Ann Radcliffe's Gothic Portrayal

CHAPTER TWO

Ann Radcliffe’s Gothic Portrayal

I am the last leaf on the tree – Ann Radcliffe 1

2.1. Biographical Sketch

Ann Radcliffe was the most popular novelist of the early gothic fiction. She wrote a series of Gothic fictions in the 1790s, just as the gothic genre was reaching its peak of popularity in England and America.2

Ann Ward was born in London on July, 1764. She was the only child of William Ward and Ann Oates. She received well education. In 1772, Ann joined a school run by Sophia and Harriet Lee, who were early innovators of the Gothic fiction and drama. In 1787, Ann Ward married William Radcliffe, a journalist and later became the proprietor of the English Chronicle. Her husband is a great supporter in her life,

She was fond of art and music and familiar with Edmund Burke, an author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who believed that beautiful art could preserve its beauty even when it arouse anxiety and horror.8 She was interested in Gothic and Romantic novels of her time, and drew inspiration from Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Clara Reeve’s The Old English Baron.9 Moreover, she was a good reader and has special interest poetry; she even adds some poetic verses in her gothic novels. Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd , an English critic , notes that “ Radcliffe kept daily accounts and spent her days reading poetry and novels”.

The sight of this picture imparted much of the luxurious repose and satisfaction, which we derive from contemplating the finest scenes of nature. Here was the poet, as well as the painter, touching the imagination, and making you see more than the picture contained. You saw the real light of the sun, you breathed the air of the country, you felt all the circumstances of a luxurious climate on the most serene and beautiful landscape; and the mind thus softened, you almost fancied you hear Italian music in the