I certainly didn't love my last choice taken from "1001 Books To Read Before You Die" edited by Peter Boxall (I'm using the "Clockwork Orange" fronted edition), Tobias Smollett's "Adventures Of Peregrine Pickle" so hoping to enjoy my 7th pick more. Here are the next five titles from which I made my choice:
Julie, Or The New Eloise – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rameau's Nephew – Denis Diderot
Emile, Or An Education- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Castle Of Otranto – Horace Walpole
The Vicar Of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith
An easy choice for me as I have on my shelves an unread copy of the Oxford 1994 edition of "Four Gothic Novels" of which Walpole's tale is the first and earliest. (Perhaps I will encounter the others, William Beckford's "Vattek", Matthew Lewis' "The Monk" and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"- none of which I've read, yes, even I'm surprised by the Shelley admission, later on in this challenge). I also didn't realise, before starting, how short "The Castle Of Otranto" is. In the admittedly fairly miniscule print in the edition I read it comes in at 80 pages, which seemed even more reason to set the time machine forward 13 years from Smollett for this taster of eighteenth century Gothic.
This is credited as the grandfather of the Gothic genre, it's popularity at the time confirming a style which has been one of the continuing highlights of literary experience ever since. It takes place centuries earlier, around the time of The Crusades. In the preface, Walpole uses the device of claiming it is from a discovered document translated from the Italian. The author was later to say, certainly not the last to do so, that the plot came to him in a dream.
In the Castle of Otranto the heir to the title of Prince is crushed under a giant helmet when preparations for his wedding are under way. (Still with me?) The line of succession looks shaky and so his father, the very unlikeable Manfred, decides to divorce his wife and marry his son's betrothed, Isabella, in the hope that their union will bring forth sons. Isabella is horrified by the advances of a man she was expecting to be her father-in-law and attempts to flee the castle. These events are occurring because of a prophecy which can only end in further tragedy.
It is the Castle itself with its secret passages, dark corners where figures can lurk, its shadows which can disguise and confuse which provides much of the atmosphere we now recognise as Gothic but there is also a fair share of spectral apparitions and a sense of supernatural goings on throughout (not to mention the giant helmet!)
On the plus side, compared to some of the others I've read in this challenge. Walpole, probably due to the brevity of the piece, provides a narrative which keeps to the point, there's few digressions from the plot nor a story within a story within a story tactics as employed by the earlier writers. This does allow the narrative to build and increase the tension (such as it is).
I can't imagine this would be anyone's favourite example of the Gothic genre but I'm glad I read it for its significance of a book which inspired the next generations of writers.
This was Walpole's only published novel. He was the son of the first British Prime Minister and an MP himself. His most lasting achievement in his life (1717-97) was his house which displayed his love of Gothic styles, Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, where he also had a printing press to produce his literary works. The house and its gardens have been a popular attraction for over 250 years.
"The Castle Of Otranto" was first published in 1764. I read the edition in "Four Gothic Novels" published by Oxford University Press.
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