Charlotte Dacre (1782–1825)

I had forgotten about reading this book until I saw it was recommended to me so I checked out the summary and then it came back to me...I remembered how much I hated it. I'm an avid reader but gothics never interested me, each one I attempted to read never held my interest, so why bother, with all the books out there that are so much more appealing.

Suffice it to say, I find all gothic novels, no matter how "classic", to be long winded and ridiculous, deserving of Jane Austen's witty mockery. As for this particular one, I can't remember why, but I just know there was something about it that made it the worst of the lot; but in my opinion, they all deserve one star.… (mais)

‘Spare the rod spoil the child.’

Not exactly PC in today's world and I would not condone corporal punishment in any form, but the essential moral of this book is, we have a spoilt brat who has been grossly indulged by her parents. Victoria blames her behaviour on the bad example of her mother, which is a symptom of her own selfish nature, in not wishing to take responsibility for her own actions. She demonstrates a lack of conscience when pursuing the desires of her heart and a proud and haughty nature.

Like many novels of this time the modern reader may find there is an excess of emotion. Everything is felt passionately with rage, anger, pride, fear and despair. The emphasis on emotion in comparison to the reason and philosophy of Berenza is a reaction against the Enlightenment which preceded it.

The book was criticised when published as being a poor imitation of Matthew Lewis’s The Monk. It lacks the sophistication of The Monk and the Gothic elements are less pronounced. There is a reference to ghosts, nightmares and anti-Catholic sentiment, but they are not substantial. The grandeur of the landscape owes more to Ann Radcliffe and Burke's idea of sublime terror.

As a book it is an interesting read from the perspective of should a lady really be writing such books. From most contemporary male perspectives, the answer is no.… (mais)

# 17 of 100 Classics Challenge

Zofloya, or The Moor🍒🍒🍒🍒
By Charlotte Darce
1806
Oxford Classics

Set in Venice, late 15th Century, this is a story of a spoilt daughter, Victoria, whose indulgent aristocratic parents. She falls into a period of being abused and kept captive. Her eventual relationship with The Moor servant, Zafloya, a man of different race and class than her family, contradicted stereotypes of the time. This book created a minor scandal when it was first published.
Awesome...captivating....loved it.… (mais)

Kind of strange and wonderful and horrible, in the fashion of The Monk by Lewis, Zofloya is full of murder, betrayal, jealousy, simply horrid intentions. And, as a gothic text, there's a fair bit of lust, fainting, sighing, and exclamation points to be had as well, not to mention a number of melodramatic twists, and a great deal of stabbing...

All told, this isn't a book for everyone, but it will provide entertainment to lovers of the gothic and fans of early horror. And, probably, to fans of soap opera-like plots, played out on the page. Dacre's characters are far from sympathetic, and fairly superficial, but the book moves fairly quickly once it gets going, and has enough to distinguish it from other more popular gothics that, in truth, I'm glad to have read it, and would rather have read this than some of the more well-known ones I encountered in a class on the subject. The melodrama of the plot carries it with it a certain horrifying charm (admittedly more like watching a car accident than reading a fairy tale), and the fact that one reviewer was driven to call The Monk a chaste text in comparison says quite a lot for what you'll encounter here.

One caveat is that it takes on a rather slow start, but for interested readers, there's enough here to warrant following through on the full read...… (mais)