Castle of Wolfenbach; a German story. In two volumes. By Mrs. Parsons, ... Volume 1 of 2 by Eliza Parsons

Castle of Wolfenbach; a German story. In two volumes. By Mrs. Parsons, ... Volume 1 of 2 Reviews

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  Arnstein

  A reverent Protestant's take on the Gothic romance; an attempt to prove the superiority of Christian, English morale.
  
  The year 1793 is a particularly important year in Parsons' penmanship, during which she published no less than four novels, one of which was the one for which she would garner the most fame: Castle of Wolfenbach; a German story. It is listed as the first amongst the seven 'Northanger horrid novels' – a list which Jane Austen formulated in her tale Northanger Abbey – and with its repeated graphic murders and allusions to incest one could see why someone would place it there. (As a side note her novel The Mysterious Warning, a German tale also made the list, making Parsons the only author to be honoured twice in this manner.)
  
  Castle of Wolfenbach would truly have been a shocking tale in its time and most of its credit comes from this fact, at the same time it does suffer from other flaws such as a messy plot and characters whose personalities are rather on the simple side; and indeed it was penned to remedy Parsons' monetary shortages rather than as a result of devotion to the art of writing. In short, today we would have put the label 'pulp fiction' on this kind of novel.
  
  Mathilda Weimar is a woman whose misfortunes are already numerous by the time she reaches the Castle of Wolfenbach. Her arrival there is coincidental, spurred by a sudden illness that accosted her while travelling. Joseph and Bertha, the custodians of the castle in Count Wolfenbach's absence, happily accommodates her and shows much generosity, presenting her with the finest room they dare offer. However, this room resides on the upper floor of the castle where it were no secret that hauntings abound. Most guests would have fled after the first night, but as far as Mathilda is concerned the threat of ghosts and death are trifles compared to the woes of her past, and so she decides to seek the true secret within the castle, namely the source of its phantasmal presence.
  
  In the late 18th century the Gothic novel was still young, and as it was often aimed at a female audience there were many authors and critics that insisted on dampening the supernatural aspect of them. In England this resulted in a subgenre called the 'explained supernatural', where any such aspect has a rational cause. (Of course, it turns out that women are no more averse to a good horror story than men and so the subgenre is now almost dead, surviving almost solely in children's shows such as the adventures of Scooby Doo.) Especially the Gothic romance were partial to this reasoning and Castle of Wolfenbach is one of its subscribers. In fact the hauntings are but an introduction to the dramas from which it originated, and it is among these intrigues that the true horrors of the story unfold.
  
  This is also a tale of morality and it preaches its morality from its high, cross-bearing horse. Parsons was a devout Protestant with clear aversions towards Catholics, and since France was still a Catholic nation at the time it is the ways of the Frenchmen which receive the brunt of her dismissals. She also makes a point out of having her most unfortunate characters weep inconsolable rivers on a regular basis – this reviewer estimates that there average space between each outburst is around four or five pages, totalling to a decent flood over the novel's five hundred – but the novel postulates that this tide is possible to stem with religious devotion in the correct form. Parsons also takes the time to admonish on subjects such as the raising of children, the correct behaviour of ladies, on choosing spouse based on love, in trusting your fate to higher powers rather than your own abilities, and quite a few others. It is also worth noting that while some do consider her support of a woman's own choice in husband as a progressive idea, which of course it was, she is nevertheless far from a feminist and does in fact support the notion that a woman should be under the responsibility of either her husband or her male family members unless she is widowed or in a convent. This might seem like a harsh verdict, but Parsons is very blatant in her dealings with these issues and presenting them as anything else would be to do the novel injustice.
  
  As previously noted, Castle of Wolfenbach was written in a short space of time and to secure an income to Parsons family, which had been a relatively wealthy one until her husband's warehouse burned down a few years prior. The novel does indeed show signs of haste in its writing. The plot itself is rather messy, but the most telling signs are the sudden appearance of new characters that stop by the story to tell their tale and then vanish, as if they were put there merely to lengthen the story; moreover they increase in number as the story progresses, giving further fuel to this idea.
  
  One's capability to ignore these issues, or, alternatively, appreciate them, is of utter importance if one is to appreciate this novel. Yet, despite these issues Castle of Wolfenbach remains one of the better exemplars of the early Gothic romance. It has one of the most memorable stories amongst its kind and is one of few which keeps the reader guessing throughout the tale. In a genre where the solutions often are too obvious or unimaginative this is a welcome exception.
  
  This review has been based on a reprint by Gale ECCO Print Editions, which is made capture by capture from a microfilm recording of the original first printing by Minerva Press. Both volumes contain near flawless text, granting the modern reader the chance to experience this tale as it was when made over two hundred years ago. Gale ECCO also has a reprint of the second edition, but this reviewer do not know the quality of it. This novel has also seen many other reprintings and the one by Valancourt deserves a special mention since they always include a prolonged introduction containing both historical facts pertaining to the book and the effect it has had on ensuing literature.