Not Quite a Reading Wednesday

[thisbluespirit]

I 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!

Comments

[auroracloud]

It would be entertaining if the BBC did a lush miniseries adaptation with famous cast members, a script reworked to 21st century tastes, lots of fan service and shipping potential and witty lines and character backstory not in the original, and then all the fans would rush to read the novel.... :-D

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.

Oh yes, the veil! You could tell this was a time before "how to write your novel" writing guides and Hollywood script beat timelines and such became commonplace.

You're brave, I confess I found this a bit much, though I enjoyed The Romance of the Forest very much. However, it was charming in parts, and very interesting and entertaining from social/cultural/literary history perspective!

[thisbluespirit]

lots of fan service and shipping potential and witty lines and character backstory not in the original, and then all the fans would rush to read the novel....

LOL! It would be worth it just for that. And then the elite fans who made it could crow over the TV only fans. ("Actually, Emily faints three times in that scene, not once. You don't know what you're talking about!")

The BBC really should do a mini-series. I can't believe there's not even like a 1940s melodrama version.

To be fair, keeping your readers in suspense for 400 pages isn't a bad trick if you can pull it off! (Ignore the How To Books, Mrs Radcliffe! Well, a few notes on characterisation from Jane Austen wouldn't go amiss, but it is Gothic and extremes of villainy and virtue are part of the scene.)

And, yes, I don't know why, I just found myself in the right mood to be charmed by the good stuff and amused by the stuff that has dated badly.

[executrix]

though I enjoyed The Romance of the Forest very much
Congratulations! You are qualified to marry Harriet Smith!

[auroracloud]

Excellent! Though I must admit, I would prefer someone with a little more substance in her head. I wonder if Jane Fairfax would find me too frivolous?

[executrix]

I think you would have the opposite problem--although she is a young woman of accomplishments, the fact that Jane is at all interested in a rattle like Frank Churchill shows that she has no taste.

[auroracloud]

I tend to assume she did it against her better judgement and can't really help it anymore! But it's true, Frank Churchill means nobody else would certainly seem too frivolous in comparison.

[shannonsequitur]

So it DOES pick up eventually? When I tried to read it 7 or 8 years ago, I painfully dragged myself through the first ~150 pages before giving up in despair.

I did read a graphic/comic adaptation that was part of a collection of graphic adaptations of early gothic stories, but I had trouble keeping track of the characters.

[thisbluespirit]

Whether or not you would have enjoyed it, I don't know, but yes, it does! c. 250-300 pages in Emily is taken to live at the sinister castle of Udolpho by Montoni and there is a Mysterious Chamber with a Thing Too Horrible To Be Described behind the veil, rumours of ghosts, escapes, shipwrecks and then a second mysterious haunted castle from which people VANISH overnight and both the mysterious long-dead ladies are linked when the reveal eventually comes.

Meanwhile, even WORSE, Valancourt goes to Paris and Falls From Grace and is No Longer Worthy of Emily. ALAS.

So, yes, I enjoyed it. Thank you for the anti-rec! It worked a treat. :-D

[auroracloud]

If I recall correctly, by page 200 Udolpho does actually get mentioned for the first time! Sounds like you didn't get all the way there. Which is understandable, I admit.

[a_phoenixdragon]

*HUGS*

[john_amend_all]

Maybe they should have had Andrew Davies adapt it instead of Sanditon.

[thisbluespirit]

We should tell him that's his next project!

[john_amend_all]

But after the tangle that was Sanditon, could we be sure he'd return to the past form of, say, Dark Towers?

[thisbluespirit]

Well, they do both have castles and ghosts! It should be great. Also he doesn't have to make up the plot himself.

[liadt]

Heh, that was my thought too, that Andrew Davies should have done it instead of 'Sanditon'!

[lokifan]

Oh Udolpho <3

I'm REALLY surprised there's never been an adaptation!!!!!!

[thisbluespirit]

Ahaha, finally, I'm not the only one who enjoyed it!

I'm REALLY surprised there's never been an adaptation!!!!!!

It really is just wrong. Someone could have so much fun with it! (There is at least the radio play I found, which you can download at the link if you want to try it.)