Zofloya: Or the Moor (Broadview Literary Texts) (Broadview Editions) - Softcover

Dacre, Charlotte

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551111462 ISBN 13: 9781551111469

Publisher: Broadview Press, 1997

Synopsis

The protagonist of Charlotte Dacre's best known novel, Zofloya, or the Moor (1806) is unique in women's Gothic and Romantic literature, and has more in common with the heroines of Sade or M.G. Lewis than with those of Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Smith or Jane Austen. No heroine of Radcliffe or Austen could exult, as Victoria does in this novel, that "there is certainly a pleasure...in the infliction of prolonged torment."

The sexual desires and ambition of Dacre's protagonist, Victoria, drive her to seduce, torture and murder. Victoria is inspired to greater criminal and illicit acts by a seductive Lucifer, disguised as a Moor, before she too is plunged into an abyss by her demon lover. The text's unusual evocations of the female body and feminine subject are of particular interest in the context of the history of sexuality and of the body; after embarking on a series of violent crimes, Victoria's body actually begins to grow stronger and decidedly more masculine.

Among the documents included as appendices to this volume are a selection of Dacre's poetry and excerpts from Bienville's Nymphomania, a medical treatise of the time aimed at a lay audience that focuses largely on the dangerous powers of women's imagination; inspired by improper novels, it is alleged that women may plunge into madness, violence and death—much as does the protagonist of Zofloya herself.

About this title

Review:

"Through Victoria, the femme fatale heroine of her powerful Gothic novel, Charlotte Dacre revels in the uninhibited expression of female desire; for sexual consummation, for psychological and political power, for religious transgression. This novel is superbly edited and introduced by Adriana Craciun." - Anne K. Mellor, UCLA

"Like other editions in this fine series, this one provides an informative critical introduction, as well as several appendixes featuring notable sources for Dacre's novel and selections from the reviews it received in 1806." - Nineteenth-Century Literature

From the Publisher:

The Broadview Editions series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, lesser-known literature. Newly type-set and produced on high-quality paper in trade paperback format, the Broadview Editions series is a delight to handle as well as read.

Each volume includes a full introduction, chronology, bibliography, and explanatory notes along with a variety of documents from the period, giving readers a rich sense of the world from which the work emerged.

About this edition

• Publisher: Broadview Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1551111462
• ISBN 13: 9781551111469
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 303
• Editor: Craciun Adriana