Public reader discussion about The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole.
By followsClock40
I’ve got this one in my collection of Gothic novels. It’s pretty short, but I liked it. A giant helmet drops out of the sky and everything goes wrong after that—feels like something you’d get in a weird nightmare.
By Sonnet_Hardcover77
Hey everyone, So I’ve been asked to show that I can teach undergraduate-level research skills to some current reference librarians and their supervisor. The assignment is that they’ll be doing a literature review on tropes in gothic novels. The module description says “English literature from its beginning through the eighteenth century,” and it supposedly goes up to 1800. The problem is, a lot of the websites I’m finding for gothic novels keep pointing me to things like Mary Shelley’s *Frankenstein*, but that came out in 1818, so I’m not sure it’s actually within scope. I also saw that Matthew Lewis’s *The Monk* is supposed to be one of the earlier gothic novels, but I haven’t read it, and I’m still not really sure what “tropes” refers to in this context. Could someone help me sort this out or lay it out a bit? Thanks so much!
By Valley-Castle
Just wrapped up The Castle of Otranto—apparently it’s considered the first Gothic novel ever. It’s pretty short, but it stays suspenseful the whole way through. I also liked the vibe of the older English translation; it’s got this retro charm. The story leans hard into supernatural stuff and scary moments, which is probably why it’s remembered as such a classic Gothic tale. I will say there aren’t that many truly different “big” horror scenes, but when it’s not going full supernatural, it’s still pretty grounded—ancestry, love, dealing with the deaths of people you care about, grief, devotion, loss, and prophecy all show up. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone—try it out if you haven’t.
By oldOwl1998
Lately I’ve been getting into gothic horror movies, and I was hoping for some book recommendations too—like gothic horror novels that aren’t the super obvious picks, if that makes sense. I’ve already kind of seen the usual stuff like Poe and the like, so I’m looking for other recommendations.