A very short review of Thomas Love Peacock's "Nightmare Abbey"

Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

On paper, Nightmare Abbey sounds like a great read: a gothic satire poking fun at all the big Romantics (Shelley, Coleridge, Mary Wollstonecraft) and their ideas.

Unfortunately, Nightmare Abbey is completely unreadable and unenjoyable for anyone who hasn't studied the Romantic period. Think of a joke today, about someone famous. How do you think it will translate two hundred years from now? Will anyone laugh? Will anyone care? This is the problem with Nightmare Abbey: it's a nightmarish cemetery for stale and obscure jokes.

The version I have of Nightmare Abbey doesn't have any footnotes. This might help the reader, if there is such a version around. Academics familiar with the Romantics probably love this book, but for everyone else it will probably just feel like homework.

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