Okay, my post titles are getting ridiculously long, but there's so much to share!
Just discovered that there is an audio download of The Mysteries of Udolpho (mp3) if you'd like to listen to it rather than read it. I think I'll do both!
You can also find downloads of the e-text and links to Wikipedia for info on Ann Radcliffe and the book itself.
I usually spend New Year's Eve with friends or family watching the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, but this may give that tradition a bump.
(I love this cover!)
I've finally gotten the hang of Udolpho - it has to be read in long sittings of 40-50 pages so you get into the rhythm and density of the language. I read 100 pages yesterday and finally felt I was in the mood/spirit of the book. I still wish there was less 'verdure' and 'sublimity' and more storms, wind, and wild noises, but, hopefully, we'll get there.
I've passed the point that so obsessed Catherine Morland, where Emily sees what's beneath the black veil in the gallery, but it was rather anticlimactic because we didn't get to see anything. Emily just fainted (these heroines are pretty weak - always fainting and turning pale and swooning at the slightest provocation), and then practically crawled to her room to sit in the window and look out over the - you guessed it - verdure.
RE: the sequel - Nachtsturm Castle, it's not Austen's (alas), but I love the premise:
"As the story begins, the newlywed Tilneys prepare for a trip to the Continent, following the same path traveled by Emily St. Aubert in Udolpho. Mr. Tilney, we learn, has continued his delightfully teasing ways, even going so far as to dress as a gypsy and deliver a “fortune” to his bride. Catherine sees through the deception, even as she enjoys it (as does the reader).
In Paris, an encounter with a real gypsy, as well as a real Englishman, sends the Tilneys to Nachstürm Castle, high in the Alps and as windswept and mysterious as any heroine could wish. A series of strange occurrences there are not as confusing to Catherine as one might expect, as she assumes, not unnaturally, that Henry has planned the whole thing for her enjoyment. Henry, meanwhile, has some adventures of his own, and the reader cannot be so sanguine as to whether our heroes will prevail. Who is the mysterious Donna Fortuna, whose portrait looks so much like Catherine? What is the mystery surrounding Young Will, whom everyone says is the former master’s natural child, but who claims to be the legitimate heir? And what is up with the oh-so-creepy Edric, steward of Nachtstürm?"
So, dear reader, would you go to a mysterious castle in a distant mountain range in a foreign country, even if you heard dark and desperate rumors of strange happenings there sanctioned, maybe even perpetrated, by its evil master?
Yeah, I would too.
I've started listening and, while the reader has little inflection in her voice - don't expect a dramatic reading or any real emotion - she is clear and precise in her enunciation, and her pacing is good, so it's easy to follow. I'm finding that I'm catching things I missed in reading it myself, which is also nice.
Posted by: Chris | 12/22/2009 at 12:28 PM