Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, Beckford's Vathek, and Shelley's Frankenstein The Gothic novel, which flourished from about 1765 until 1825, revels in the horrible and the supernatural, in suspense and exotic settings. This volume, with its erudite introduction by Mario Praz, presents three of the most celebrated Gothic novels: The Castle of Otranto, published pseudonymously in 1765, is one of the first of the genre and the most truly Gothic of the three. Vathek (1786), an oriental tale by an eccentric millionaire, exotically combines Gothic romanticism with the vivacity of The Arabian Nights and is a narrative tour de force. The story of Frankenstein (1818) and the monster he created is as spine-chilling today as it ever was; as in all Gothic novels, horror is the keynote. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Three Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto; Vathek; Frankenstein

Literature & Fiction

Horace Walpole

William, Beckford

Mary, Shelley

Humor & Satire

Penguin Classics

One of the most interesting phenomena in the history of literature, the Gothic novel — which flourished from about 1765 to 1825 — still has much to offer to the modern reader. Supernatural thrills, adventure and suspense, colorful settings, and, in the better examples, literary quality are all present. Unfortunately, true Gothic novels (not simply modern detective stories called "Gothic") are extremely rare books, and have never been as available as they should be.The first member in this collection, Horace Walpole's TheCastle of Otranto, published as a Christmas book for 1764, was the first and one of the greatest members of the genre. It has also been one of the most influential books in history. It motivated the Gothic revival in the arts, and it probably did more to usher in the early-19th-century Romanticism than any other single work. It also served as the model in plot, characterizations, settings, and tone for hundreds, perhaps thousands of successors.Vathek, by the eccentric British millionaire William Beckford, is generally considered to be the high point of the Oriental tale in English literature. Certainly no one has ever written (in any European tongue) a story which better unifies the stirrings of Gothic romanticism with the color, poetry, and vivacity of the original Arabian Nights.The third novel in this collection, John Polidor's Vampyre, emerged from the same soirées of ghost-story telling in Geneva that produced Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The first full-length vampire story in English, it initiated a very important literary chain that also leads up to the present. Included with Polidori's novel is Lord Byron's little-known Fragment, from which Polidori (who was Byron's physician in Switzerland) plagiarized his plot.These three novels (and the fragment) are still well worth reading. Generations of readers have found thrills and horrors in Walpole's fine work, while Vathek cannot be excelled in its unusual mixture of the bizarre, cruel irony, and masterful narration. Polidori's thriller still conveys chills, and the Fragment makes us all wish that Byron had completed his novel.

Three Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto, Vathek, The Vampyre

E.F. Bleiler

John, Polidori

Genre Fiction

Dover `

Dreams, Waking Thoughts And Incidents

Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents

Biographies & Memoirs

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Recollections of an excursion to the monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha: With his original journal of 1794; (Travellers' classics)

Centaur Press Ltd.

William Beckford was an unhappy man riddled by anxiety and dominated by the shadow of his father. But he was also a man of taste who collected pictures which are now part of our national heritage, who planned the most beautiful gardens in England and who built what Sir Kenneth Clark called "by far the most exciting building of its time" the gothic abbey at Fonthill. This is the last book Beckford published in his lifetime (in 1835), and the first edition to include his original diary made during his celebrated trip in 1794. This, and other evidence previously unpublished, show that the book was not based on a draft contemporary with that tour, but was the sudden production of an old man of 74 - an ebullient Peter Pan. Critics have afrom time to time spoken highly of it, notably Rose Macaulay who found it "almost without a rival". The editor discusses among other things Beckford's literary methods; gives the historical background; comments on some of the striking passages, such as the nightmare of the poor mad Queen of Portugal; and shows Beckford's enduring love of that country. The editor spent many years on the Beckford papers, owned by the Duke of Hamilton. From these he produced Beckford's unpublished "Journal in Portugal and Spain"; his hitherto unknown confidential letters in Italian under the title "Life at Fonthill"; and a biographical study, "England's Wealthiest Son". He also discovered the complete 1794 journal of Beckford's journey.

Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaca and Batalha: With His Original Journal of 1794

Open Gate Press

Vathek

History

BiblioLife

Frankenstein et autres romans gothiques - Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales - [ Bibliotheque de la Pleiade ] en francais (French Edition)

Ann Radcliffe

Matthew Gregory Lewis

French and European Publications Inc

The History of Caliph Vathek: William Beckford

Action & Adventure

Independently published

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