The Castle of Otranto and The Mysterious Mother
This Broadview edition pairs the first Gothic novel with the first Gothic drama, both by Horace Walpole.
Published on Christmas Eve, 1764, on Walpole’s private press at Strawberry Hill, his Gothicized country house, The Castle of Otranto became an instant and immediate classic of the Gothic genre as well as the prototype for Gothic fiction for the next two hundred years. Walpole’s brooding and intense drama, The Mysterious Mother, focuses on the protagonist’s angst over an act of incest with his mother, and includes the appearance of Father Benedict, Gothic literature’s first evil monk.
Appendices in this edition include selections from Walpole’s letters, contemporary responses, and writings illustrating the aesthetic and intellectual climate of the period. Also included is Sir Walter Scott’s introduction to the 1811 edition of The Castle of Otranto.
FictionGothicLiteraryDramaEuropeanEnglish, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
RELEASED2003
PUBLISHERBroadview Press
LENGTH357
LANGUAGEEN
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.
The Castle of Otranto and The Mysterious Mother
This Broadview edition pairs the first Gothic novel with the first Gothic drama, both by Horace Walpole.
Published on Christmas Eve, 1764, on Walpole’s private press at Strawberry Hill, his Gothicized country house, The Castle of Otranto became an instant and immediate classic of the Gothic genre as well as the prototype for Gothic fiction for the next two hundred years. Walpole’s brooding and intense drama, The Mysterious Mother, focuses on the protagonist’s angst over an act of incest with his mother, and includes the appearance of Father Benedict, Gothic literature’s first evil monk.
Appendices in this edition include selections from Walpole’s letters, contemporary responses, and writings illustrating the aesthetic and intellectual climate of the period. Also included is Sir Walter Scott’s introduction to the 1811 edition of The Castle of Otranto.
FictionGothicLiteraryDramaEuropeanEnglish, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
RELEASED2003
PUBLISHERBroadview Press
LENGTH357
LANGUAGEEN
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.
![The castle of Otranto. With a memoir of the author [signed G.M.B.].](https://images.isbndb.com/covers/15577663482672.jpg)
