Anne Radcliffe (Radcliffe Ann)

(1764-1823)
Born July 9, 1764 in London, the son of a merchant. In 1787 she married a student-lawyer William Radcliffe, later publisher 'Inglish Chronicle'. Two years later, published his first work. In 1797, at the height of fame, Radcliffe withdrew from the creation. Her last novel, Gaston de Blondevil (Gaston de Blondeville, publ. 1826), was released after her death.
The first two novels Radcliffe, Castles and Atlin Danbeyn (The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, 1789) and the Sicilian affair (A Sicilian Romance, 1790), have not attracted the attention of readers, but the third novel in the woods (The Romance of the Forest, 1791) her glorified. Udolfskie mystery novels (The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1794) and Italian (The Italian, 1797) were immediately recognized as classics of the genre 'gothic novel'. Different times and places in the novels of Ann Radcliffe, but their scheme is always the same: a helpless heroine caught in a net monstrous intrigue and is involved in a horrific adventure against the backdrop of a beautiful, typically Italian, Nature. Gothic castle or ancient ruins, usually inhabited by ghosts, often play an important role in the narrative. Typical reception writer: starting with the supernatural, then explain the mysterious phenomenon is quite real causes.

Radcliffe died in London on February 7, 1823.