mortisia:The Italian (novel)The Italian, or the Confessional of the Black Penitents (December, 1797)
mortisia:The Italian (novel)The Italian, or the Confessional of the Black Penitents (December, 1797) is a Gothic novel written by the English author Ann Ward Radcliffe. It is the last book Radcliffe published during her lifetime (she would go on to write the novel Gaston de Blondeville, which was published posthumously in 1826). At the time of the novel’s release, she was already a well-known and well-received Gothic writer. She had gained fame from several of her earlier works, most noticeably The Romance of the Forest in 1791 and The Mysteries of Udolpho in 1794. Her reputation was successful enough to allow her to be read by learned gentlemen as well as young men and women. Because the term ’gothic story’ was not commonly used in this period of time, Radcliffe’s contemporaries used the term ‘romance’ to describe her genre. This term was classified as writing about miraculous tales through the use of poetic prose.“…the first poetess of romance fiction..” – Sir Walter Scott The Italian has a dark, mysterious and somber tone, and concerns the themes of love, devotion and persecution by the Holy Inquisition. The novel also deals with issues prevalent at the time of the French Revolution, such as religion, aristocracy, and nationality. She uses the technique of scene imagery to evoke emotion in characters & to describe landscapes & surroundings in extreme detail. All of the imagery presented in The Italian pull the novel together by way of description, which sets the scene for the reader and the characters.“…the Shakespeare of Romance writers.” – Nathan DrakeRadcliffe’s renowned use of veiled imagery is considered to have reached its height of sophistication and complexity in The Italian; concealment and disguise are central motifs of the novel. In line with late 18th-century sensibility and its parallel fetishisation of the sublime and the sentimentally pastoral, the heightened emotional states of Radcliffe’s characters are often reflected through the pathetic fallacy. The novel is noted for its extremely effective antagonist, Father Schedoni. Read More || Edit -- source link