The Romance of the Forest
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Romance of the Forest is a gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe first published in 1791. It combines an air of mystery and suspense with an examination of the tension between hedonism and morality and was her first major popular success, going through four editions in its first three years. It was praised by the poet Coleridge who wrote 'the attention is uninterruptedly fixed, until the veil is designedly withdrawn". The first volume was published anonymously in its first edition.
It is set in a Roman Catholic Europe of wild passions and towering landscapes. La Motte and his wife, escaping his gambling debts in Paris, are captured by bandits in a primeval forest but are spared their lives in return for protecting a beautiful girl, Adeline. She has been imprisoned by her father, after refusing to join a nunnery, but the bandits hired to kill her have baulked at their task. The new family find refuge in a ruined Abbey, where Adeline stumbles across a mystery, and when its owner, the Marquis, returns the plot thickens in typical gothic style. Marquis falls for Adeline's beauty. Meanwhile, Adeline meets a charming young man, Theodore, and they both start to love each other greatly. This opposition, along with the surprising plot twists, mainly construct this piece. Although the Critical Review saw it as her finest work, it is not generally regarded in the same league as The Italian and The Mysteries of Udolpho, however the Romance of the Forest was hugely popular in its day and remains in print after over two hundred years. It is the subject of much critical discussion, particularly in its treatment of femininity and its role and influence in the gothic tradition Radcliffe did so much to invent.
