Novel
Nightmare Abbey
Thomas Love Peacock · 1818
Opening lines
Nightmare Abbey, a venerable family-mansion, in a highly picturesque state of semi-dilapidation, pleasantly situated on a strip of dry land between the sea and the fens, at the verge of the county of Lincoln, had the honour to be the seat of Christopher Glowry, Esquire.
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
In a marsh manor where melancholy is cultivated, a gloomy old gentleman is receiving guests. His son Scythrop has had sliding panels and secret passages built in his tower in secret, by a mute carpenter, and dreams of regenerating humanity through secret societies; he loves his cousin Marionetta, who flees him as soon as he approaches and calls him back as soon as he moves away. The guests talk as they drink: one spins out German transcendentalism, another sings of the despondency of the age, a third searches the coast for mermaids. A stranger takes refuge in the tower.
Context
The book appeared in 1818 and targets a circle that its author knew at close quarters: the young man enamoured of secret societies is modelled on the poet whose friend he was and whose executor he became; another character, modelled on a second poet, spouts German metaphysics, and a third announces the elegant dejection of a last one. The form is the one its author perfected: people gathered in a country house discuss over their drinks, each bearing a doctrine of the moment. The first model wrote that the character was admirably conceived and praised the language of the whole book, and the last asked him to convey his admiration to the author.
Who it is for
A short novel, translated into French since 1936, whose satire targets doctrines and poets of 1818.
Prizes and reception
A satire that two of its models enjoyed, one of them passing his compliment to the author through the other.
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