The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
By turns lurid, sensational and amusing, this 18th-century gothic romance remains a tour de force, says Sophie Missing
Sophie Missing
Sun 14 Mar 2010 00.06 GMT
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The preface to the first edition of the novel (published under a pseudonym) stated that it was a translation of a 16th-century Italian manuscript recounting a story dating back to the Crusades. As a literary hoax it was a success, although the revelation of Walpole's forgery exposed his novel, with its unapologetic zest for the supernatural, to the "censure to which romances are but too liable".
The only son of Manfred, lord of Otranto, is crushed to death by a mysterious giant helmet falling on him moments before his wedding. Connecting this event to a prophecy that the castle will pass from his line, Manfred resolves to banish his wife to a convent and marry his son's intended bride. But his desire to produce an heir has tragic consequences, proving the dour moral that "the sins of fathers are visited on their children".
Walpole famously declared: that "the world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think". It's a sentiment that resonates when reading The Castle of Otranto: although undeniably melodramatic, it is saved from absurdity by its playful tone. It established both the stock characters of the genre (evil tyrant, virtuous maiden, noble peasant) and its motifs (the supernatural, incest, mistaken identity). By turns lurid, sensational and amusing, it remains an imaginative tour de force.
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