Surveying Ann Radcliffe’s Gothic Landscapes

Abstract

This article examines the use of space in Ann Radcliffe’s Gothic romances, considering how issues of female propriety, property and identity are explored through contradictions within her landscapes. In so doing, it analyses the connections between being and place, studying Radcliffe’s representations of the sublime and the picturesque in relationship to the ‘female Gothic’.1 It contends that Radcliffe brings together the opposing forces of cartography and poetry in her panoramic surveys of space. In conclusion, it introduces the critical concept of ‘Gothic cartography’ in order to define these conflicting approaches within Radcliffe’s literary geographies.2

Theorizing maps with literature

“…(Roberts, 2012: 11) Many literary scholars, indeed, use cartographic terminology in an evocative or metaphorical manner, thus forging original critical concepts. To take only some recent examples, we might think of Brabon's (2006) 'gothic cartography', Flatley's (2008) 'affective mapping', Ramos's (2011) 'global positioning metaphor', or Naramore Maher's (2011) 'environmental deep-map writing'. This creative use of the cartographic lexicon, I believe, provides not only misleading paths, but also paths to fascinating and stimulating openings for specialized map theorists.…”