On the day of his wedding, Conrad, heir to the house of Otranto, is killed in mysterious circumstances. His calculating father Manfred fears that his dynasty will now come to an end and determines to marry his son's bride himself - despite the fact he is already married. But a series of terrifying supernatural omens soon threaten this unlawful union, as the curse placed on Manfred's ancestor, who usurped the lawful Prince of Otranto, begins to unfold. First published pseudonymously in 1764, purporting to be an ancient Italian text from the time of the crusades, The Castle of Otranto is a founding work of Gothic fiction. With its compelling blend of sinister portents, tempestuous passions and ghostly visitations, it spawned an entire literary tradition and influenced such writers as Ann Radcliffe and Bram Stoker.
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Horace Walpole (1717-97), 4th Earl of Orford, was the son of the Whig Prime Minister, Robert Walpole. In 1747 he moved to Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, which he transformed into his "little Gothic castle". He was at the centre of literary and political society and an arbiter of taste. He is remembered for his witty letters to a wide circle of friends.Michael Gamer is Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of 'Romanticism and the Gothic' (CUP, 2000).
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Par Di Renzo
Format:Broché|Achat authentifié par Amazon
Ce petit livre est le premier roman gothique, Walpole a initié le genre et se laisse lire avec plaisir. Un classique pour qui veut découvrir et se divertir.
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3.6 étoiles sur 5
63 commentaires
56 internautes sur 60 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
4.0 étoiles sur 5
The original Gothic novel
25 juin 2001
Par Guillermo Maynez
- Publié sur Amazon.com
Format:Broché
Manfred is an usurpator who wants to consolidate his reign over Otranto. So he tries to marry his weak son to Isabella, heir to a more legitimate prince. But there is an old prophecy which warns against such moves, and the day of the wedding a gigantic iron helmet falls over Manfred's son's head. Then, a creepy -mostly funnily creepy- tale develops. But the plot, though wild and entertaining, is the least important thing about this 1764's novel.
The really attractive, entertaining and literarily important thing is the creation of stereotypes: the foul weather; an ancient, dark castle full of closed halls, secret passages, corridors and doors; frightening apparitions; wicked tyrants desperate for fertile women; virtuous and pure ladies; heroic lads; dark and cold forests where ghosts appear, etc. Walpole, who seems to have been an interesting man, must have had enormous fun writing this tone-setting book, which has had plenty of children in literature. When I read it I kept imagining the scenes, the settings and the weather, and it was great to imagine it come alive. Literarily imperfect, it is fun to read and to discover where many of the commonplaces in Gothic literature come from. Well worth it.
33 internautes sur 35 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
3.0 étoiles sur 5
A strangely epitomizing expression of gothic literature
8 décembre 2005
Par James M. Jensen II
- Publié sur Amazon.com
Format:Broché
I read this book back in May, 2005, as part of my Gothic Lit. class. It's not a book I'd read again strictly for pleasure, but there is a strange quality to it that beckons me to read it again.
While a fairly absurd and not-very-frightening book (at least to modern readers), this book is worth reading as it seems to contain every element that is a staple of gothic fiction -- and why not? It's the first, after all.
After the class and a little thought, I lean toward considering the following elements to be the staples of "true" gothic stories:
1. Numinous (frightening and awe-inspiring) supernatural elements (one could say that should be drawn loosely from real-world beliefs, but I won't make that stipulation myself)
2. Excessive violence (not necessarily blood/guts/gore, but something that leaves you thinking "that wasn't called for")
3. Sexual perversion (not necessarily anything explicit, just hints at something "not right" -- this element makes things both more exciting and more menacing)
4. Madness
5. Helpless hero (necessarily useless, but overwhelmed, unable to accomplish everything and/or take an active approach to the problem)
6. Social injustice (a challenge to "life as usual")
6. Religion gone wrong (a bleaker, maybe questioning look at religion and religious beliefs)
The surprising thing is that it does this while remaining a fairly tame book. It's excessive violence is performed off-camera, as does the majority of its supernatural elements. Manfred's desire to leave his wife on the basis that their marriage is actually incestuous in order to marry his late son's fiance was sufficiently disturbing to me but far even from X-rated. Manfred is flighty and prone to a kind of mania. The hero is vastly overwhelmed, stays on the defense, and is unable to save the one thing most important to him. At the heart of the novel are pointed social and religious questions/commentary.
One of the things that has fascinated me with this book is the retellings it has inspired in The Old English Baron and The Castles of Athlin & Dunbayne. Both of those are significantly less gothic than Otranto (especially Castles, which is not gothic at all), but are better retellings of the core romance between the hero and his love.
All in all, I'd recommend this work to anyone interested in gothic literature. I'd also recommend The Old English Baron and The Castles of Athlin & Dunbayne (especially the latter) as better retellings of the romance in the book.
While a fairly absurd and not-very-frightening book (at least to modern readers), this book is worth reading as it seems to contain every element that is a staple of gothic fiction -- and why not? It's the first, after all.
After the class and a little thought, I lean toward considering the following elements to be the staples of "true" gothic stories:
1. Numinous (frightening and awe-inspiring) supernatural elements (one could say that should be drawn loosely from real-world beliefs, but I won't make that stipulation myself)
2. Excessive violence (not necessarily blood/guts/gore, but something that leaves you thinking "that wasn't called for")
3. Sexual perversion (not necessarily anything explicit, just hints at something "not right" -- this element makes things both more exciting and more menacing)
4. Madness
5. Helpless hero (necessarily useless, but overwhelmed, unable to accomplish everything and/or take an active approach to the problem)
6. Social injustice (a challenge to "life as usual")
6. Religion gone wrong (a bleaker, maybe questioning look at religion and religious beliefs)
The surprising thing is that it does this while remaining a fairly tame book. It's excessive violence is performed off-camera, as does the majority of its supernatural elements. Manfred's desire to leave his wife on the basis that their marriage is actually incestuous in order to marry his late son's fiance was sufficiently disturbing to me but far even from X-rated. Manfred is flighty and prone to a kind of mania. The hero is vastly overwhelmed, stays on the defense, and is unable to save the one thing most important to him. At the heart of the novel are pointed social and religious questions/commentary.
One of the things that has fascinated me with this book is the retellings it has inspired in The Old English Baron and The Castles of Athlin & Dunbayne. Both of those are significantly less gothic than Otranto (especially Castles, which is not gothic at all), but are better retellings of the core romance between the hero and his love.
All in all, I'd recommend this work to anyone interested in gothic literature. I'd also recommend The Old English Baron and The Castles of Athlin & Dunbayne (especially the latter) as better retellings of the romance in the book.
36 internautes sur 40 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
5.0 étoiles sur 5
The Broadview Edition of Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto
9 avril 2003
Par Frederick S. Frank
- Publié sur Amazon.com
Format:Broché
Prospective buyers and users should take note that the Customer Reviews posted on Amazon.com are erroneous. They pertain to previous
editions of Walpole's Gothic novel and do not apply to the Broadview edition. A unique feature of the Broadview edition is the inclusion of Walpole's drama, The Mysterious Mother, sometimes mentioned by literary historians as the first Gothic drama. Thus, the user has at his disposal two important prototypes of the Gothic novel. Appendices include excerpts from Burke's treatise on the sublime, Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance, the Graveyard poets, Hervey's Meditations Among the Tombs, Walpole's correspondence, and the eccentric architectural splendors of Strawberry Hill, Walpole's Gothicized villa on the Thames. I am the edition's editor, Frederick S. Frank, another fact omitted from the Amazon.com descriptor.
editions of Walpole's Gothic novel and do not apply to the Broadview edition. A unique feature of the Broadview edition is the inclusion of Walpole's drama, The Mysterious Mother, sometimes mentioned by literary historians as the first Gothic drama. Thus, the user has at his disposal two important prototypes of the Gothic novel. Appendices include excerpts from Burke's treatise on the sublime, Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance, the Graveyard poets, Hervey's Meditations Among the Tombs, Walpole's correspondence, and the eccentric architectural splendors of Strawberry Hill, Walpole's Gothicized villa on the Thames. I am the edition's editor, Frederick S. Frank, another fact omitted from the Amazon.com descriptor.
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