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THE TALE OF TERROR

THE TALE OF TERROR

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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.



CHAPTER V - THE ORIENTAL TALE OF TERROR. BECKFORD.


The Oriental story in France and England in the eighteenth
century; Beckford's _Vathek_; Beckford's life and character; his
literary gifts; later Oriental tales. Pp. 94-99.



CHAPTER VI - GODWIN AND THE ROSICRUCIAN NOVEL.

Godwin's mind and temper; the plan of _Caleb Williams_ as
described by Godwin; his methods; the plot of _Caleb Williams_;
its interest as a story; Godwin's limitations as a novelist; _St.
Lean_; its origin and purpose; outline of the story; the
character of Bethlem Gabor; Godwin's treatment of the Rosicrucian
legend; a parody of _St. Lean_; the supernatural in _Cloudesley_
and in _Lives of the Necromancers_; Moore's _Epicurean_; Croly's
_Salathiel_; Shelley's youthful enthusiasm for the tale of
terror; _Zastrozzi_; its lack of originality; _St. Irvyne_;
traces of Shelley's early reading in his poems. Pp. 100-127.



CHAPTER VII - SATIRES ON THE NOVEL OF TERROR.


Jane Austen's raillery in _Northanger Abbey_; Barrett's mockery
in _The Heroine_; Peacock's _Nightmare Abbey_; his praise of C.B.
Brown in _Gryll Grange_; _The Mystery of the Abbey_, and its
misleading title; Crabbe's satire in _Belinda Waters_ and _The
Preceptor Husband_; his ironical attack on the sentimental
heroine in _The Borough_; his appreciation of folktales; _Sir
Eustace Grey_. Pp.
128-144.



CHAPTER VIII - SCOTT AND THE NOVEL OF TERROR.


Scott's review of fashionable fiction in the Preface to
_Waverley_; his early attempts at Gothic story in _Thomas the
Rhymer_ and _The Lord of Ennerdale_; his enthusiasm for Bürger's
_Lenore_ and for Lewis's ballads; his interest in demonology and
witchcraft; his attitude to the supernatural; his hints to the
writers of ghost-stories; his own experiments; Wandering Willie's
Tale, a masterpiece of supernatural horror; the use of the
supernatural in the Waverley Novels; Scott, the supplanter of the
novel of terror. Pp.
145-156.



CHAPTER IX - LATER DEVELOPMENTS OF THE TALE OF TERROR.
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