A review by ed_moore
The Italian by Ann Radcliffe

adventurous dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

“the grave, the austere, the solemn, and the gloomy, intermingling with the light, the blooming, and the debonaire, expressed all the various tempers, that render life a blessing or a burden, and, as with the spell of magic, transform this world into a transient paradise or purgatory” 

Radcliffe’s ‘The Italian’ follows the kidnapping of the noble born Vivaldi’s lover Ellena by a corrupt monk, father Schedoni, due to Vivaldi’s mothers disapproval of the the match. The narrative takes you through convents and ruins leading to the dungeons of the Inquisition and is full of murder, moody gothic settings and deception. Though through all this Ellena remained the archetypal damsel in distress who is wholly good and yet in all the trouble she ends up in she seems to just spend the majority of the book sitting around and then eventually leaving places undisputed which was a strange one. 

I loved the tension and ambience of the scenes involving the Inquisition. It is such a dark and fascinating setting and group of jurisdictional enforcers especially considering the role of religious corruption in both the Inquisition and also the primary antagonist Schedoni. Despite all the tension occurring in these fantastic settings much of it is unfortunately recounted past events and hence no in-the-moment cumulations of the plot, and there were a few too many convenient family tree shock factors or narrative tie ups in the conclusion for me. 

Much of the atmosphere and narrative devices were similar to Matthew Lewis’ ‘The Monk’ (which I did slightly prefer) however both encapsulated the gothic ambience brilliantly. I do question however the categorisation of ‘The Italian’ in the separate sub-genre of the ‘female gothic’ as much was parallel to Lewis and I’d argue for such reason the genre doesn’t really exist. 

Side note: Spalatro deserved so much better. He did much wrong but for some reason I loved the man.