The grandeur of the landscape owes more to Ann Radcliffe and Burke's idea of sublime terror.Īs a book it is an interesting read from the perspective of should a lady really be writing such books. There is a reference to ghosts, nightmares and anti-Catholic sentiment, but they are not substantial. It lacks the sophistication of The Monk and the Gothic elements are less pronounced. The book was criticised when published as being a poor imitation of Matthew Lewis’s The Monk. The emphasis on emotion in comparison to the reason and philosophy of Berenza is a reaction against the Enlightenment which preceded it. Everything is felt passionately with rage, anger, pride, fear and despair. Like many novels of this time the modern reader may find there is an excess of emotion. She demonstrates a lack of conscience when pursuing the desires of her heart and a proud and haughty nature. Victoria blames her behaviour on the bad example of her mother, which is a symptom of her own selfish nature, in not wishing to take responsibility for her own actions. Not exactly PC in today's world and I would not condone corporal punishment in any form, but the essential moral of this book is, we have a spoilt brat who has been grossly indulged by her parents. Contradicting idealized stereotypes of women's writing, the novel's portrait of indulged desire, gratuitous cruelty, and monumental self-absorption retains considerablepower to disturb.The introduction to this edition, the first for nearly 200 years, examines why Zofloya deserves to be read alongside established Gothic classics as the highly original work of an intriguing and unconventional writer. The novel's most daring aspect is its anatomy of Victoria's intense sexual attraction to her Moorish servant Zofloya that transgresses taboos both of class and race.A minor scandal on its first publication, and a significant influence on Byron and Shelley, Zofloya has been unduly neglected. Charlotte Dacre's narrative deftly displays her heroine's movement from the vitalized position of Ann Radcliffe's heroines to a fully conscious commitment to vice that goes beyond thatof `Monk' Lewis's deluded Ambrosio. The novel follows Victoria's progress from spoilt daughter of indulgent aristocrats,through a period of abuse and captivity, to a career of deepening criminality conducted under Satan's watchful eye. `Few venture as thou hast in the alarming paths of sin.'This is the final judgement of Satan on Victoria di Loredani, the heroine of Zofloya, or The Moor (1806), a tale of lust, betrayal, and multiple murder set in Venice in the last days of the fifteenth century.