Publisher's Synopsis
To her contemporaries, Ann Radcliffe was "The Great Enchantress". Her wild and stormy Gothic romances made her one of the most popular and successful writers of the late-18th century. This is an introduction to her life and work, written especially for first- and second-year undergraduate students of literature and culture.;Radcliffe was lampooned by many for the excesses of her writing - the craggy mountains, gloomy forests, ghosts, orphans, fainting heroines, fantastic resolutions - and yet her influence was felt across England and throughout Europe. The 1790s was a time of great social and political upheaval and Miles argues that Radcliffe should be read not as a conservative writer, but one who creatively renders visible the power structures of her time, place, gender and class.;This work is intended for all students of the period and for anyone interested in the Gothic genre and women's writing.
