Zofloya, or The Moor -

Charlotte Dacre

Broadview Press

1997

303 páginas

10h 6m

ISBN-10: 1551111462

'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. 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. 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 that of 'Monk' Lewis's deluded Ambrosio. 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. Contradicting idealized stereotypes of women's writing, the novel's portrait of indulged desire, gratuitous cruelty, and monumental self-absorption retains considerable power to disturb.

Resenhas (3)

4 (Muito bom)

Romance gótico notável por suas personagens femininas fortes que apresentam uma imagem diferente do papel feminino estereotipado do gótico. Elas manipulam, usam de violência e são sexualmente agressivas, características predominantemente 'masculinas'. O padrão de feminilidade virtuosa está completamente ausente. A edição é boa com ótima introdução, se quiser evitar spoilers não leia a contra capa.