Mistress of Udolpho: The Life of Ann Radcliffe

by Rictor Norton

This is the biography of the Gothic novelist, Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), author of "The Mysteries of Udolpho", the world's first
"best seller". The text clarifies Radcliffe's emergence from a Dissenting Unitarian, rather than a conventional Anglican, background. This places Radcliffe within the circle of other women writers nurtured in radical Dissenting backgrounds (such as Wollstonecraft, Hays, Inchbauld and Barbauld). Radcliffe's childhood and family background are documented and the rumours of her madness and reclusiveness investigated leading to an evaluation of the resons for her probable mental breakdown. The text constitutes a "cultural history" of a writing woman, demonstrating her place within radical culture, literary tradition and aesthetic discourse, and examining her role in the rise of the professional woman writer. Her novels are analyzed mainly in the context of her biography and sources.

Genres: Biography, 20th Century, Nonfiction

307 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Aria Ligi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well researched and thoughtful biography; however, I wish that the author had ended the book on a more positive note. It is also difficult, because so little is known about Radcliffe's personal life, that most of the narrative is either speculation or an attempt to draw conclusions based on her novels. Norton is honest in saying that we do not know a great deal, however, surely there had to be more.
Further, while many male writers took over and borrowed from Radcliffe, his assertion that Coleridge was a misogynist is false. One need only look at Coleridge's admiration of Mary Darby Robinson to see that. Of Mrs. Robinson he said, “She was a woman of undoubted genius…I never knew a human Being with so full a mind- bad, good, and indifferent, I grant you, but full and overflowing.” These are not the words of someone who is an unmitigated sexist. In fact, Coleridge's entire idea behind his Pantisocratic movement was EQUALITY and specifically gender equality, as was Shelley's.
While this book was written in 1999, and some diagnoses were not known then, to assert that Robinson's social anxiety disorder was mere vanity is SEXIST. After going through the entire biography, to read that he felt this was an attention seeking device, is extremely disappointing and lowered my opinion of him as a writer and biographer who is purporting to speak out for the emerging female voices of the day, and specifically Radcliffe, who clearly struggled with this condition to a great degree.

[Cassey Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit that I had a hard time slogging through this. However, I learned so much about this author’s life, motivations, and founding of a genre and tropes that today we take for granted. It was rough, but I’m glad I persevered!

[Maia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and meticulously researched.

[Sam Hirst · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very mixed read for me. I'll start with the strengths. The latter half of the book was significantly stronger. As you would expect from Norton, there was fantastic engagement with and digging out of relevant sources about Radcliffe's literary work, its reception and some of the more documented parts of her life. The significant downside to this book, though, is Norton's extensive reliance on speculation in relation to Radcliffe's life, ideas and political and theological alignment. Much of his argumentation is extremely speculative and often unconvincing. There are some wild leaps taken which then form the foundation of his thinking throughout the book. This, as you might expect, has a negative impact on the reading experience (and the reliability of the biography) throughout.

I think it is worth while as a read for the second half and as a fairly important piece of scholarship in the history of Ann Radcliffe scholarship. However, I found some of it incredibly frustrating, especially when he mixes some incidental misogyny (which is presented as neutrality or objectivity) in with his (sometimes wild) speculations.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astonishingly thorough biography of someone with almost no extant information about her. I do appreciate his precision in citing his sources, since it let me sometimes disagree with his interpretation. (I still don't know why he is so convinced that Radcliffe was practically raised by her uncle, when the evidence is equally strong that she lived with and was raised by her perfectly respectable parents!) The only biographer who has pieced together anything useful about her parents.