On Gothic Literature (Daniel Serravalle de Sá, 2005)

The gothic novel was intensely produced and avidly consumed from 1764 to around 1820, after that it started to decline. Among the reasons for its decay are a misevaluation on the narrative’s complexity, that made plots too intricate and confusing, along with an overexploitation of the genre by the increasing culture of consumerism .

The gothic is a manifestation affiliated to the Romance tradition, consequently it assumes some of its system of codes (representation of time and place) and methods of composition (structuring and development). There is a relative consistency of conventions, that make the gothic novel recognisable as a distinct type of fiction. Like in romance narratives, the gothic novel sets itself in past ages (often medieval) and in far away countries (usually Italy, Spain or France). The narrative progresses on an endless sequence of amazing circumstances, involving the heroine in breathtaking perils and lots of travelling around the country. There are also many symbolic representations in the gothic form, such as: disintegrating abbeys where malevolent priests dwell, gloomy castles inhabited by tyrannical aristocrats, dark forests where bandits hide, sublime sights of wilderness where persecuted heroines fear for the worst. It is then a hybrid form that blends idealised medieval proprieties with late 1800s manners and concerns. The gothic phenomenon was short-lived and delineated a response to a mutating society, within a specific period of time. However, some of its legacy endures and can still be observed in modern narratives, especially in the cinema. Although, these current stories contain elements recalled from the gothic tradition, they are not gothic fiction.

Historically, gothic aesthetics counteracted with the neo-classical ideals of balance, harmony and rationality. Depending on the outlook, generally linked to political affiliation, the word ‘gothic’ conveyed two meanings. Firstly, it designated an idealised democratic and freedom-loving British heritage, in opposition to a Roman and Greek legacy. In a fast changing society, it stood for a rejection of the revolutionary, the progress and the industrialism, that were taking place. This point of view was connected to an aristocratic or conservative part of the society. Secondly, the term ‘gothic’ expressed ancient relations within the social fabric. It denoted ‘old’, representing worn out ideals that could no longer exist in the new world that was being formed. This approach was related to the Whig party, the middle class and the row of society who shared a progressive opinion. The gothic novel was the space to discuss political questions, though, placing these anxieties in other countries and time. It embraced the liberal values of sentimentalism, virtue and family mingled with an aristocratic past; however, marked by refutation of tyranny, mishandling of power. In trying to conciliate these social disputes, the genre adopted the figure of a chivalric hero, a romantic knight who behaved according to the bourgeoisie values. His antagonist was the gothic villain, the embodiment of evil itself, representing the dark side of nobility and of the religious institutions.

Ann Radcliffe’s writings represent the zenith of gothic production but other novelists before her also developed the cult of suspense. Some people and books paved way for her works and influenced her to some degree. Among them, we could name the Graveyard Poets, who started at questioning rationalism, as well as proposing a scenario for the narratives (even though cemeteries and ghosts were not a breakthrough to British literature). It was, however, Sir Horace Walpole who actually planted the seed of the ‘uncanny’ and coined the genre, naming his narrative The Castle of Otranto, a gothic tale (1764). His merit also consists of conscientiously mixing romance and novel, giving birth to what would be known as gothic fiction. However, The Castle of Otranto was considered far too incredible by his successors, and for that reason later authors chose to reform his unsophisticated dream-like tale. Other writers that shaped Radcliffe’s literature are: Clara Reeve, Charlotte Smith and Sophia Lee, who also used heroines set in the Middle Ages or Renaissance, and represented the past in terms of a rational and moral present. They pursued a more ‘domestic’ kind of writing, where the represented situations were probable and the supernatural circumstances were due to imaginary fears. Edmund Burke in, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757), provided a theory for the gothic machinery from which Ann Radcliffe drew an aesthetic reading. Burke states that most of the ideas which are capable of making a strong impression on the mind may be reduced nearly to two heads: self-preservation and society. To the ends of one or the other, all our passions are calculated to answer. The passions that regard the preservation of the individual turn chiefly on pain and danger, and they are the most powerful of the passions. She was acquainted with his theses applying them in her works to create thrilling effects.

Mrs. Radcliffe, in her turn, influenced a subsequent generation of illustrious writers, like Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Charles Maturin and Charlotte Brontë. Ann Radcliffe, in short, kept the lamp of Romance burning much more steadily than the lamps in her novels, which are always blown out, in the moment of excited apprehension, by the night wind, sneaking in the damp corridors of haunted abbeys. The decade of l790s was the gothic novel’s peak, it had become a vogue and an obsession among admires who could not seem to read enough of this genre. It had also developed into a very profitable business for booksellers and professional writers, who were kept constantly busy trying to meet the public demand, providing for the circulating libraries. This frenzy for gothic fiction occasioned an enormous production, most of it was merely directed to boost sales, and had very little preoccupation for literary innovation. The popularity of Ann Radcliffe’s novels was also attested by the many imitators of her work, who would change a few words in the title and come out with pearls like: The mysteries of the Forest, The Monk of Udolpho, Italian Mysteries, or even pseudonyms as little original as Mary Ann Radcliffe.

The Italian (1797) is an important landmark in this epidemic of gothic fiction output, even though the topic of the book is more of a theme of this world than usual: the parents of a young noble trying to prevent him from marrying an unknown, penniless (yet virtuous) girl. The thread of the story follows the thwarted loves of Vicentio di Vivaldi and Ellena di Rosalba. Ann Radcliffe builds The Italian’s narrative based on the Richardsonian model of ‘persecuted innocence’. This form of organising the story’s plot takes after Samuel Richardson’s concept of novel, revolving round the conflict between ‘virtue and distress’ where the heroine is taken to the boundaries of resistance, having her beliefs severely tested, only to emerge victorious in the end. It is in this very theme that most gothic fiction found its backbone. To this well-known recipe of the realist novel, Mrs. Radcliffe adds a pinch of terror and a knob of sublime. She does not pact with a single avowed ghost, every abnormal happening is finally explained away by normal causes. The many entangled threads of her complex web, the incidents which puzzle you at the beginning, fall naturally into place before the end.

"He would, perhaps, have been somewhat disappointed, to have descended suddenly from the region of fearful sublimity, to which he had soared- the world of terrible shadows- to the earth, on which he daily walked, and to an explanation simply natural"

She delighted in descriptions of scenery, usually drawn entirely from her inner consciousness but many painters receive mention in the novels of Ann Radcliffe. One of her references was Salvatore Rosa, a 17th century Italian landscape painter, who created dramatic landscapes peopled with peasants and banditti. Like Ann Radcliffe, he intended to create a feeling of awe and sublime in the minds of his audience. The landscapes of another Italian artist, Giambattista Piranesi, also influenced many English Gothic writers, especially with his powerful black and white figurative engravings of Roman ruins, spectacular landscapes where banditti would lurk in ambush and his Carcieri fascinated the English mind.

"Frequently as they glided round a promontory, whose shaggy masses impended far over the sea, such magic scene of beauty unfolded, adorned by these dancing groups on the bay beyond, as no pencil could do justice to. The deep clear waters reflected every image of the landscape ... all touched by the silvery tint and soft shadows of moon-light"
It is not uncommon to find in Ann Radcliffe’s texts expressions that refer to drawing or painting. It is believed she once said her aim was to do with words what painters do with brushes. In these recurrent allusions to pictorial scenes lie Radcliffe’s poetical component, often noted in her prose, and which rendered her the admiration of many writers.