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Not Quite a Reading Wednesday
17 Oct 2019 10:03 amI finished The Mysteries of Udolpho! Too quickly, in fact, for once it got past the first 250 pages, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I may be broken, it's true. I think at many other times I wouldn't have been in the mood to get past the start, but right now it suited me, and once it got moving, I rather loved it, for all the parts of it that don't play well to a modern reader. It definitely helped that I had already read The Castle of Otranto and The Old English Baron since it has come in a distinct line from both, with Otranto's OTT-ness (no giant helmets here, but there are TWO gloomy gothic mountain castles with a Mysterious Haunted Chamber in both and two doomed and mysteriously lost ladies, two sublime mountain ranges, multiple sets of bandits, orgies (avoided by Emily, though), and at least two murders) mixed with a realism born of the Baron, but with leavening humour, affection and powers of description that the other Lady lacked.
My favourite bit, though, was when Emily's courtship-by-fainting technique failed her, and having believed her beloved was approaching, she fainted (as one does) only to discover herself in someone else's arms when she came round. Poor Emily. Always check who it is you're fainting at.
I did also like that Valancourt became a Fallen Man, though. I was muchly amused. And the fact that the infamous veil is lifted somewhere around p400, but you have to wait 400 pages more to discover what made Emily so horrified the reader could not even be informed of the truth.
Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot, and it's fairly easy to see why it would have been so popular at the time - it is pretty much peak Romanticism in several different ways.
I skipped all the poetry, though. I was here for the Sinister Goings On, not random people pausing in wondering where other characters have MYSTERIOUSLY VANISHED to in order to compose a so-so poem on the wind. (Emily has strange priorities, even aside from the fainting. One time she spent a whole day in a coma of horror, but to be fair, that was because she suspected murder, not that Valancourt was hanging around the garden playing a lute.)
I should probably re-read Northanger Abbey now and feel smug or something, but I think I should leave the late 18th century alone for a bit.
ETA: I just checked and there's never been an adaptation, which is sad. Not even a 1960s burninated one or something, only a radio one in 2 parts, which seems a little on the short side, even given all the stuff you could easily strip away. (Nevertheless, having found it on the Internet Archive, I have snaffled it.) The BBC should get on that for real, though!
My favourite bit, though, was when Emily's courtship-by-fainting technique failed her, and having believed her beloved was approaching, she fainted (as one does) only to discover herself in someone else's arms when she came round. Poor Emily. Always check who it is you're fainting at.
I did also like that Valancourt became a Fallen Man, though. I was muchly amused. And the fact that the infamous veil is lifted somewhere around p400, but you have to wait 400 pages more to discover what made Emily so horrified the reader could not even be informed of the truth.
Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot, and it's fairly easy to see why it would have been so popular at the time - it is pretty much peak Romanticism in several different ways.
I skipped all the poetry, though. I was here for the Sinister Goings On, not random people pausing in wondering where other characters have MYSTERIOUSLY VANISHED to in order to compose a so-so poem on the wind. (Emily has strange priorities, even aside from the fainting. One time she spent a whole day in a coma of horror, but to be fair, that was because she suspected murder, not that Valancourt was hanging around the garden playing a lute.)
I should probably re-read Northanger Abbey now and feel smug or something, but I think I should leave the late 18th century alone for a bit.
ETA: I just checked and there's never been an adaptation, which is sad. Not even a 1960s burninated one or something, only a radio one in 2 parts, which seems a little on the short side, even given all the stuff you could easily strip away. (Nevertheless, having found it on the Internet Archive, I have snaffled it.) The BBC should get on that for real, though!
