The Italian'Among his associates no one loved him, many disliked him, and more feared him.' Father Schedoni is enlisted by the imperious Marchesa di Vivaldi to prevent her son from marrying the beautiful Ellena. Schedoni has no scruples in kidnapping Ellena and in undertaking whatever villainy will further his own ends. His menacing presence dominates a gripping tale of love and betrayal, abduction and assassination, and incarceration in the dreadful dungeons of the Inquisition. Uncertainty and doubt lie everywhere, in Radcliffe's last and most unnerving novel. Ann Radcliffe defined the 'terror' genre of writing and helped to establish the Gothic novel, thrilling readers with her mysterious plots and eerie effects. In The Italian she rejects the rational certainties of the Enlightenment for a more ambiguous and unsettling account of what it is to be an individual - particularly a woman - in a culture haunted by history and dominated by institutional power. This new edition includes Radcliffe's important essay 'On the Supernatural in Poetry', in which she distinguishes terror writing from horror. |
Contents
ix | |
Note on the Text | xli |
Select Bibliography | xlii |
A Chronology of Ann Radcliffe | xlvii |
or the Confessional of the Black Penitents A Romance | 1 |
THE ITALIAN or THE CONFESSIONAL OF THE BLACK PENITENTS | 3 |
VOLUME I | 7 |
VOLUME II | 125 |
Explanatory Notes | 409 |
The Oxford Worlds Classics Website | 425 |
More About OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS
| 426 |
A SELECTION OF OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS | 427 |
A SELECTION OF OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS | 428 |
A SELECTION OF OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS | 429 |
A SELECTION OF OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS | 430 |
A SELECTION OF OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS | 431 |
VOLUME III | 247 |
ON THE SUPERNATURAL IN POETRY | 395 |
LETTER FROM ANN RADCLIFFE TO HER MOTHERINLAW | 407 |
A SELECTION OF OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS | 432 |
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Common terms and phrases
abbess accuser added affection answer appeared approaching asked assertion attention believed Bianchi called chamber character church circumstances concealed conduct confession Confessor consideration considered continued convent countenance dark death designed discovered door doubt Ellena emotion endeavoured entered examination expression eyes face father fear feelings followed further Gothic hand heard heart hope hour immediately Inquisition inquisitor interest interrupted Italian Italy knew lady late leave length less light listened longer looked Marchesa means mind moment monk Naples nature never night observed occasioned Olivia once passed Paulo paused perceived perhaps person possible present Press prison probably question Radcliffe reason received recollect remained repeated replied returned scarcely scene Schedoni seemed seen Signor silence soon sound Spalatro speak spirits steps stranger suffered thought till tribunal truth turned University veil Vivaldi voice wished