The Castle of Otranto
First published pseudonymously in 1764, The Castle of Otranto purported to be a translation of an Italian story of the time of the crusades. In it Walpole attempted, as he declared in the Preface to the second edition, `to blend the two kinds of romance: the ancient and the modern'. He gives us a series of catastrophes, ghostly interventions, revelations of identity, and exciting contests. Crammed with invention, entertainment, terror, and pathos, the novel was an immediate success and Walpole's own favourite among his numerous works. His friend, the poet Thomas Gray, wrote that he and his family, having read Otranto, were now `afraid to go to bed o'nights'. The novel is here reprinted from a text of 1798, the last that Walpole himself prepared for the press.
125 pages, 2 editions
English edition · First published 1998 by Oxford University Press · ISBN 9780192834409
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Ratings and reviews
So I googled ( What was the very first Horror Written? ) This is what popped up.,Considered the very first gothic, horror-ish romance-ish of its time. For a book written in the 1700s. This actually kept my interest. Would I recommend this to just anyone.. Noooo. There’s a lot going on and the characters just pop up out of no where.. which made it a little confusing. But I listened to this twice and the second time around I enjoyed it a lot more. There’s obession. Unwanted advances. Light paranormal happens. A family curse, mystery. For what time period this was from I found it entertaining enough. Yes the female characters were not what today’s readers are looking for or used to, but come on, the original writer was from the 1700s.. and male, what do you expect. Manfred the main-ish character is a compete jerk who it’s seems will do anything to beat an ancient family? curse. Even try to marry his now deceased son’s bride. And chaos ensues. I think this all happens within a span of two days.. I myself really did enjoy the book. Given its chaos trying to follow what was going on and who’s who.
Editions
2 editions
English
- The Castle of Otranto · Oxford University Press · 1998 · ISBN 9780192834409 · 1 reader This page
- The Castle of Otranto · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform · 2017 · ISBN 9781545039205
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