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Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest. Edited by Shelley King and John B. Pierce

Class, Monika LU orcid (2025) In Eighteenth-Century Fiction 37(2). p.440-443
Abstract
Shelley King and John B. Pierce’s edition of The Romance of the Forest (1791) brings Ann Radcliffe’s (1764–1823) novel to new life. The editors’ introduction is paired with well selected source documents contemporaneous with the influential Gothic romance. My favourite example (not included by King and Pierce) for the Romantic-era writers’ admiration for Radcliffe’s aesthetics is John Keats’s letter to John Hamilton Reynolds (1794–1852), dating from March 1818: “I intend to tip you the Damosel Radcliffe. I’ll cavern you, and grotto you, and water-fall you, and wood you, and water you, and immense-rock you, and tremendous-sound you, and water you, and immense-rock you, and solitude you.” (The Life and Letters of John Keats. Ed. Houghton,... (More)
Shelley King and John B. Pierce’s edition of The Romance of the Forest (1791) brings Ann Radcliffe’s (1764–1823) novel to new life. The editors’ introduction is paired with well selected source documents contemporaneous with the influential Gothic romance. My favourite example (not included by King and Pierce) for the Romantic-era writers’ admiration for Radcliffe’s aesthetics is John Keats’s letter to John Hamilton Reynolds (1794–1852), dating from March 1818: “I intend to tip you the Damosel Radcliffe. I’ll cavern you, and grotto you, and water-fall you, and wood you, and water you, and immense-rock you, and tremendous-sound you, and water you, and immense-rock you, and solitude you.” (The Life and Letters of John Keats. Ed. Houghton, Lord. London: Edward Moxon, 1867, p. 89). Alongside Radcliffe’s inspiration for Keats’s joyful blending of powerful affects and natural forces, the letter indicates that Keats associated Radcliffe primarily with caverns, waterfalls, and woods. Such landscapes feature in The Romance of the Forest: Interspersed with Some Pieces of Poetry in ways that evoke “the convergence of the sublime aesthetic and psychoperceptual powers of sensibility” according to King and Pierce (38). (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Gothic literature, Ann Radcliffe, Sublime and terror, Romantic Period
in
Eighteenth-Century Fiction
volume
37
issue
2
pages
3 pages
publisher
McMaster University
DOI
10.3138/ecf.2023-0093
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Reviewed work: Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest. Edited by Shelley King and John B. Pierce. Broadview Press, 2023. 426pp. ISBN 9781554815388
id
1abd5371-1dd2-4900-ab1d-bd6a512ffb4b
date added to LUP
2025-09-13 08:58:18
date last changed
2025-09-30 03:35:59
@misc{1abd5371-1dd2-4900-ab1d-bd6a512ffb4b,
  abstract     = {{Shelley King and John B. Pierce’s edition of The Romance of the Forest (1791) brings Ann Radcliffe’s (1764–1823) novel to new life. The editors’ introduction is paired with well selected source documents contemporaneous with the influential Gothic romance. My favourite example (not included by King and Pierce) for the Romantic-era writers’ admiration for Radcliffe’s aesthetics is John Keats’s letter to John Hamilton Reynolds (1794–1852), dating from March 1818: “I intend to tip you the Damosel Radcliffe. I’ll cavern you, and grotto you, and water-fall you, and wood you, and water you, and immense-rock you, and tremendous-sound you, and water you, and immense-rock you, and solitude you.” (The Life and Letters of John Keats. Ed. Houghton, Lord. London: Edward Moxon, 1867, p. 89). Alongside Radcliffe’s inspiration for Keats’s joyful blending of powerful affects and natural forces, the letter indicates that Keats associated Radcliffe primarily with caverns, waterfalls, and woods. Such landscapes feature in The Romance of the Forest: Interspersed with Some Pieces of Poetry in ways that evoke “the convergence of the sublime aesthetic and psychoperceptual powers of sensibility” according to King and Pierce (38).}},
  author       = {{Class, Monika}},
  keywords     = {{Gothic literature; Ann Radcliffe; Sublime and terror; Romantic Period}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  note         = {{Review}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{440--443}},
  publisher    = {{McMaster University}},
  series       = {{Eighteenth-Century Fiction}},
  title        = {{Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest. Edited by Shelley King and John B. Pierce}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ecf.2023-0093}},
  doi          = {{10.3138/ecf.2023-0093}},
  volume       = {{37}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}