Novels such as this are also commonly set in "the past", although little if any attempt is made to tie the plot to actual historical events or figures. The contrast between safe, lawful England and dangerous, lawless foreign lands is often explicit. Gothic novels are almost invariably the work of English Protestant authors, but set in "foreign" (French, Italian or Spanish) Catholic countries.
There are allusions to The Monk all the way through The Italian, but in each case the scene is handled differently by Radcliffe. However, in tone, content and execution, The Monk is as far from one of Radcliffe's novels as it could be - so that there is a possibility that Radcliffe meant The Italian as a riposte to Lewis, a lesson in how to write a "proper" Gothic novel. It seems certain that Radcliffe wrote The Italian in response to Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk, which had been the literary cause célèbre of 1796 and was, among other works, greatly influenced by Radcliffe's The Mysteries Of Udolpho. (This was a common practice at the time and was also the case with more than one of Jane Austen's novels.) Radcliffe revised her text slightly for the second edition, and since this has since been considered the definitive text, 1797 is almost invariably given as the novel's publication date. The Italian first appeared late in 1796, but carried a copyright date of 1797. Radcliffe was a very private person and not much is known for certain of her life it has been suggested that she stopped writing when she realised that critics were, in effect, attempting to psychoanalyse her from her novels. The Italian was the last of Ann Radcliffe's novels published within her lifetime after its publication, she seems to have stopped writing. (Wik.The Italian - background, setting, and historical importance The novel is noted for its extremely effective antagonist, Father Schedoni. In line with late 18th-century sensibility and its parallel fetishisation of the sublime and the sentimentally pastoral, the heightened emotional states of Radcliffe's characters are often reflected through the pathetic fallacy. Radcliffe's renowned use of veiled imagery is considered to have reached its height of sophistication and complexity in The Italian concealment and disguise are central motifs of the novel. It also deals with issues prevalent at the time of the French Revolution, such as religion, aristocracy and nationality. The Italian has a dark, mysterious and somber tone, and concerns the themes of love, devotion and persecution by the Holy Inquisition. It is the last book Radcliffe published during her lifetime (although she did go on to write the novel Gaston de Blondeville, which appeared posthumously in 1826). The Italian(1797) is a Gothic novel written by the English author Ann Radcliffe.
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