Ann Radcliffe

English author and pioneer of the Gothic novel. Her style is Romantic in its vivid descriptions of landscapes and long travel scenes, yet the Gothic element is obvious through her use of the supernatural. It was her technique "the explained supernatural", the final revelation of inexplicable phenomena, that helped the Gothic novel achieve respectability in the 1790s. Born: 9 July 1764 in London, England Died: 7 February 1823 in London, England