her father had a famous uncle,William Cheselden, who was Surgeon toKing George II; her mother descended from theDe Witt family of Holland and her cousins includedSir Richard Jebb, a fashionable London physician,[6] and a Bishop,Samuel Hallifax.[9]
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In 1772, Radcliffe's father moved toBath to manage a shop owned byThomas Bentley andJosiah Wedgwood, makers ofWedgwood porcelain.[6] The shop was intended to sell second-rate goods to the less-discerning tourists of Bath, and her father avidly promoted the business.[10][a] Radcliffe's father also supplemented his income by renting rooms to lodgers.[11] Bentley was Radcliffe's maternal uncle, and more respectable as a land-owning member of thegentry. She often paid extended visits to his home inChelsea, London and laterTurnham Green.[12][13] Wedgwood's daughterSusannah, known by the nickname Sukey, also stayed in Chelsea and is Radcliffe's only known childhood companion.[b][13] Although mixing in some distinguished circles, Radcliffe seems to have made little impression in this society and was described by Wedgwood as "Bentley's shy little niece".[14] Bentley and Wedgwood were bothUnitarians,[15] as was Radcliffe's grand-uncle Dr.John Jebb.[9] Radcliffe herself regularly attendedAnglican church services, but her biographerRictor Norton suggests that she remained sympathetic to Unitarian andDissenters.[16]
In 1787, when Radcliffe was 23 years old, she married William Radcliffe (1763–1830), anOxford-educated journalist. William had initially been a student of law, but he did not complete his legal studies and instead turned his attention to literature and journalism.[17] The couple were married in Bath, but soon after moved to London, where William Radcliffe got a job working for a paper.[18] He wrote for (and soon became the editor of) theGazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, a campaigning newspaper that "celebrated theFrench Revolution, freedom of the press, andDissenters' rights."[19]
Ann and William Radcliffe never had children.[20] By many accounts, theirs was a happy marriage. Radcliffe called him her "nearest relative and friend".[4] According to Talfourd's memoir, Ann started writing while her husband remained out late most evenings for work.[21] She published her first novel,The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, in 1789 at the age of 25, and published her next four novels in short succession. The money she earned from her novels later allowed her husband to quit his job, and paid for their vacation travel.[17] She also provided some financial support to her mother-in-law, Deborah Radcliffe.[22] In 1794, the Radcliffes went to the Netherlands and Germany. This was Radcliffe's only trip abroad, and it became the inspiration for atravelogue, titledA Journey Made in the Summer of 1794, that she published a year later. On this trip, the Radcliffes were initially meant to go on to Switzerland, but this plan was "frustrated by a disobliging official, who refused to believe that they were English, and would not honour their passports."[17] In 1795, William returned as editor of theGazetteer, and a year later, he purchased theEnglish ChronicleorUniversal Evening Post, aWhig newspaper. Ann Radcliffe publishedThe Italian in 1797, the last novel she would publish in her lifetime. She was paid £800 for it, which was three times her husband's yearly income.[19]
Radcliffe ceased publishing and lived privately for the next 26 years.[23] She spent the rest of her adult life travelling and living a comfortable life with her husband. They travelled domestically almost once a year from 1797 to 1811, and in later years, the Radcliffes hired a carriage during the summer months so that they could make trips to places near London.[17] Although she did not publish, Radcliffe continued to write.[17] She wrote poetry and another novel,Gaston de Blondeville, which was published after her death. She suffered fromasthma, for which she received regular treatment.[4]
Radcliffe's disinterest in public life led to frequent rumours that she had gone insane as a result of her writing,[24] or lived in dramatic seclusion inDerbyshire.[25] For example, a travel narrative published byElizabeth Isabella Spence in 1809 claimed that Radcliffe lived inHaddon Hall "under the most direful influence of ... incurable melancholy."[26] These rumours were so popular that her posthumous biography included a statement from her physician that spoke about her mental condition in her later years.[17]The New Monthly Magazine also published a rebuttal from her husband, insisting that "she was to be seen, every Sunday, atSt James's Church; almost every fine day inHyde Park; sometimes at the theatres, and very frequently at the Opera" and describing Radcliffe as "the rare union of the literary gentlewoman and the active housewife".[25]
In early 1823, Radcliffe went toRamsgate, where she caught a fatal chest infection. She died 7 February 1823 at the age of 58 and was buried in a vault in the Chapel of Ease at St George's,Hanover Square, London.[27] Although she had suffered from asthma for twelve years previously,[4] her modern biographer,Rictor Norton, argues that she likely died ofpneumonia caused by a bronchial infection, citing the description given by her physician, Dr. Scudamore, of how "a new inflammation seized the membranes of the brain".[28]
Radcliffe published five novels during her lifetime, which she always referred to as "romances". Her first novel,The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, was published anonymously in 1789. Early reviews were mostly unenthusiastic.[18]The Monthly Review said that, while the novel was commendable for its morality, it appealed only to women and children: "To men who have passed, or even attained, the meridian of life, a series of events, which seem not to have their foundation in nature, will ever be insipid, if not disgustful”. It was also largely criticized for its anachronisms and inauthentic renderings of theScottish Highlands.[29]
One year later, Radcliffe published her second novel,A Sicilian Romance, which proved a success, and, asWalter Scott recalled: "we ourselves well recollect, attracted in no ordinary degree the attention of the public."[30] In 1791, she published her third novel,The Romance of the Forest. Like her first two novels, this book was initially published anonymously. On the original title page, it stated that the novel was “By the Authoress of A Sicilian Romance”.[18]The Romance of the Forest was popular with readers, and in the second edition, Radcliffe began adding her own name to the title page.
In 1794, three years later, Radcliffe publishedThe Mysteries of Udolpho. At a time when the average amount earned by an author for a manuscript was £10, her publishers, G. G. and J. Robinson, bought the copyright for this novel for £500,[2] and it was a quick success. The money from this novel allowed her and her husband to travel to the Netherlands and Germany, which she described in her travelogueA Journey Made in the Summer of 1794 (1795).[31] In 1797, Radcliffe publishedThe Italian, the last novel published in her lifetime. Cadell and Davies paid £800, making Radcliffe the highest-paid professional writer of the 1790s.[2] This novel was written in response toMatthew Gregory Lewis'sThe Monk because Radcliffe did not like the direction in whichGothic literature was heading.Nick Groom, writes that inThe Italian, Radcliffe "takes the violence anderoticism that so titillated readers ofThe Monk and subsumes them beneath the veil and the cowl of oppressiveCatholicism."[19]
Three years after her death,Henry Colburn published a collection of her unpublished works. It included her final novelGaston de Blondeville, the long poemSt. Alban's Abbey, A Metrical Tale, and a short biography written byThomas Noon Talfourd with assistance from her husband.[32] It also contained some shorter poems and her essay "On the Supernatural in Poetry", which outlines her distinction between terror and horror.[5] Radcliffe stated that terror aims to stimulate readers through imagination and perceived evils, while horror closes them off through fear and physical dangers:[33] "Terror and Horror are so far opposite, that the first expands the soul and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life; the other contracts, freezes and nearly annihilates them."[34]
Radcliffe was also known for includingsupernatural elements but eventually giving readers a rational explanation for the supernatural. Usually, Radcliffe would reveal the logical excuse for what first appeared to be supernatural towards the end of her novels, which led to heightened suspense. Some critics and readers found this disappointing. Regarding Radcliffe's penchant for explaining the supernatural,Walter Scott writes inLives of the Novelists (1821–1824): “A stealthy step behind the arras may, doubtless, in some situations, and when the nerves are tuned to a certain pitch, have no small influence upon the imagination; but if the conscious listener discovers it to be only the noise made by the cat, the solemnity of the feeling is gone, and the visionary is at once angry with his sense for having been cheated, and with his reason for having acquiesced in the deception."[35] Some modern critics have been frustrated by her work, as she fails to include "real ghosts". This could be motivated by the idea that works in theRomantic period, from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, sought to undermineEnlightenment values such asrationalism andrealism.[35]
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Radcliffe's novels often used landscape descriptions to reinforce the emotional impact of the story.[36] Her elaborate descriptions of landscape were influenced by the paintersClaude Lorrain,Nicolas Poussin, andSalvator Rosa.[37] She often wrote about places she had never visited. Lorrain's influence can be seen through Radcliffe's picturesque, romantic descriptions, for example in the first volume ofThe Mysteries of Udolpho. Rosa's influence can be seen through dark landscapes and elements of the Gothic.
One assessment of Radcliffe reads, "Scott himself said that her prose was poetry and her poetry was prose. She was, indeed, aprose poet, in both the best and the worst senses of the phrase. The romantic landscape, the background, is the best thing in all her books; the characters are two dimensional, the plots far fetched and improbable, with 'elaboration of means and futility of result'."[38]
Radcliffe's work have been considered by some scholars to be part of a larger tradition ofanti-Catholicism within Gothic literature; her works contain hostile portrayals of bothCatholicism and Catholics.[39]The Italian frequently presents Catholicism, the largest religion in Italy, in a negative light. In the novel, Radcliffe portrays Catholic elements such as theInquisition unfavourably, pointing to its discriminatory practises against non-Catholics. Radcliffe also portrays theconfessional as a "danger zone" controlled by the power of the priest and the church.[40]The Mysteries of Udolpho also contained negative portrayals of Catholicism; both novels are set in Catholic-majority Italy, and Catholicism was presented as being part of "ancient Italianess". Italy, along with its Catholicism, had been featured in earlier Gothic literature;Horace Walpole's novelThe Castle of Otranto claimed in-universe that it was "found in the library of an ancient catholic family in the north of England" and "printed atNaples, in the black letter, in the year 1529".[41] Some scholars have suggested that Radcliffe's anti-Catholicism was partly a response to the1791 Roman Catholic Relief Act passed by theBritish parliament, which was a major component ofCatholic emancipation in Great Britain.[39] Other scholars have suggested that Radcliffe was ultimately ambivalent towards Catholicism, claiming that she was aLatitudinarian.[42]
I have read all Mrs. Radcliffe’s works, and most of them with great pleasure.The Mysteries of Udolpho, when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again;—I remember finishing it in two days—my hair standing on end the whole time.[43]
Radcliffe influenced many later authors, both by inspiring more Gothic fiction and by inspiringparodies. Radcliffe was almost synonymous with Gothic fiction, known for having spawned a large number of imitators of the "Radcliffe School".[44] Writers who followed in her lead includeHarriet Lee andCatherine Cuthbertson.[45] The writersMatthew Lewis (1775–1818) and theMarquis de Sade (1740–1814) also took inspiration from her work but produced more intensely violent fiction.Jane Austen (1775–1817) parodiedThe Mysteries of Udolpho inNorthanger Abbey (1817), and she defined herrealistic fiction as a contrast to Radcliffe's Gothic school.[45]
In the early nineteenth century, Radcliffe influencedEdgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), andSir Walter Scott (1771–1832). Scott interspersed his work with poems in a similar manner to Radcliffe.[38] Later in the nineteenth century,Charlotte andEmily Brontë continued Radcliffe's Gothic tradition with their novelsJane Eyre,Villette, andWuthering Heights.[citation needed]
Radcliffe was also admired by French authors includingHonoré de Balzac (1799–1850),Victor Hugo (1802–1885),Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870),George Sand (1804-1876), andCharles Baudelaire (1821–1867).[46]Honoré de Balzac's novel of the supernaturalL'Héritière de Birague (1822) follows and parodies Radcliffe's style.[47] In 1849,Mary Russell Mitford described the French admiration for Radcliffe in a letter:
The only one whom they appear really to appreciate is Mrs. Radcliffe ... It is quite amusing to see how much a writer, wellnigh forgotten in England, is admired in France. I dare say, now, you never read a page of her novels, and yet such critics asSte.-Beuve, such poets as Victor Hugo, such novelists as Balzac and George Sand, to say nothing of a thousand inferior writers, talk of her in raptures. I will venture to say that she is quoted fifty times where Scott is quoted once.[48]
As a child,Fyodor Dostoyevsky was deeply impressed by Radcliffe. InWinter Notes on Summer Impressions (1863) he writes, "I used to spend the long winter hours before bed listening (for I could not yet read), agape with ecstasy and terror, as my parents read aloud to me from the novels of Ann Radcliffe. Then I would rave deliriously about them in my sleep." A number of scholars have noted elements of Gothic literature in Dostoyevsky's novels,[49] and some have tried to show direct influence of Radcliffe's work.[50]
Several biographies have been written about Radcliffe, but all face the same problems of limited source material.[51] Radcliffe's journals are no longer extant, though a few excerpts were published shortly after her death.[52] Only three documents directly related to Radcliffe could be located by thebibliographerDeborah D. Rogers in 1996: her forty-two pagecommonplace book, a note to someone named Miss Williamson,[c] and her original contract forUdolpho.[54] Since then, a letter to her mother-in-law has also been found.[1][22]
Walter Scott published a brief "Prefatory memoir" about Radcliffe in 1824, as part ofThe Novels of Mrs. Ann Radcliffe in the Ballantyne Novelist's Library series.[55] The best-known biography of Radcliffe was published as a preface to some of her posthumous works in 1826.[52] It was written byThomas Noon Talfourd, using extracts from Racdliffe's journals and information provided by her husband.[52]Christina Rossetti attempted to write a biography of Radcliffe in 1883, but abandoned it for lack of information.[51]
Two full-length biographies were published in the mid twentieth century: Aline Grant'sAnn Radcliffe: A Biography (1951) and Pierre Arnaud'sAnn Radcliffe et le fantisque: essai de psychobiographie (1976).[51] Rictor Norton, author ofMistress of Udolpho: The Life of Ann Radcliffe (1999), argues that these years were "dominated by interpretation rather than scholarship" and that information (specifically on her rumoured madness) was repeated rather than traced to a reliable source.[51] Deborah D. Rogers included a twenty-page summary of Radcliffe's life inAnn Radcliffe: A Bio-Bibliography (1996), combining information from Talfourd with Radcliffe's commonplace book.[56] Norton's 1999 biography, more than ten times the length, incorporates archival materials related to Radcliffe's many relatives, as well as public discussion of her reputation, to expand on the context for her life.[57]
In 1875,Paul Féval wrote a story starring Radcliffe as avampire hunter, titledLa Ville Vampire: Adventure Incroyable de Madame Anne Radcliffe ("City of Vampires: The Incredible Adventure of Mrs. Anne Radcliffe"), which blends fiction and history.[58]
Helen McCrory plays Ann Radcliffe in the 2007 filmBecoming Jane, starringAnne Hathaway asJane Austen. The film depicts Radcliffe meeting the young Jane Austen and encouraging her to pursue a literary career. No evidence exists that such a meeting ever occurred.
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