THE TALE OF TERROR***
E-text prepared by Clare Boothby, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
THE TALE OF TERROR
A Study of the Gothic Romance
by
EDITH BIRKHEAD M.A.
Assistant Lecturer in English Literature in the University of Bristol Formerly Noble Fellow in the University of Liverpool
London Constable & Company Ltd.
1921
PREFACE
The aim of this book is to give some account of the growth of supernatural fiction in English literature, beginning with the vogue of the Gothic Romance and Tale of Terror towards the close of the eighteenth century. The origin and development of the Gothic Romance are set forth in detail from the appearance of Walpole's _Castle of Otranto_ in 1764 to the publication of Maturin's _Melmoth the Wanderer_ in 1820; and the survey of this phase of the novel is continued, in the later chapters, to modern times. One of these is devoted to the Tale of Terror in America, where in the hands of Hawthorne and Poe its treatment became a fine art. In the chapters dealing with the more recent forms of the tale of terror and wonder, the scope of the subject becomes so wide that it is impossible to attempt an exhaustive survey.
The present work is the outcome of studies begun during my tenure of the William Noble Fellowship in the University of Liverpool, 1916-18. It is a pleasure to express here my thanks to Professor R.H. Case and to Dr. John Sampson for valuable help and criticism at various stages of the work. Parts of the MS. have also been read by Professor C.H. Herford of the University of Manchester and by Professor Oliver Elton of the University of Liverpool. To Messrs. Constable's reader I am also indebted for several helpful suggestions.--E.B.
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL,
December, 1920.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTORY.
The antiquity of the tale of terror; the element of fear in myths, heroic legends, ballads and folk-tales; terror in the romances of the middle ages, in Elizabethan times and in the seventeenth century; the credulity of the age of reason; the renascence of terror and wonder in poetry; the "attempt to blend the marvellous of old story with the natural of modern novels." Pp. 1-15.
CHAPTER II - THE BEGINNINGS OF GOTHIC ROMANCE.
Walpole's admiration for Gothic art and his interest in the middle ages; the mediaeval revival at the close of the eighteenth century; _The Castle of Otranto_; Walpole's bequest to later romance-writers; Smollett's incidental anticipation of the methods of Gothic Romance; Clara Reeve's _Old English Baron_ and her effort to bring her story "within the utmost verge of probability"; Mrs. Barbauld's Gothic fragment; Blake's _Fair Elenor_; the critical theories and Gothic experiments of Dr. Nathan Drake. Pp. 16-37.
CHAPTER III - "THE NOVEL OF SUSPENSE." MRS. RADCLIFFE.
The vogue of Mrs. Radcliffe; her tentative beginning in _The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne_, and her gradual advance in skill and power; _The Sicilian Romance_ and her early experiments in the "explained" supernatural; _The Romance of the Forest_, and her use of suspense; heroines: _The Mysteries of Udolpho_; illustrations of Mrs. Radcliffe's methods; _The Italian_; villains; her historical accuracy and "unexplained" spectre in _Gaston de Blondeville_; her reading; style; descriptions of scenery; position in the history of the novel. Pp. 38-62.
CHAPTER IV - THE NOVEL OF TERROR. LEWIS AND MATURIN.
Lewis's methods contrasted with those of Mrs. Radcliffe; his debt to German terror-mongers; _The Monk_; ballads; _The Bravo of Venice_; minor works and translations; Scott's review of Maturin's _Montorio_; the vogue of the tale of terror between Lewis and Maturin; Miss Sarah Wilkinson; the personality of Charles Robert Maturin; his literary career; the complicated plot of _The Family of Montorio_; Maturin's debt to others; his distinguishing gifts revealed in _Montorio_; the influence of _Melmoth the Wanderer_ on French literature; a survey of _Melmoth_; Maturin's achievement as a novelist. Pp. 63-93.
