In 1764, a bored English peer, no longer active in politics, builder of a fairy tale castle in the middle of Twickenham, came up with a strange idea for a book. He wanted to tell a modern story but with elements of days gone-by. You know the kind of thing: ghosts, violent sword-fights, secret doors, family curses, desperate adventures. The only problem was he lived in the Age of Reason. Nobody wrote that kind of silliness anymore. Man had Intellect. He had Science. Books were for instruction, logic and improvement. Why would anyone want to read such an anomaly, such an anachronism?
But he wrote it anyway. And published it under a pseudonym. It was a bestseller. For the second edition, he revealed his authorship and some felt it was a cheat. For he had presented it as an old manuscript, not a new story. Others didn’t care and wrote more stories just like it. The book was called The Castle of Otranto (published in 1765). It was the first Gothic novel and it’s importance (or perhaps more importantly the Gothic’s importance) is only now being truly revealed. Horace Walpole’s tale of lost heirs, gigantic armour, family curses, fleeing through tunnels, improbable plot twists and operatic dialogue seems quaint by today’s standards, but its legacy drives all the most popular media of today.
Read the rest:
https://www.michaelmay.online/2014/10/gothic-gotham-guest-post.html
