Nightmare Abbey

Written by Thomas Love Peacock

Narrated by Geoffrey Giuliano and The Ark

Nightmare Abbey was Peacock's third long work of fiction to be published. It was written in late March and June 1818, and published in London in November of the same year. The novella was lightly revised by the author in 1837 for republication in Volume 57 of Bentley's Standard Novels. The book is Peacock's most wellliked and frequentlyread work.

The novel was a topical work of Gothic fiction in which the author satirized tendencies in contemporary English literature, in particular Romanticism's obsession with morbid subjects, misanthropy and transcendental philosophical systems. Most of its characters are based on historical figures whom Peacock wished to pillory.

It has been observed that "the plots of Peacock's novels are mostly devices for bringing the persons together and the persons are merely the embodiment of whims and theories, or types of a class". Nightmare Abbey embodies the critique of a particular mentality and pillories the contemporary vogue for the macabre. To his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley, Peacock described the object of his novel as being "to bring to a sort of philosophical focus a few of the morbidities of modern literature". Appearing in the same year as Northanger Abbey, it similarly contrasts the product of the inflamed imagination, or what Peacock's Mr. Hilary describes as the "conspiracy against cheerfulness", with the commonplace course of everyday life, with the aid of lighthearted ridicule.

Several of the chapters take a dramatic form interspersed with stage directions in order to illustrate without comment how much the speakers characterize themselves through their conversation. The actor and director Anthony Sharp was eventually to take this approach to its logical conclusion and reduced the whole novel to a successful and popular script. First performed in February 1952, it was eventually published in 1971. A one of a kind audio encounter from Icon Audiobooks!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Icon Audio Arts
• Release date: Aug 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798887670645

Reviews for Nightmare Abbey

[edwinbcn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The short, satirical novels of Thomas Love Peacock are unlike any other genre. They are often recognized as "novels", but they also have characteristics of drama or colloquia. They do not have a plot, but consist of pleasant and often humorous conversations. In these short novels, Peacock satirized his contemporaries and issues of his day. Despite the fact that most of the satire is lost on the average twenty-first century reader, they are still very readable, and might even provoke an occasional smile, but from what I understand they may have provoked bulderous laughter in their own day.Nightmare Abbey (1818) is the most famous of Peacock's short novels. Thomas Love Peacock was a contemporary and friend of most of the Romantic poets and their circle. In Nightmare Abbey some of these poets appear in disguise, Percy Bysshe Shelley as “Scythrop Glowry,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge as “Mr Ferdinando Flosky” and, Lord Byron in as “Mr Cypress” but I must admit that I did not recognize them as such. According to the introduction, Shelley is reported to have said that his house was instantly recognisable in the story, but I suppose it would require a great deal of biographical information to see through that. In fact, Raymond Wright writes that (at least in 1986, i.e. when the introduction was written) many of the side characters in Peacock's novels had not yet been identified.However, as I said before, all that literary criticism can be left for what it is, and these short novels can be enjoyed in their own right, with an occasional chuckle.

[mbmackay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In 2015 The Guardian published a list of the 100 best novels published in English, listed in chronological order of publication. Under Covid inspired lockdown, I have taken up the challenge.This is book 9 in the chronological listing. Short, novella more than novel, and quite different from earlier books. This is a bit of fun, nudging the ribs of the various stereotypes in gentle society of the times (published in 1818).As an aside, many of the early books in this list portray love affairs of the upper class of England at the time. With the benefit of hindsight, one would have to say that the mating habits of the time and class seem uniformly ineffective in every way. The pool of possible partners is so small; the capacity to get to know prospective spouses is so limited; and the influence of parents and others so inordinately large, that it is a wonder that Britain survived the era and became a world power!

[philsyphe · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm reviewing this four years to the day that I finished reading it. Lasting impressions? I can barely remember it, though words like "boredom" and "dull" come to mind. I know the story didn't come close to the promising title.It would doubtless be a nightmare to read it twice.

[mstrust · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Young Scythrop Glowry lives with his father in a desolate castle, his bitter mother having died suddenly, to his father's joy. Scythrop recently graduated from a university, where his head was filled with nothing but he picked up the habit of drinking too much. Both Scythrop and his father enjoy the miserable things in life, but Scythrop is young and quickly falls in love with Emily, who quickly marries another, leaving Scythorpe in a romantic depression. When his father's many miserable friends come to visit, there also arrives beautiful and cruel Marionetta, and The Honourable Mr. Listless, who lies on the sofa reading, as doing any more is too taxing.Published in 1818, this is a satire of the Gothic romance novels that were popular at the time. The characters are thinly veiled caricatures of Lord Byron, Shelley and Wordsworth.

[amanda4242_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read [Nightmare Abbey] because it came up as a recommendation for people who liked [[Jane Austen]]'s [Northanger Abbey], a novel I read and loved earlier this year. While the two novels do have similarities, I found [Nightmare Abbey] to be much more like [Candide] in its skewering of the Romantic movement.This one will probably be best appreciated by people who are pretty familiar with the Romantics, as Peacock makes many references to a number of Romantic works and based most of his characters on some of the leading names of the movement, including [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]], [[Mary Shelley]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], and [[Lord Byron]]. Although knowing all of the allusions aren't necessary for enjoying the book, which has some great passages, the Wikipedia page can help with some of the more esoteric passages.While [Nightmare Abbey] wasn't the book I was expecting it to be, I did enjoy the book that it is. It will never be one of my all-time favorites, but its wit, and short length, will probably have me rereading it in the future.

[jacoombs_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very funny if somewhat outdated. To be read as a spoof of romantic writing and, perhaps, philosophical debates but - as much satire - wanting on character, plot development.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this spoof on the Kantian/Transcendentalist books of the late 1700s & early 1800s.

[wirkman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's been nearly thirty years since I've read this. All I can remember of it is that I thought it quite good. Very funny. One of those few comedies of the 19th century to carry over in mirth to the present day.