The Romance of the Forest

I read this just less than a year after taking a class in eighteenth century British literature which ended on works that just preceded Radcliffe, so I was certainly helped along by what the endnotes were able to trigger of my memory of aesthetic theory of the day. One of the great things about Radcliffe is that, unlike other Gothic works such as The Castle of Otranto and The Old English Baron, all the supernatural goings-on are always revealed as having a physical, rational basis. The plot was ridiculous, the characters were flat, and poor Adeline became less likable as the story progressed – regardless, this book was so good. I will be reading more Ann Radcliffe this summer.