The Castle of Otranto
By Horace WalpolePublisher Description
The Castle of Otranto is considered to be the first “Gothic” novel—that is, containing a combination of tropes, like hidden passages, haunted paintings, mysterious sounds, skeletal ghosts, ancestral curses, and unexplained deaths, that essentially invented the genre later made famous by authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, or Henry James. Walpole made a point of creating a novel that blends supernatural elements with more realistic depictions of characters and events.
The plot centers around Manfred, the lord of Otranto Castle, who has just witnessed the death of his son under mysterious circumstances, just as his son was about to be married. Manfred is thrust into a galloping and melodramatic series of events that lean heavily on the supernatural.
Walpole initially published The Castle of Otranto under a pseudonym, claiming that his work was a translation of an ancient Italian manuscript. This framing, along with the purposely archaic writing style, gives the supernatural airs of the novel a decidedly authentic flavor. In later editions Walpole acknowledges his authorship.
Otranto remains a fast-paced and familiar read, thanks to the variety of recognizable tropes it introduced and made popular.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities557 Reviews
Annie
Created about 4 hours agoSara Menahemov
Created 6 days ago
Kayleigh Wiebe
Created 9 days ago“Everything I thought the first gothic novel would be. You’ve got that “is it supernatural?” element, dark, foreboding castle, a main character going off the deep end, and a troubled romantic subplot. The narrator of this audiobook was excellent and I’m going to need to see a Mike Flanagan adaptation of this one.”Grace🕷️
Created 9 days ago“This was hard to read, the writing style and descriptions were intimidating and definitely a reflection of when it was written. Fuck that opp Manfred, and I might get hate but I thought Matilda and Theodore were cute together while it lasted. I think Matilda felt like she didn’t deserve to be treated with romantic interest due to the cruel acts of her father and in another universe they are happy and well.”Becca
Created 14 days ago
About Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (/ˈwɔːlpoʊl/), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician.
He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, south-west London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors. His literary reputation rests on the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764), and his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. They have been published by Yale University Press in 48 volumes.
Other books by Horace Walpole
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