The Northanger "horrid" novels

Having read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen earlier in the year, I thought it might be fun to tackle the "horrod" novels listed throughout the book. The books mentioned run as follows:

1. The Necromancer: or, The Tale of the Black Forest (1794) by 'Ludwig Flammenberg' (pseudonym for Carl Friedrich Kahlert; translated by Peter Teuthold)
2. Horrid Mysteries (1796) by the Marquis de Grosse (translated by P. Will)
3. Castle of Wolfenbach (1793) by Eliza Parsons
4. The Mysterious Warning, a German Tale (1796) by Eliza Parsons
5. Clermont, a Tale (1798) by Regina Maria Roche
6. Orphan of the Rhine (1798) by Eleanor Sleath
7. The Midnight Bell (1798) by Francis Lathom
8. The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe
9. The Italian 1797) by Ann Radcliffe

Has anyone here read any of them? What did you think of them and which would you recommend to start with?

Oh, fun! I've read The Mysteries of Udolpho; it's pretty much the quintessential Gothic novel of the period. The others I haven't read, so can't help you there.

Start with either of the two Ann Radcliffe novels. Lilithcat is correct that Mysteries of Udolpho is the quintessential gothic, but Italian is equally well know in the genre.

I've read The Mysteries of Udolpho. It was... interesting. HEAVILY punctuated. A sentence of it might read something like, "Emily, being of delicate health, had, for a time, taken several blankets to bed with her; but, after her encounter with Montoni that evening, she, timid and weak with headache, dared not steal from her room, in order to fetch the blankets." — or something along those lines. More than half of the commas in that book could be removed (much to the book's improvement).

But my copy editor peeves aside, I found it very atmospheric but fatally ridiculous. Radcliffe had some amazing descriptions of nature, but pretty much everything else was laughable. I reread Northanger Abbey immediately after, and positively crowed with laughter. Austen had Radcliffe's number.

And I think Austen brings up a valid point in her critique of the Gothic genre... I'm sure plenty of young ladies took all the swooning and moaning and groaning of the Gothic heroines to be essential to ladylike behavior. Making it laughable rather than tragic was the best way to combat those ideas.

Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe--ages ago... Yes, lots of description of "sublime" landscape. Not easy prose to read. But interesting to experience since Radcliffe is cited so often.

Hey, the comma needs your love!
I've read Uldolpho and the The Italian which have sort of melded into one big mess of trembling and landscaping in my head. As long as you're happy to skim, I do think they're both quite entertaining in places. I always found myself rooting for the villain though because the virtuous characters do nothing except swoon and weep (the men and the women).

And although it is ridiculously easy to laugh at Radcliffe, I remember thinking that her depication of space and landscape is actually quite original for the time - the descriptions sweeps the reader along rather like a floating movie camera, panning and turning and moving; it's actually quite impressive. I'd quote some at you but I think you'd probably want to throw things at me.

I loved Mysteries of Udolpho! While long her descriptions of the mountains, lightening storms, the castle were awesome. Definately an overabundance of fainting and poetry -- but I thought the story itself was good. I am a sucker for the gothic romance/mystery though -- like Rebecca and The Thirteenth Tale.

I haven't read any of the others though -- but I must stick up for Udolpho.

The comma doesn't need THAT much love, lol.

I did enjoy the book when I read it, but perhaps having read NA before (and then knowing I was going to immediately reread it after finishing Udolpho) added a bit of skepticism and irreverent humor to the experience. It's odd, because I simply adored Rebecca and The Thirteenth Tale. Udolpho was just a bit much... and Austen so wickedly witty.

I'm reading The castle of Wolfenbach right now, having just finished Dracula and wanting to find out more about the 'horrid novels'. It's quite dry reading, and sometimes you just ant to kick the heroine into action...but I still haven't put it down. A big thumps up for Valancourt publishers for bringing out these titles though!

I haven't read any of them. I have my work cut out. :)