英国女小说家。以写浪漫主义的哥特小说见长。被沃尔特·司各特称为“第一位写虚构浪漫主义小说的女诗人”。作品融恐怖、焦虑悬念的情景和浪漫主义情调于一体。代表作有《林中艳史》(1791)、《奥多芙的神秘》(1794)和《意大利人》等。

基本内容

　　安·莱德克利夫是最具代表性的英国哥特小说女作家。　　Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), novelist and poet, was born in London the daughter of a tradesman.Ann RadcliffeThrough his and his wife's connections she had contacts in artistic circles. When she and her family moved to Bath (1772), she may have attended a school run by Sophia and Harriet Lee and been influenced to write Gothic fiction. Her novel The Mysteries of Udolpho was one of the first Gothic novels and a masterpiece of the genre.　　Following her first novel, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789), Ann Radcliffe published A Sicilian Romance (1790) which was regarded by Sir Walter Scott as the first English poetical novel. This was followed by The Romance of the Forest (1791), dramatised by John Boaden (d 1839). For The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), upon which her reputation rests, Ann Radcliffe was offered the unheard of sum of £500 by her publisher. The Mysteries of Udolpho was a huge success, and for her next novel, The Italian (1797), she was offered £800. Gaston de Blondeville (written 1801, published 1826), published posthumously, achieved little success.　　After writing a travel book of her trip through Holland and Germany, A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794 (1795), Ann Radcliffe retired from the literary scene. In 1816, she was assumed dead, and a compilation published of her verse, The Poems of Ann Radcliffe. Earlier, in 1810, 'Ode to Terror' was published, in which it was claimed that Ann Radcliffe had gone mad and died of the 'terrors'.　　In later life Ann Radcliffe suffered from asthma and died of an attack (7 February 1823). It was claimed in the Monthly Review that 'she died in a state of mental desolation not to be described'.