The Literature Network - The Gothic Villain and the Vilification of the Plagiarist: The Case of The Castle Spectre

The Gothic Villain and the Vilification of the Plagiarist: The Case of The Castle Spectre

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From: Gothic Studies
Date: 20050501
Author:Fitzgerald, Lauren

A remarkable characteristic of the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century reception of the Gothic is the critical outcry against the mode's lack of originality. Such complaints gathered momentum after Ann Radcliffe published The Mysteries of Udolpho in 1794 and 'vapid and servile imitations' of her romances began to flood the market.1 Reviewers maintained that what fostered this outpouring was the mode's propensity for conventions, allowing anyone with the right 'recipe' to cook up a Gothic romance. According to the Monthly Review, such stock ingredients included 'unnatural parents, - ...

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