Letters of Horace Walpole - Volume II
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The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford - Volume 3
 List Price: Price: $56.34 DescriptionThe book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: History / General; Biography
The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (Oxford World's Classics)
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DescriptionFirst 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." Crammed with invention, entertainment, terror, and pathos, the novel was an immediate success and Walpole's own favorite among his numerous works. The novel is reprinted here from a text of 1798, the last that Walpole himself prepared for the press.Customer Reviews"Since I Cannot Give You My Son, I Offer You Myself..."First published in 1764, Horace Walpole's dark and melodramatic novel is widely considered the very first Gothic novel, containing within its pages all the familiar (and by today's standards, clichéd) elements of the genre. Expect a spooky old castle, an ancient prophecy, dark portends, women that faint often and with little cause, a dysfunctional family whose members can't decide whether to love or hate each other, haunted portraits, secret tunnels and trapdoors, manic tyrants, endangered virgins, ghostly visages, and young heroes that put honor before reason, and whose obsession with virtue prevents them from doing anything particularly helpful. It's vintage Gothic: intense emotions running wild, thrill-seeking in the reader's pursuit of the supernatural horror, and a heavy, foreboding atmosphere. The story was first purported to be a translation of an Italian document dated 1529 which in turn was a transcription of an older story that took place some time during the crusades. Walpole later amended this in a later preface, admitting that he wrote the story himself (in fact, his inspiration came from a dream in which he glimpsed a gigantic armored hand on a stairwell) and that his intentions were in blending the ancient and modern forms of Romance: "in the former all was imagination and improbability: in the latter, nature is always intended to be copied. Invention has not been wanting, but the great resources of fancy have been damned up, by strict adherence to common life. But if in the latter species Nature has cramped imagination, she did but take her revenge, having been totally excluded from old romances. The author of the following pages thought it possible to reconcile the two kinds." Whether Wadpole was successful in this endeavor is incidental. The importance of "The Castle of Otranto" is that in this mingling of old and new, the Gothic genre was born. Prince Manfred of Otranto has a faithful wife, a beautiful daughter, and a sickly son, yet as is often the way with tyrants, he is dissatisfied. His son is about to marry Princess Isabella, daughter of the Marquis of Vincenza, but on the day of the wedding Conrad is killed in mysterious circumstances. Actually, make that "bizarre" circumstances: he's been crushed under a giant helmet that seems to have fallen out of nowhere. Cutting his losses, Manfred arrests a young man for the murder of his son, and decides to divorce his wife Hippolita and marry Isabella himself, a proposition that horrifies the girl who was to become his daughter-in-law. Isabella makes her escape into the shadowed catacombs of the palace, Hippolita and Matilda fret about their future, and the servants live in terror of the apparitions appearing throughout the castle: the oversized arms and legs of an armored giant (who is somehow finding a way to hide whenever anyone's back is turned). It's difficult to really assess this book. It many ways it is totally outdated in terms of story and character, and is really only valuable for its historical significance. Although I could not say I "enjoyed" reading it, I nevertheless found it "entertaining," as odd as that distinction may seem. When it comes to the characters' emotions, there's a lot of telling rather than showing, and many of the main cast is thoroughly insipid, frustrating and unsympathetic (even those who are meant to be the heroes). For example, Theodore is our male lead, who makes catastrophic mistakes throughout the story (usually due to an inability to keep his mouth shut) and who eventually makes the decision to be miserable for the rest of his life, desiring only to "forever indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul." If a character is depressed, it's probably because they're in love; which is how Theodore experiences his ardor toward Matilda (even though I'm not entirely sure how he tells her apart from Isabella). All the women are submissive, delicate martyrs, who consider it an honor to be walked all over by their male counterparts, and sigh with angelic resignation in the face of mistreatment. Comic relief comes in the form of the shrewd and wily servants, who seem to be well-aware of how ridiculous their masters and mistresses are. And some of the dialogue is downright hysterical, such as: "My dearest, gracious lord, what is it you see? Why do you fix your eyeballs thus?" Obviously, it's very easy to make fun of the Gothic genre (Jane Austen herself did it in Northanger Abbey) simply because it relies so much on melodrama. Despite the negative connotations, melodrama *can* be done well, and despite my heckling, Walpole pulls it off...for the most part. But don't just think it's 21st century cynicism casting its shadow over the literary past, even many of Walpole's contemporary critics dismissed "The Castle of Otranto" as an absurdity. An absurdity it may well be, but keeping in mind the author's intentions and its place within the Gothic canon, Walpole's efforts are worthy of attention. This is not the heights of Gothic literature, but it is the forefather of the genre, and for that reason alone it has value. Oxford World Classics edition I have to agree with the consensus of reviewers here: If you are looking for an excellent Gothic novel to read, this one is not it. If you are studying the history of Gothic literature and aesthetics, this novel is fundamental. I want to recommend highly the introduction by E.J. Clery to the Oxford World Classics edition. Clery provides a survey of the various ways of interpreting the novel, and amply explains the novel's strengths and weaknesses in the context of the different interpretations. With this approach, the reader finds ways of making sense of the peculiar novel within the context of its time and its author's possible intentions. Powerful whimsy This review refers to the Oxford World's Classics edition, edited by WS Lewis, with a 26-page introduction and eight pages of endnotes by EJ Clery. There is a select bibliography and a chronology of the author, Horace Walpole. Importantly, the book includes both the first and second editions' title-pages and prefaces. The first edition, "The Castle of Otranto: A Story, translated by William Marshal", was published in December 1764 (but marked 1765 on the title-page). It's preface tried - and succeeded for awhile - to give the impression that the tale had been "found in the library of an ancient catholic family in the north of England" and had been "printed at Naples ... in the year 1529. ... The style is the purest Italian." The style was instead the purest Walpole and he quickly confessed; so that in the rapidly-issued second edition of 1765 (the book was an immediate hit), the revised preface became, as EJ Clery makes clear, "a manifesto for a new type of writing", and the title-page was amended to "The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story". The inclusion of the adjective into the story's title is fundamental to the book's reputation as being the well-spring of much (all?) that followed in subsequent western literature that effected to underscore its credentials with a Gothic - or Gothick - motif. One could argue that that includes 90% of western literature (as much Thomas Pynchon as Stephen King), but this is going too far; for as Walpole himself makes plain in his second preface, his work was an attempt to marry imagination with nature, fantasy with reality, and that he had progenitors in the essay: "That great master of nature, Shakespeare, was the model I copied." The story itself - a tale of lordly tyranny, supernatural horror, and family feuding that would have interested Shakespeare himself in its dramatic possibilities - is told over five chapters, barely one hundred pages in total, and so can be read in a few hours. As the excellent introduction relates, Walpole himself thought the story a piece of whimsy, and did not attempt to savagely repudiate the criticisms raised about both the style of writing and about the narrative itself. He was aware of the novella's power, however, in creating a new species of romance. The work today is as much read for its historic relevance than for its terror and sublime effects, but both of these aspects recommend it. Probably better in its day This book, like Pamela for feminist literary history, is important due to the fact that it was the first gothic novel ever written. The voice is a good one for the story, deep, reverant, dramatic; the writing is of excellent breed as well. With that said, however, so much has been ripped-off from this novel, and into novels that we've already read, that the story itself comes off as a bit cliche, not to mention ridiculous. Although the hyperbole of the novel is based off sybolic intentions, the best that one can say about this piece is that it lit a torch for future great novels--not that it's so much a great novel on its own two feet. Worty of reading if you care about the history of novels in general, but if you're looking for a great gothic novel this shouldn't be a first choice. Walpole's Castle: More Historical Then Entertaining When Horace Walpole published THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO in 1794, his reading public was unprepared for what was to them a floodtide of unrestrained emotion. It had only been recently that the concept of "sensibility" in writing had been in vogue. In novels of this type (later popularized by Austen) the protagonist, usually a well-born female, would be subject to a non-stop series of emotional excesses like fainting, weeping, and otherwise losing all restraint. And lying behind this relatively recent vogue of sensibility lay a much longer tradition of its polar opposite: the damming of all feeling in favor of a carefully controlled harmony between man and nature. With THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO, this harmony cracked into innumerable pieces that manifested themselves into what was soon to become staples of the genre: unexplained supernatural phenomenon, dark and dank castles that hinted at the equally dark and dank recesses of the human psyche, and a series of images that exploded into a cacophony of sound and sight. The story is slight both in plot and theme. The evil Manfred, the usurping ruler of Otranto, plans to marry his weakened son solely to ward off a prophecy that suggests that unless he has male heirs, he will be deposed. Just before the nuptuals between his son and Manfred's choice for him, Isabella, a colossal helmet comes crashing down, crusahing his son to pieces. This tragedy does not deter Manfred as he then plans to marry the lovely Isabella himself. Isabella, aided by the peasant Theodore, helps Isabella escape. Theodore is captured, but the ghost of the previous owner of Otranto, Alonso appears and incredibly blasts his own castle to pieces, leaving Isabella to marry Theodore. Even for a nonsense story, the plot does not hold water. Further, the writing style is inexplicably formal, with all events, both mundane and preternatural, narrated in a pseudo-classic manner that fits in well enough in the Augustan mode but seems ill-suited to this new genre of emotional excess. Still, THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO is significant in that for those who care to learn the where and the how of the horror genre, then Walpole's innovative surge of novelistic emotion is a good place to begin.
Letters of Horace Walpole - Volume I
 List Price: Price: $9.99 DescriptionLetters of Horace Walpole - Volume I is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Horace Walpole is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Horace Walpole then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.
The Castle of Otranto (Dover Thrift Editions)
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DescriptionOne of the first, great Gothic novels, and one of the most influential books in literary history, this thrilling tale abounds in adventure, suspense, and supernatural occurrences. In a realm where a villain reigns, mysterious events aid in fulfilling a prophecy that spells doom for the ruler and justice for the rightful heir.
Customer ReviewsDisappointing?Known as the landmark in "Gothic literature", I wasn't too sure of what to expect with this. Things started off well when the would-be husband gets squished under a giant helment mysteriously fallen from the sky. But then... I believe this book has some bad flaws, and despite it being a readable read, these flaws really don't help. For instance, Walpole very often falls into the "telling" of the story, which makes you feel very distant from the events described, almost as a chronicle, or as a sum-up of what happens. Another flaw is the supernatural events, which are either ridiculous, or ridiculously put. As a critic wrote, they look like representations of themselves, rather than supernatural events per se. The problem with that is that it entirely kills any fear the reader may have. This reads like a fairy tale or a medieval legend, and doesn't cause enough immersion to create any real fear or concern. It's like a play, over-acted and even cartoonish at times. As Walpole himself writes in his preface, I applaud the attempt, but am less satisfied with the result. And I'm not even sure that this book is so original: if you know medieval novels like "Mélusine", you know that the supernatural and castles aren't that original in the 18th century, and thus the only originality here seems to be restricted to this very century - the 18th - and to be cast against a classicism of that day. That's alright, but it isn't enough to make a good book. That said, "The Castle of Otranto" is not a bad book. It is sort of awkward and irrational, albeit on purpose, and you'll end up wondering about these giant knight parts that show up seemingly at random and do weird things. It's close to a dream, and surrealism, in a way, but again, that alone is not enough to make it a gripping story. As a conclusion: fails to create immersion, makes the reader feels distant and as though watching a play in which actors and actresses over-act, leaves much mystery that the reader will eventually not really care to elucidate. This ancestor of Gothic certainly does not live up to its successors, like "Wuthering Heights" or "Frankenstein" and all those master pieces. the humble beginnings of gothic fiction Here it is: the novel that created the gothic fiction genre and paved the way for such works as Frankenstein, Dracula, The Monk, Melmoth the Wanderer, The Shining and Alien (to name just a few). Yet, comparing The Castle of Otranto with the works it helped inspire is like comparing the Wright Brothers' airplane with a Boeing 747. Walpole's novel is certainly an important step in the right direction, yet it clearly lacks many of the features of gothic fiction developed by later writers. There's no real sense of mood or atmosphere, no wickedly evil villain (Manfred comes off like a wishy-washy used car salesman), and little suspense or drama. At times this novel reads more like a parody of gothic fiction rather than its earliest example. It's filled with fainting ladies, noble princes in disguise, miraculous reunions, graveyard rendezvous, hereditary curses, etc. While some parts are interesting and engaging, sometimes the story feels like a novelization of a Disney movie, that is: trite, contrived and very predictable. Honestly, I wanted to like this book, and kept hoping that a silver lining would emerge at some point. It never did, and this book never rose above the level of just being okay. Unless you're really interested in learning more about the origins of gothic fiction, I would recommend reading something else. It may have it's place as the first Gothic, but it's still bad This mess of a book, a semblance of ideas inspired largely by Shakespeare is nothing less than throw-away trash. This book is an inspiration to the art of cheesy writing, with silly visuals (a Monty Python opening involves a large helmet falling from the sky and crushing a weakling boy on his wedding day) and horrid dialog "Alas! Help! Help!" this book had me both laughing and bewildered. Remember two things when considering this book, Walpole published it himself (we call that "vanity press" now) and he didn't take credit for it! He published under pseudonym and claimed it was a translation of an ancient text, thus twice distancing himself from it. Only after it sold did he admit he wrote it, then claimed his own genius. Though, as a new work, critics that found a translation interesting soon realized this "modern" work was in fact, bad. And it still is today. Let me quote Clive Barker "Burn this book." It's bad, really, really, bad. Free SF Reader A nasty accidental death is not a good thing to have happen on your wedding day, particularly when it happens to the guy you were going to marry. After this unfortunate event, the father of the dead groom decides he needs to marry the now did not quite make it to widowed woman. There are financial reasons, for this, of course. Plenty of supernatural and other sorts of suspense follow. Setting the Tone "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole, is regarded as the first novel of the gothic genre. Indeed its short and simple story is filled with the supernatural, and what must nowadays count as caricatures for characters. The charm of the story lies within its historical relevance and what it brought to future stories within that genre, not in the story itself. Immediately the reader is introduced to the tyrannical prince of Otranto, Manfred, as he is about to marry his sickly son to the princess Isabella in a quest to secure his claim to the throne he may not be entitled to. When Manfred's son Conrad is struck dead, with no witnesses to his ghastly death, Manfred is at a total loss. He strikes upon the idea of marrying the young princess Isabella for himself; when he proposes the notion to Isabella, she is frightened and repulsed and runs away, seeking sanctuary within the castle's monastery. Then ensues Manfred's stalking of Isabella while trying to get out of his marriage to his extremely pious wife Hippolita, while all about the castle the servants and ruling family keep having dreadful visions. In the end these supernatural visions serve to bring justice to the rightful heir, a young man who unwittingly helps Isabella escape from Manfred's clutches only to fall in love with Manfred's daughter, Matilda. The theme is that of the sins of the father being visited upon the children (even generations later) and is not a new theme in modern literature, but an interesting choice and one that works with the supernatural means Walpole employs to bring it about. While "The Castle of Otranto" is a watershed in the gothic genre, it is by far not the best or most notable work of that period; yet without the blueprint laid meticulously out by Walpole, such greater stories may never have been written. Walpole Horace News
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