The exceptional success of Udolpho can be explained by its being a romance in Frye’s sense of the word – a secular epic in prose and partly in verse, based on what, in the eighteenth century had become the emotional fulcrum of the Western conscious and unconscious collective mind, that is Man’s relation to Nature. The pieces of poetry are an integral part as they all contribute to expressing the essential musical dimension. The essay is an attempt to recover the unrecognized ‘mediumistic’ power of Radcliffe’s verse, both in relation to the question of women’s poetic self-inscription and as regards its crucial role within the narrative of the romance and the aesthetic and philosophic debates of the time.
B.Battaglia (2007). The "Pieces of Poetry" in Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. AMSTERDAM-NEW YORK : Rodopi.
The "Pieces of Poetry" in Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho
BATTAGLIA, MARIA BEATRICE
2007
Abstract
The exceptional success of Udolpho can be explained by its being a romance in Frye’s sense of the word – a secular epic in prose and partly in verse, based on what, in the eighteenth century had become the emotional fulcrum of the Western conscious and unconscious collective mind, that is Man’s relation to Nature. The pieces of poetry are an integral part as they all contribute to expressing the essential musical dimension. The essay is an attempt to recover the unrecognized ‘mediumistic’ power of Radcliffe’s verse, both in relation to the question of women’s poetic self-inscription and as regards its crucial role within the narrative of the romance and the aesthetic and philosophic debates of the time.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
