Castle of Otranto

Name: Castle of Otranto
Rating: 3.4 (14 reviews)
Author: Unknown Author
ISBN: 9781649656827

by Unknown Author

3.4

(14 ratings)

2025New West PressISBN 9781649656827

Fiction Thriller

About this book

This book is the earliest and most influential of the Gothic novels. First 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." He gives us a series of catastrophes, ghostly interventions, revelations of identity, and exciting contests. Crammed with invention, entertainment, terror, and pathos, the novel was an immediate success and Walpole's own favorite among his numerous works. - Back cover.

Publication Details

Publisher: New West Press
Published: 2025
ISBN: 9781649656827

About Unknown Author

Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), also known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, south-west London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors. His literary reputation rests on the first Gothic novel, *The Castle of Otranto* (1764), and his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. They have been published by Yale University Press in 48 volumes. He was the son of the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. As Horace Walpole was childless, on his death his barony of Walpole descended to his cousin of the same surname, who was created the new Earl of Orford. **Source**: [Horace Walpole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Walpole) on Wikipedia.