Horace Walpole

The Castle of Otranto (Annotated) Horace Walpole

Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The purpose of realizing this historical context is to approach the understanding of a historical epoch from the elements provided by the text. Hence the importance of placing the document in context. It is necessary to unravel what its author or authors have said, how it has been said, when, why and where, always relating it to its historical moment. Is a book first published in 1764 and generally regarded as the first Gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle: "A Gothic Story". The novel fused medievalism and terror into a style that has endured ever since. The aesthetics of the book have shaped modern Gothic books, movies, art, music, and the Gothic subculture. The novel started a literary genre that would become extremely popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with authors such as Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, William Thomas Beckford, Matthew Lewis, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and George du Maurier. Otranto Castle was written in 1764 during Horace Walpole's tenure as MP for King's Lynn. Walpole was fascinated with medieval history, building in 1749 a false gothic castle, Strawberry Hill House.