The Mysteries of Udolpho

Radcliffe was an enormously popular writer in her day, comparable to Shakespeare in his time. Like Shakespeare, Radcliffe was popular both with the masses and critics. The Mysteries of Udolpho, Radcliffe’s most famous novel, was published in four volumes through 1794 and was an instant success. Her publishers bought the copyright for The Mysteries of Udolpho for £500, an impressive amount for the time. Contemporary critics praised the novel for its intelligent use of the supernatural. Rather than feature scenes of gratuitous violence and gore, The Mysteries of Udolpho used the supernatural to heighten the psychological terror of its protagonists. While avoiding the cliches of the supernatural genre, the novel was still filled with many elements designed to entice readers: a beautiful, beleaguered heroine, mysteries, twists, and lovely descriptions of nature.

Radcliffe’s popularity meant she inspired many other novelists; in fact, The Mysteries of Udolpho was so widely known and imitated that Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey (1818) is a parody of Gothic conventions. In Northanger Abbey, the heroine is obsessed with The Mysteries of Udolpho and identifies with its heroine, Emily St. Aubert. Though some critics assume Austen meant only to satirize Radcliffe’s work, Austen’s writing actually displays a deep engagement with the Gothic genre and Radcliffe’s novel in particular.