The Italian, Or the Confessional of the Black Penitents

<p>In <i>The Italian</i> (1797), Ann Radcliffe pits a scheming noblewoman and a ruthless monk against young lovers trying to bridge seemingly insurmountable class differences. The scenes of sublime nature, mysterious groans, corrupt ecclesiastics, isolated fortifications, and Inquisitorial torture reveal eighteenth-century Gothic fiction at its finest. <i>The Italian</i> stands as the final and darkest work of England's most successful Gothic novelist, and it presents Radcliffe at the peak of her literary skills. <p>The Valancourt Books edition includes a carefully annotated and edited first edition text with a substantial introductory essay on the literary, historical, and biographical contexts of the novel. The appendix features a map of locations in <i>The Italian</i>, three complete Gothic stories by Radcliffe's contemporaries, and essays on terror fiction by Nathan Drake and John and Anna Aikin.