Mint Editions, Horace Walpole: Castle of Otranto (2021, West Margin Press)
92 pages
English language
Published Nov. 17, 2021 by West Margin Press.
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.
This book did not age well and reads as a comedy gold sometimes. Probably not what the author intended. Nevertheless, a valuable and entertaining read
