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The Mysteries of Udolpho

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (REVIEW DATE AUGUST 1794)

SOURCE: Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. A review of Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe. Critical Review (August 1794): 361-72.

In the following excerpt from a review of The Mysteries of Udolpho, Coleridge faults the work as a substandard effort, compared to Radcliffe's earlier literary achievements.

[The Mysteries of Udolpho does not] require the name of its author to ascertain that it comes from the same hand [that produced The Romance of the Forest]. The same powers of description are displayed, the same predilection is discovered for the wonderful and the gloomy—the same mysterious terrors are continually exciting in the mind the idea of a supernatural appearance, keeping us, as it were, upon the very edge and confines of the world of spirits, and yet are ingeniously explained...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Ann Radcliffe (Novel Date 1794)
   2. Ann Radcliffe (Essay Date 1826)
4. General Commentary
   1. David S. Miall (Essay Date 2000)
5. Title Commentary
   1. The Mysteries of Udolpho
   2. Anne Williams (Essay Date 1995)
6. Further Reading