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The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (3rd edition)
The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (3rd edition)

The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (3rd edition)

Author: 
Horace Walpole; Nick Groom
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  • A new edition of one of the earliest and most influential Gothic novels, the best introduction to the work that inaugurated a literary genre.
  • Nick Groom's wide-ranging introduction explores the novel's Gothic context in the cultural movement that affected political and religious thinking before Walpole developed it as a literary style, helping to explain the novel's impact on contemporaries, its importance, and Walpole's pioneering innovations.
  • Up-to-date bibliography and notes, drawing on the latest scholarship.
  • Useful chronology of Walpole and the Gothic context.
  • Appendix includes extracts from contemporary non-fiction by Walpole and Richard Hurd demonstrating the domestication of medieval Gothic for eighteenth-century readers that fed into The Castle of Otranto.

New to this Edition:

  • New introduction by Nick Groom.
  • Up-to-date bibliography.
  • Fuller chronology of Walpole and seventeenth/eighteenth century Gothic.
  • New notes.
  • An appendix with extracts from contemporary non-fiction relating to the domestication of medieval Gothic for eighteenth-century readers.
  • Reset text.

    
'Look, my lord! See heaven itself declares against your impious intentions!'
  
The Castle of Otranto (1764) is the first supernatural English novel and one of the most influential works of Gothic fiction. It inaugurated a literary genre that will be forever associated with the effects that Walpole pioneered. Professing to be a translation of a mysterious Italian tale from the darkest Middle Ages, the novel tells of Manfred, prince of Otranto, whose fear of an ancient prophecy sets him on a course of destruction. After the grotesque death of his only son, Conrad, on his wedding day, Manfred determines to marry the bride-to-be. The virgin Isabella flees through a castle riddled with secret passages. Chilling coincidences, ghostly visitations, arcane revelations, and violent combat combine in a heady mix that terrified the novel's first readers.
  
In this new edition Nick Groom examines the reasons for its extraordinary impact and the Gothic culture from which it sprang. The Castle of Otranto was a game-changer, and Walpole the writer who paved the way for modern horror exponents.

Index: 

Introduction
Note on the Text
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Horace Walpole
  
Preface to the First Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Sonnet to the Right Honourable Lady Mary Coke
THE CATLE OF OTRANTO
Appendix: Gothic Contexts
Explanatory Notes

About the author: 

Horace Walpole
Edited by Nick Groom, University of Exeter
   
Nick Groom has published widely for both academic and popular readerships, with particular interest in questions of authenticity and the emergence of national and regional identity. His books include The Gothic (2012) for the Very Short Introductions series, The Union Jack: the Story of the British Flag (Atlantic, 2006), and The Seasons: an Elegy for the Passing of the Year (Atlantic, 2013).

"Look, my lord! See heaven itself declares against your impious intentions!"

One of the most influential Gothic novels, The Castle of Otranto established the literary effects associated with the genre: an ancient castle, secret passages, supernatural visitations, an innocent girl threatened with violence, sudden revelations, terror and excitement.

In this new edition, Professor Nick Groom examines the reasons for its extraordinary impact and the Gothic culture from which it sprang. The Castle of Otranto was a game-changer, and Walpole the writer who paved the way for modern horror exponents.

To listen to Professor Nick Groom, editor of the Oxford World's Classics edition, introduce The Castle of Otranto click on the links below.

Introduction to The Castle of Otranto

The political crisis at the time

The success of The Castle of Otranto

The Goths and Gothic culture - what had Walpole started?

The Gothic Culture - a style that will not die

The interview in full

Product details

ISBN : 9780198704447

Author: 
Horace Walpole; Nick Groom
Pages
192 Pages
Format
Paperback
Size
129 x 196 mm
Pub date
Oct 2014
Series
Oxford World's Classics
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The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (3rd edition)

The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (3rd edition)

The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (3rd edition)