| 12nd | Top early-modern women poets (UK) |
| Ann Radcliffe | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 July 1764 Holborn, London |
| Died | 7 February 1823 (aged 58) |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | English |
| Genres | Gothic novel |
Ann Radcliffe (9 July 1764 – 7 February 1823) was an English author, a pioneer of the gothic novel. She published as Mrs. Radcliffe. It was her technique of the explained supernatural, in which every seemingly supernatural intrusion is eventually traced back to natural causes, and the impeccable conduct of her heroines that finally met with the approval of the reviewers, transforming the gothic novel into something socially acceptable.
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Radcliffe was born as Ann Ward in Holborn, London. Her father was William Ward, a haberdasher; her mother was Ann Oates. At the age of 22, she married journalist William Radcliffe, owner and editor of the English Chronicle, in Bath in 1788. The marriage was childless and, to amuse herself, she began to write fiction, which her husband encouraged.
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 7 February 1823 from respiratory problems probably caused by pneumonia. She was buried in Saint George's Church, Hanover Square in London.
Paul Féval, père used her as his protagonist in the novel La Ville Vampire (translated as Vampire City).
In the film Becoming Jane, she is portrayed by Helen McCrory, in a scene where she meets Jane Austen and encourages her to embark on a writing career (there is no historical evidence of such a meeting, though as noted Radcliffe's works had clearly influenced Austen's).
In Maria Edgeworth's book Belinda, Lady Delacour remarks on Clarence Hervey's letters, "Here, my love, if you like description...here is a Radcliffean tour along the picturesque coasts of Dorset and Devonshire."
A biography of Radcliffe, by Deborah Rogers, was published in 1996.
Ann Radcliffe, (July 9, 1764 - February 7, 1823) was an English author, a pioneer of the gothic novel.
RADCLIFFE, ANN (1764-1823), English novelist, only daughter of William and Ann Ward, was born in London on the 9th of July 1764. She was the author of three famous novels: The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1797). When she was twentythree years old she married William Radcliffe, an Oxford graduate and student of law. He gave up his profession for literature, and afterwards became proprietor and editor of the English Chronicle. After The Italian she gave up writing for publication, and was reported to have been driven mad by the horrors of her own creations, but the nearest approach to eccentricity on Mrs Radcliffe's part was dislike of public notice. Of scenery Mrs Radcliffe was an enthusiastic admirer, and she made driving tours with her husband every other summer through the English counties. She died on the 7th of February 1823. In the history of the English novel, Mrs Radcliffe holds an interesting place. She is too often confounded with her imitators, who vulgarized her favourite "properties" of rambling and ruinous old castles, dark, desperate and cadaverous villains, secret passages, vaults, trapdoors, evidences of deeds of monstrous crime, sights and sounds of mysterious horror. She deserves at least the credit of originating a school of which she was the most distinguished exponent; and none of her numerous imitators approach her in ingenuity of plot, fertility of incident or skill in devising apparently supernatural occurrences capable of explanation by human agency and natural coincidence. She had a genuine gift for scenic effect, and her vivid imagination provided every tragic situation in her stories with its appropriate setting. Sir Walter Scott wrote an appreciative essay for the edition of 1824, and Miss Christina Rossetti was one of her admirers. She exercised a great influence on her contemporaries, and "Schedoni" in The Italian is one of the prototypes of the Byronic hero.
Categories: R-RAN | English writers
| Ann Radcliffe | |
|---|---|
| File:Ann | |
| Born | 9 July 1764 Holborn, London |
| Died | February 7, 1823 (aged 58) |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | English |
| Genres | Gothic novel |
Ann Radcliffe was born in London in 1764.[1] Her father was a trader, but when she was little, she lived mostly in the houses of richer relations.[1] In 1772 her family moved to Bath, where it is possible she may have gone to a school run by Sophia and Harriet Lee.[1] She married in 1787 William Radcliffe, who later became the editor of the English Chronicle.[1] It was probably with his help that she began writing for fun. Her first tries to write romance stories were The Castle of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789) and A Sicilian Romance (1790). They were both published secretly.[1] The Romnce of the Forest (1791) made her famous as the writer of Gothic romances, the "hobgoblin romance", later called "the Radcliffe romance".[1] Two novels published when she was alive, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italin (1797), helped make her famous as "the Great Enchantress". Radcliffe was also a great traveller. She made a book after she traveled to the Continent, A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794, through Holland and the Western Frontier of Germany...To Which Are Added Observations of a Tour to the Lakes (1795). But the tours written about in the novels were based on travel books, landscape paintings, and imagination. Walter Scott called Radcliffe "the first poetess of romantic fiction".[1] Even though she was famous, Radcliffe liked to be private.[1] She later had asthma, and died from an asthma attack in 1823.[1]
   | Biography, links, and e-texts at The Literary Gothic - The Literary Gothic | Ann Radcliffe |
| | Listing in The Victorian Web - Ann Radcliffe: An Evaluation |
| | Listing at Zittaw Press - Hometown Has Been Shutdown - People Connection Blog: AIM Community Network |
| | Book description for Gaston de Blondeville at Valancourt Books - Valancourt Books: Valancourt Classics Catalogue |
| | 'Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823)' at www.chawton.org - Chawton House Library: Library and early women's writing - Women writers - Ann Radcliffe |
| | The Mysteries of Udolpho - The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe |
| | works by Ann Radcliffe - Cannot find Project Gutenberg Author Radcliffe, Ann |
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