What does this research mean for the field?

Ann Radcliffe's use of temporal and spatial obscurity in The Mysteries of Udolpho fosters sublime emotions that heighten terror in Gothic literature. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To explore how temporal and spatial obscurity contributes to emotional experiences in Radcliffe's work.

March 13, 2026Open Access

Temporospatial Obscurity and Sublimity of Emotion in Raising Terror in Ann Radcliffes the Mysteries of Udolpho

Key Points

To explore how temporal and spatial obscurity contributes to emotional experiences in Radcliffe's work.
Analyzed the narrative techniques used in The Mysteries of Udolpho.
Examined the philosophical concepts of obscurity and the sublime as described by Edmund Burke.
Identified the emotional responses generated in characters and readers through these techniques.
Characterized obscurity as integral to creating intellectual uncertainty in characters.
Showed the interplay between time and space in enhancing emotional engagement.
Identified the dual role of the obscure and sublime in fostering terror in Gothic literature.

Abstract

pThis paper aims to elaborate on and exemplify Ann Radcliffersquo;s masterful use of the suspension in time and indefinite time frame, as well as the indistinctness and haziness of space surrounding the main protagonists in The Mysteries of Udolpho, her most renowned novel. This obscurity of setting creates the intellectual incertitude in characters, and potentially readers, which further excites their emotions to the highest degree; a state the 18th century philosopher Edmund Burke calls sublime emotion. The obscure and the sublime are the two essential dimensions in fostering terror in Gothic literature of the 18th century, as well as today./p

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