Possibly not to everybody’s taste, due perhaps to the frequent incursions of eighteenth-century learning into its narrative flow (not to mention various unbridled prejudices), Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock is undeniably funny. Written and published in 1818 (the same year as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein), Nightmare Abbey is a novella-length satire aimed at the gothic and romantic clichés of the current-day novels.
With a country house setting in the form of the ancient Nightmare Abbey, and a cast (parts of the novel are set out as a play script) representing various stock characters from popular fiction, Peacock sets his story around a love triangle with the son of the house, Scythrop Glowry, at the centre.
A manufactured gloom is the prevailing atmosphere of the Abbey, with Scythrop’s father regularly entertaining guests whose eagerness to engage in morbid and inconclusive philosophical discussions perfectly matches their host’s negative view of the world. Happily for the occupants of the household there is a distraction available in the form of madeira, a popular tipple of the day.
Providing a counterpoint to the endless metaphysical debate, although still managing to retain his place in the misanthropic atmosphere, Scythrop sets about recovering from an earlier failed love affair. He develops a plan for saving the world, writes a treatise, then rapidly falls in love with two women at the same time, each of whom believes she is his intended bride. Various dramas ensue which end up involving most of the household and result in Scythrop falling into a deep depression. Luckily he has his father on hand to add to the development of the plot line.
Taking some of the models for his characters from poets he knew, with Scythrop a parody of his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley and two minor characters based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Lord Byron, Peacock moves his story along with an added interest for his readers. He somehow also managed not to offend his friends in real life.
Peacock was one of the first wave of writers, such as Jane Austen who counted the Prince Regent as an admirer, that was beginning to change the status and relevance of artists in broader society. A new market for novels was developing in the increasingly affluent middle class, and books that provided acceptable entertainment for their leisure hours had the opportunity of becoming popular and their authors well-known. For some of the authors, including Thomas Love Peacock, their books have survived the time of writing and are still read today.
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Authors
Thomas Love Peacock, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Jane Austen
Titles
Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
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