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The Castle of Otranto (1529/1764]) is a Gothic novel found and rewritten by Horace Walpole. The Castle of Otranto is generally held to be the first gothic horror novel.
The work, on which the 1764 edition is based, was printed at Naples in 1529 was found in the library of "an ancient Catholic family in the north of England". The edition found in Naples was hand-set in blackletter type, and due to the expense of producing books in this era it is unlikely to have been published elsewhere at an earlier date.
The story may have been written between 1095 -- the era of the first
Crusade, and 1243 -- the date of the last, or soon after, if it was written near the time when the events of the tale are supposed to have happened. No other good clues to the origin may be found in the text, as the names of the main characters are fictitious; however it may be supposed that the story was not written until the establishment of the Aragonese Kings in Naples had made Spanish appellations familiar in that country as the Spanish names of the servants seem to indicate.
(from the Preface of the 1901 Cassell and Company edition):
- "The beauty of the diction, and the zeal of the author (moderated, however, by singular judgment) concur to make me think that the date of the composition was little antecedent to that of the impression. Letters were then in their most flourishing state in Italy, and contributed to dispel the empire of superstition, at that time so forcibly attacked by the reformers. It is not unlikely that an artful priest might endeavour to turn their own arms on the innovators, and might avail himself of his abilities as an author to confirm the populace in their ancient errors and superstitions. If this was his view, he has certainly acted with signal address. Such a work as the following would enslave a hundred vulgar minds beyond half the books of controversy that have been written from the days of Luther to the present hour." ...
- "Though the machinery is invention, and the names of the actors imaginary, I cannot but believe that the groundwork of the story is founded on truth. The scene is undoubtedly laid in some real castle. The author seems frequently, without design, to describe particular parts. "The chamber," says he, "on the right hand;" "the door on the left hand;" "the distance from the chapel to Conrad's apartment:" these and other passages are strong presumptions that the author had some certain building in his eye. Curious persons, who have leisure to employ in such researches, may possibly discover in the Italian writers the foundation on which our author has built. If a catastrophe, at all resembling that which he describes, is believed to have given rise to this work, it will contribute to interest the reader, and will make the "Castle of Otranto" a still more moving story."
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