For the Jane Austen Fan, But Not for the Faint of Heart

          The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”  Dr. Seuss

          After about two and half months, I have finally finished reading The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. This is no small accomplishment for me because not only does this cement my status as a Jane Austen fan, but it also means that I successfully read 672 pages of pure melodrama without throwing in the towel.

          The story centers around the orphaned Emily St. Aubert. Victimized throughout the story, Emily holds onto the thought of her lover, Valancourt, to help her survive the capriciousness of her guardian aunt and the evil schemes of her uncle, the Count Montoni. After being spirited away from her native France, she is held captive by Montoni in the dark castle, Udolpho, until some servants and a fellow prisoner help her escape.  In an odd and slightly confusing twist, new characters are introduced after Emily is liberated and the story shifts away from the "mysteries of Udolpho" to a mystery surrounding Emily's deceased father. A sudden revelation about her beloved Valancourt also throws a wrench in the Emily's dreams of a happy ending. Thankfully, all the mysteries and conflicts are eventually resolved and every obscure plot line is miraculously connected at the end.

I bought my copy at the Jane Austen Center in Bath, U.K

          If the above summary was the entirety of the book in a nutshell, then I probably would consider my time well spent. Unfortunately, the melodramatic undertone of the book turned even the conclusion into an unsatisfying let down. One rule of thumb that my creative writing instructor instilled in me was that "if your characters are constantly feeling sorry for themselves, then it will be hard for the reader to feel sorry for them." There was so much sorrow, depression, self-pity, crying, fainting, over-wrought sensibilities, and borderline manic frenzy that any shade of sympathy I might have felt for the hero and heroine disappeared within the first 100 pages. I now understand how Jane Austen could write a satire poking fun at this Gothic novel. 

          My final complaint lies behind the wordiness of the text. I am a wordy writer. I fully and completely admit that. But my wordiness does not hold a candle to the plethoric verbiage used by Radcliffe. At first I appreciated her minute descriptions of the setting, but the high-minded sensibility that put the characters into raptures over every mountain and valley soon bogged me down. In short, if the descriptions had been edited a little, the book probably would have been cut in half.
        
          To be fair, the plot was engaging enough for me to continue reading with plenty of curiosity. Radcliffe did an excellent job of teasing the reader with hints of horror without fully expanding the story in that direction. I also appreciate what Ann Radcliffe was able to accomplish through her works. Not only was she one of the first successful female authors in the English language, but she pioneered in the Gothic genre and influenced other writers such as Edgar Allan Poe.
        
          I would recommend The Mysteries of Udolpho to any serious Jane Austen fan and to those who enjoy Gothic novels but aren't intimidated by long novels. The book overall receives 2 out of 5 stars from me: 1 star for the Gothic elements of the story and 1 star for the sense of accomplishment I got when I finally put the book down.

Radcliffe, Ann. The Mysteries of Udolpho. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.