Ann Radcliffe

La novela gótica tuvo padre y madre: Horace Walpole y Ann Radcliffe. De entre las obras de esta última destaca "El italiano o el confesionario de los penitentes negros", obra en la que la intriga y la accion enmarcan un relato que contiene ya rasgos inequivocos del movimiento literario que se avecinaba: el romanticismo. Publicada en 1797, esta novela narra las vicisitudes de una pareja de enamorados, cuyo amor prohiben las convenciones sociales de la epoca, que se ven en vueltos en una sucesion vertiginosa de acontecimientos que implican secuestros, asesinatos e incluso el juicio en el Tribunal de la Inquisicion del joven Vivaldi, el ferviente enamorado capaz de las mayores proezas e imprudencias para conseguir la liberacion de su amada de las garras de una perfida abadesa y un monje asesino. La autora: ANN WARD RADCLIFFE (Londres, 1764-1823) fue en su epoca la novelista mas famosa de Inglaterra. Considerada pionera de la novela gotica de terror, tuvo sin embargo una vida tranquila y apacible junto a su esposo, William Radcliffe, de quien tomo el apellido para firmar sus novelas, que empezaron a publicarse con exito a partir de 1790. Sus obras mas importantes son, ademas de "El italiano o el confesionario de los penitentes negros" (1797), "Los misterios de Udolfo" (1794) y "Aventuras del bosque" (1791).

What horrible history lies below the castles in the caverns of Sicily? Located on Sicilys northern shore, the castle of Mazzini was home to the beautiful and clever sisters Emilia and Julia. They have lived there for years with their governess after their father, the marquis, moved to Naples with his second wife. When he unexpectedly returns with their brother Ferdinand, mysterious events begin to occur around the castle. Rooms abandoned for years suddenly have strange tenants. Visiting the castle is a valiant and handsome friend of Ferdinand named Hippolitus, who immediately catches the eyes of both Julia and her stepmother. However, the marquis has his own ideas for who Julias husband should be, and he will stop at nothing to get his way, no matter what the cost to his daughters. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Ann Radcliffes The Romance of the Forest, first published in 1791, is the epitome of the Gothic novel: a beautiful, orphaned heiress, a dashing hero, a dissolute, aristocratic villain and a ruined abbey deep in a great forest are combined by the author in a tale of suspense where danger lurks behind every secret trap-door. Reprinted four times between 1791 and 1795 and satirised as represented of the Gothic genre by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey, Radcliffes tense masterpiece, in which the heroine is afraid even to look in the mirror for fear of what she might see behind her, established her reputation as a writer and her brilliant descriptions of both characters and scenes serve to create the perfect atmosphere for a novel packed with emotional intensity.

Napoli, 1764: Vincenzo di Vivaldi ed Elena di Rosalba, giovani innamorati dall'animo semplice e puro, vedono il loro sogno d'amore contrastato dalla perfida marchesa, la madre di lui, che non ritiene la ragazza all'altezza della sua nobile e ricca famiglia. Ad aiutare la malvagia donna nel tessere la sua trama è il diabolico monaco Schedoni, uno dei personaggi più riusciti della Radcliffe: è lui "l'italiano" che dà il titolo al romanzo, losco figuro dal passato ambiguo, di nobili natali ma caduto in disgrazia dopo essersi macchiato di un'orribile colpa. Discendente del Satana ribelle di Milton e fratello dei Masnadieri di Schiller, Schedoni è diventato in breve prototipo di tutti gli antagonisti del romanzo gotico e oltre. Tra atmosfere cupe e spaventose, colpi di scena, misteri inspiegabili, terribili prove cui sono sottoposti i personaggi, si dispiega una trama che a suo tempo conquistò tantissimi lettori in Inghilterra contribuendo al diffondersi della nuova sensibilità romantica. Con un saggio di Mario Praz. Introduzione di Alessandro Gallenzi.

First published in 1797, this work, with its archetypal villain Schedoni, intense romance between Vincenzo di Vivaldi and Elena di Rosalba, and lofty poetics of the sublime, is the masterpiece of Gothic fiction. Enlisted by Vincenzos mother Marchesa Di Vivaldi, the perfidious monk Schedoni casts a malevolent presence throughout the book as he tries to thwart the passion of the two young lovers. Against the backdrop of the Catholic Inquisition and the unforgettable scenery of the Bay of Naples and the Apennines, The Italian celebrates the heroic struggle of love in the face of malice and deceit. From the first moment Vincentio di Vivaldi, a young nobleman, sets eyes on the veiled figure of Ellena, he is captivated by her enigmatic beauty and grace. But his haughty and manipulative mother is against the match and enlists the help of her confessor to come between them. Schedoni, previously a leading figure of the Inquisition, is a demonic, scheming monk with no qualms about the task, whether it entails abduction, torture-or even murder. The Italian secured Ann Radcliffe's position as the leading writer of Gothic romance of the age, for its atmosphere of supernatural and nightmarish horrors, combined with her evocation of sublime landscapes and chilling narrative.

Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) es la escritora más emblemáticade la imaginación gótica, y sus novelas fueron puntode referencia para los autores que cultivaron el género.Tres obras se alzan en el altar de la literatura gotica:Los misterios de Udolfo de la Radcliffe, El monjede Lewis, y Melmoth el errabundo de Maturin(los tres editados en esta coleccion).Los misterios de Udolfo se desarrolla en el siglo XVI,y esta ubicada en Francia e Italia. Emily, como todaslas heroinas de la Radcliffe, se enfrenta a las adversidadesy desastres provocados por Montoni con la fuerzade la racionalidad, despues de haber sucumbidomomentaneamente a la supersticion. La persecuciondel malvado Montoni tiene lugar en el castillo de Udolfo,donde acontecen multiples fenomenos sobrenaturales:vagas figuras extrañas, un fantasma en las almenas, sepulcrales voces misteriosas... Los misterios de Udolfo,junto con El Italiano, son las cimas del artede Ann Radcliffe, y de la novela gotica y romantica.A los conocidos atavios goticos de sus predecesoresseñala Lovecraft en su ensayo sobre la literatura de terror,Mrs. Radcliffe añadio un genuino sentido de lo sobrenatural,tanto en los escenarios como en los incidentes, que rayaen la genialidad; cada pormenor de la ambientaciony de la intriga contribuye artisticamente a crearla impresion de horror ilimitado que ella queria transmitir.

With an Introduction by Kathryn White. 'He saw her wounded, and bleeding to death; saw her ashy countenance, and her wasting eyes ...turned piteously on himself, as if imploring him to save her from the fate that was dragging her to the grave...' Ann Radcliffe, author of The Romance of the Forest and The Mysteries of Udolpho, is the high priestess of the gothic novel. In The Italian, first published in 1797, she creates a chilling, atmospheric concoction of thwarted lovers, ruined abbeys, imprisonment and dark passages, with an undercurrent of seething sexuality and presents us with a cunning villain in the sinister monk Schedoni. A contemporary review commented on, 'Radcliffe's uncommon talent for exhibiting, with picturesque touches of genius, the vague and horrid shapes which imagination bodies forth...' Radcliffe's work was hugely influential and H.P. Lovecraft, early twentieth century master of the uncanny, was impressed by the, 'eerie touch of setting and action contributing artistically to the impression of illimitable frightfulness which she wished to convey.' The novel remains a fascinating, engrossing and unnerving masterpiece of gothic fiction.

Novela gótica que transcurre en la Italia renacentista y cuyos héroes, una pareja de desigual condición social, son perseguidos por los padres del joven con la diabólica ayuda del confesor de la madre, al que unen secretos lazos de sangre con la infeliz novia y una grave culpa con la familia de su amante.

If beautiful, orphaned Emily St Aubert is to resist the predatory demands of her new guardian, the inscrutable Signor Montoni, then she must quell the superstitious imaginings that pervade her mind. Within the sombre walls of Montoni's medieval castle the boundaries of real and imagined terrors are blurred as Emily is drawn into a Gothic web of mystery and intrigue which threaten her not only with the loss of inheritance but also identity.

ANN RADCLIFFE (1764-1823) es la escritora más emblemática de la imaginación gótica, y sus novelas fueron punto de referencia para los autores que cultivaron el género. Tres obras se alzan en el

Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) es posiblemente la autora con más carisma entre todos los escritores que, hacia finales del siglo XVIII y comienzos del XIX, cultivaron con pasión un tipo de relato terrorífico que con el tiempo se denominaria literatura gotica o genero gotico. Dos son las obras de Ann Radcliffe que reunen en su trama los elementos mas caracteristicos de un buen relato gotico -castillos tenebrosos, conventos y criptas siniestras, clerigos perversos y heroinas romanticas perseguidas-: Los misterios de Udolfo (Gotica num. 5), y la presente, El Italiano. A las ilustres perseguidas de las pesadillas de Radcliffe hay que añadir ahora a la desgraciada Ellena di Rosalba, victima del monje despiadado Schedoni. Ellena es arrancada de un medio seguro y amable para ser arrojada sin contemplaciones a un mundo horrido y hostil, lleno de amenazas y de peligros, un universo dominado por lo desconocido, cuyo reflejo en la mente de la heroina adopta la sinuosa forma de la angustia. Secuestrada y conducida a un apartado convento, encerrada posteriormente en un castillo bajo el dominio del malvado, Ellena se ve inmersa repentinamente en el ambito gotico, un espacio cerrado, tenebroso, impreciso y laberintico. El Italiano no solo provoca emociones intensas que provienen de lo oscuro e ignoto, sino que tambien hace que el entendimiento se ponga en movimiento para buscar las claves del misterio, dando lugar de este modo a placeres de naturaleza eminentemente intelectual.