Clermont (novel)

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Clermont
Author Regina Maria Roche
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
Genre Gothic novel
Publisher Minerva Press
Publication date
1798
Media typePrint (Hardcover)

Clermont, Regina Maria Roche's 1798 novel, "...is arguably the definitive text of the Gothic novel craze during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries". [1] It was first published by Minerva Press.

Contents

Plot

Clermont relates the story of the beautiful Madeline, who lives in seclusion with her eponymous father until they are visited by a mysterious Countess from Clermont's past.

Madeline travels to complete her education, accompanied by the Countess. A series of assaults by shadowy foes cannot dissuade Madeline from unraveling the mystery of her father's past and pursuing her paramour, De Sevignie. Madeline uncovers the secret of her own noble origins and her virtue proves its strength through a series of trials and tribulations.

Literary allusions

The novel was one of the seven "horrid novels" recommended by the character Isabella Thorpe in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey : [2]

Dear creature! How much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.

Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all?

I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach , Clermont, Mysterious Warnings , Necromancer of the Black Forest , Midnight Bell , Orphan of the Rhine , and Horrid Mysteries . Those will last us some time.

Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?

Northanger Abbey, ch. 6

Though Clermont, as well as the other "horrid novels", were once thought to be the creations of Jane Austen's imagination, research in the first half of the 20th century by Michael Sadleir and Montague Summers confirmed that they did actually exist and stimulated renewed interest in the Gothic.

Related Research Articles

<i>Northanger Abbey</i> 1818 novel by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by the English author Jane Austen. Northanger Abbey was completed in 1803, the first of Austen's novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with Persuasion, although the title page is dated 1818. The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her. How Catherine views the world has been distorted by her fondness for Gothic novels and an active imagination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Radcliffe</span> English novelist (1764–1823)

Ann Radcliffe was an English novelist and a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Her technique of explaining apparently supernatural elements in her novels has been credited with gaining respectability for Gothic fiction in the 1790s. Radcliffe was the most popular writer of her day and almost universally admired; contemporary critics called her the mighty enchantress and the Shakespeare of romance-writers, and her popularity continued through the 19th century. Interest has revived in the early 21st century, with the publication of three biographies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minerva Press</span> A publishing house of London in UK

Minerva Press was a publishing house, notable for creating a lucrative market in sentimental and Gothic fiction, active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was established by William Lane at No 33 Leadenhall Street, London, when he moved his circulating library there in about 1790.

<i>The Mysteries of Udolpho</i> 1794 novel by Ann Radcliffe

The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe, appeared in four volumes on 8 May 1794 from G. G. and J. Robinson of London. Her fourth and most popular novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho tells of Emily St. Aubert, who suffers misadventures that include the death of her mother and father, supernatural terrors in a gloomy castle, and machinations of an Italian brigand. Often cited as the archetypal Gothic novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho appears prominently in Jane Austen's 1817 novel Northanger Abbey, where an impressionable young woman reader comes to see friends and acquaintances as Gothic villains and victims, with amusing results.

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Regina Maria Roche (1764–1845) is considered a minor Gothic novelist, encouraged by the pioneering Ann Radcliffe. However, she was a bestselling author in her own time. The popularity of her third novel, The Children of the Abbey, rivalled that of Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho.

Francis Lathom was a British gothic novelist and playwright.

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The Castle of Wolfenbach (1793) is the most famous novel written by the English Gothic novelist Eliza Parsons. First published in two volumes in 1793, it is among the seven "horrid novels" recommended by the character Isabella Thorpe in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey and an important early work in the genre, predating Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and Monk Lewis's The Monk.

Dear creature! How much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read The Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.

Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all?

I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.

Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?

The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest is a Gothic novel written by Karl Friedrich Kahlert under the alias Lawrence Flammenberg and translated by Peter Teuthold that was first published in 1794. It is one of the seven 'horrid novels' lampooned by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. It was once thought not to exist except in the text of Northanger Abbey.

<i>The Midnight Bell</i> Gothic novel by Francis Lathom

The Midnight Bell is a gothic novel by Francis Lathom. It was first published anonymously in 1798 and has, on occasion, been wrongly attributed to George Walker. It was one of the seven "horrid novels" lampooned by Jane Austen in her novel Northanger Abbey.

Dear creature! How much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.

Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all?

I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.

Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?

Northanger Abbey, ch. 6

The Orphan of the Rhine is a gothic novel by Eleanor Sleath, listed as one of the seven "horrid novels" by Jane Austen in her novel Northanger Abbey.

The Horrid Mysteries, subtitled "A Story From the German Of The Marquis Of Grosse" is a translation by Peter Will of the German Gothic novel Der Genius by Carl Grosse. It was listed as one of the seven "horrid novels" by Jane Austen in her Northanger Abbey and also mentioned by Thomas Love Peacock in Nightmare Abbey. It was first published by the sensationalist Minerva Press in 1796. A later, two-volume edition published by Robert Holden and Co., Ltd. in 1927 includes a new introductory essay by Montague Summers. The books were bound in pictorial boards, and feature a period-style "advertisement" for Pears' Soap on the rear cover.

<i>The Mysterious Warning: A German Tale</i> 1796 novel by Eliza Parsons

The Mysterious Warning: A German Tale is a novel by the English gothic novelist Eliza Parsons. It was first published in 1796 and is one of the seven "horrid novels" lampooned in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.

Dear creature! How much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.

Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all?

I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.

Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?

Northanger Abbey, ch. 6

<i>Northanger Abbey</i> (2007 film) 2007 television film directed by Jon Jones

Northanger Abbey is a 2007 British television film adaptation of Jane Austen's 1817 novel of the same name. It was directed by British television director Jon Jones and the screenplay was written by Andrew Davies. Felicity Jones stars as the protagonist Catherine Morland and JJ Feild plays her love interest Henry Tilney.

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Eleanor Sleath was an English novelist, best known for her 1798 gothic novel, The Orphan of the Rhine, which was listed as one of the seven "horrid novels" by Jane Austen in her novel Northanger Abbey.

Karl Friedrich Kahlert also known by the pen names Lawrence Flammenberg or Lorenz Flammenberg and Bernhard Stein was a German author of gothic fiction. He is best known for The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest, an English translation by Peter Teuthold of his Der Geisterbanner: Eine Wundergeschichte aus mündlichen und schriftlichen Traditionen, which is one of the seven 'horrid novels' referenced by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. Through this work, he was a major influence on gothic literature in England, including Matthew Lewis's The Monk.

Carl Friedrich August Grosse also known as Edouard Romeo Vargas-Bedemar was a German author, translator, aesthetic philosopher, and mineralogist. He is best known for his gothic novel Der Genius, which was translated into English by Peter Will as Horrid Mysteries, subtitled "A Story From the German Of The Marquis Of Grosse" and subsequently referenced by Jane Austen as one of the seven 'horrid novels' in Northanger Abbey. His philosophy focused on the aesthetics of sublimity, following the work of Friedrich Schiller, and provided one of the first philosophical treatments of imagination.

References

  1. Kröger, Lisa (2013). "Haunted Narratives". In Kröger, Lisa; Anderson, Melanie (eds.). The Ghostly and the Ghosted in Literature and Film. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 3. ISBN   9781611494525.
  2. Otto, Peter. "Introduction". Gothic Fiction. Adam Matthew Publications. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2007.

Sources

Editions