"Horace Walpole was a trendsetter"- Sophie Missing. (2010). The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/mar/14/castle-of-otranto-horace-walpole-review. Last accessed 15/01/2014.
I was interested in researching some of the Authors that my Tutor Sharron mentioned to my group in a lesson. The Authors mentioned by Sharron were and are renowned for writing Gothic/Horror novels.
Horace Walpole was supposedly said to be the first Author to introduce Gothic Novels. A very popular book that he wrote was indeed 'The Castle of Otranto' (1964). I have yet to read this novel but I thought it was quite interesting that this particular Author is said to have almost set a trend in the way Authors wrote Gothic novels from the point this book was published (1964). It's quite an interesting thought to think that Charles Dickens may have read this book, as he too became part of the trend that Horace Walpole set much later on.
Warpole was born in London, and he is most known these days for the house that he built in Twickenham, London. This is where he revived the Gothic theme/style a few decades before his Victorian successors. He is also obviously known for writing his novel 'The Castle of Otranto'.
Warpole anonymously published his Gothic Novel, 'The Castle of Otranto' in 1764, claiming on its title page that it was a translation "from the Original Italian of Onuphirio Muralto". The second edition's preface, according to James Watt, "has often been regarded as a manifesto for the modern Gothic romance, stating that his work, now subtitled 'A Gothic Story', sought to restore the qualities of imagination and invention to contemporary fiction. However, there is a playfulness in the prefaces to both editions and in the narration within the text itself. The novel opens with the son of Manfred ( the Prince of Otranto) being crushed under a massive helmet that appears as a result of supernatural causes. However, that moment, along with the rest of the unfolding plot, includes a mixture of both ridiculous and sublime supernatural elements. The plot finally reveals how Manfred's family is tainted in a way that served as a model for successive Gothic plots. - Horace Walpole. (1764). Horace Walpole. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Walpole. Last accessed 04/01/14.
Some of the other Authors mentioned were:
Anne Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho
Emily: The Gothic Heroine
Emily is a sentimental as well as gothic heroine. She is “young, beautiful and persecuted,” gifted with acute sensibility (as seen in her artistic ability), but prone to fainting, and fits of excessive weeping (N. Smith, 581). However, Emily learns to overcome her “excess of sensibility,” and adhere to the teachings of her father, St. Aubert. Emily’s education parallels Rousseau’s education of Emile: it involves “learning to find a middle course of balanced self-government, in which sentiment is not repressed into a cold, unfeeling stoicism but controlled by the higher faculty of reason” (Kilgour, 115). Thus, Emily’s great strength is also her weakness, and the novel is not so much a record of her growth as a person, but a series of tests for her morality and sensibility (Murray, 133). - Anne Radcliffe. (1974). The Mysteries of Rudolpho. Available: http://eighteenthcenturylit.wordpress.com/character-setting-and-story/. Last accessed 15/01/2014.
Sir Walter Scott: The Bridge of Lammermoor
The novel is introduced as a tale based on a true story, set in Scotland at the time of Queen Anne (early 1700′s). Lord Ravenswood is dead and all that remains of the Ravenswood family is Master Ravenswood (Edgar) and the ruin known as Wolf’s Carg castle.
The Ravenswood family blames their demise on Sir William Ashton who profited at the Ravenswood’s expense….the Ravenswoods have been stripped of their titles after the rebellion and have subsequently lost their estates/fortunes as a result of a legal scheme gone awry. -
Sir Walter Scott. (1819). The Bridge of Lammermoor. Available :http://thelitbitch.com/2012/03/27/review-the-bride-of-lammermoor-by-sir-walter-scott/. Last accessed 15/01/14.
Jane Austin: Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey, while one of the two novels by Austen that was published posthumously, is considered by many to be her most accomplished novel. The novel centers around teenaged Catherine Morland and her exciting visit to Bath. What ensues is a delightful adventure with all the scintillating romantic quirks that you’d expect from Austen. Pride and Prejudice, her third novel, is the most popular of her works. Adapted numerous times, Pride and Prejudice follows the life of young and independent Elizabeth Bennet. While each story-line is interesting, it’s the budding relationship between Elizabeth and the proud Mr. Darcy that enraptures the heart. - Jane Austin. (1800's). Northanger Abbey. Available: http://www.shaggyblogstories.co.uk/the-classic-works-of-jane-austen%E2%80%A8/. Last accessed 15/01/14.
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by British author Mary Shelley about eccentric scientist Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823.
Frankenstein is infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement and is also considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Brian Aldiss has argued that it should be considered the first true science fiction story, because unlike in previous stories with fantastical elements resembling those of later science fiction, the central character "makes a deliberate decision" and "turns to modern experiments in the laboratory" to achieve fantastic results.[1] It has had a considerable influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories, films, and plays. -
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