The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Good night. If you are considering to do this course, I advice you to read first the roman I'm commenting and then my Journal. Later, I suggest you to be critical and develope your own opinion about the roman. I'll try to publish once a week; enough time to read every roman I'll suggest. Good work!

The Castle of Otranto is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is 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–. Set in a haunted castle, the novel merged medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since. The aesthetic of the book has shaped modern-day gothic books, films, art, music and the goth subculture.

Walpole was inspired to write the story after a nightmare he experienced at his Gothic Revival home, Strawberry Hill House, in southwest London. The novel initiated a literary genre which would become extremely popular in the later 18th and early 19th century, 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.

Now, we are vampires, so we must be ideologically critical and we must wonder, why The Castle of Otranto is considered as the first gothic novel? It's important to answer seriously this question because depending on answer we'll be able to accept gothic literature as style itself or not. The problem is that we all accept The Castle of Otranto as first gothic novel because Academics say it (authority argument, oh damn!!) For example (and not the only), why Hamlet, by Shackespeare, is not considered a gothic work? (it has a castle, a medieval king, a prince, a ghost, a dark atmosphere...). Tell me why....

At last, we must admit the academic authority argument and accept that only romans born since 1764 can obtain the "gothic level". I'm sorry but life is alike.

The Castle of Otranto was written in 1764 during Horace Walpole's tenure as member of British Parliament. Walpole was fascinated with medieval history, building in 1749 the mentioned fake gothic castle, Strawberry Hill House. He employed an archaic style of writing to further reinforce this as an old Italian manuscript's story, dating back perhaps as far as the Crusades. Walpole used a pseudonym to sign it although, in the second and subsequent editions, Walpole acknowledges authorship of his work.

The Guardian (18 July 2021) published that "The Castle of Otranto is widely regarded as the first Gothic novel, and, with its knights, villains, wronged maidens, haunted corridors and things that go bump in the night, is the spiritual godfather of Frankenstein and Dracula, the creaking floorboards of Edgar Allan Poe and the shifting stairs and walking portraits of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts".

Wikipedia says that "The Castle of Otranto is the first supernatural English novel and the most influential work of Gothic fiction. It blends elements of realist fiction with the supernatural and fantastical, establishing many of the plot devices and character-types that would become typical of the Gothic novel: secret passages, clanging trapdoors, pictures beginning to move, and doors closing by themselves". The poet Thomas Gray told Walpole that the novel made "some of us cry a little, and all in general afraid to go to bed o’nights."

I'd like to add the "uncanny" element for afirm the "gothicity" of this roman, and as I've written before, in other entries from this blog, "uncanny" is a personal feeling that not every people can feel. Only goth people, vampires and some sensible people. Yes, you too.

Do I recommend to read this roman? Yes and no. No, because it's quite boring if you aren't into medieval style. And yes, because if you want to have a huge gothic culture, you must know The Castle of Otrant to know and analyze its influence in other gothic romans: Dracula, Udolfo Misteries, The Monk, Carmilla and so on breath from the atmospher recreated by Horace Walpole.

Good night.

Today I'm sharing and starting a little journal about Gothic Literature. It's important to know when a film/roman/poetry is gothic because it's different to a horror movie/roman/poetry and, of course, to romantic roman. Romantic novel are novels from the XIX century Romanticism. Horror is horror. Gothic Literature may include horror romans or not; not necessarily.

The point of view to define the "gothicity" of a roman is a term: "uncanny". The English Dictionary Oxford online defines Uncanny as follow:

Uncanny adjective
/ʌnˈkæni/
/ʌnˈkæni/

strange and difficult to explain

SYNONYM weird
I had an uncanny feeling I was being watched.
It was uncanny really, almost as if she knew what I was thinking.
He has an uncanny knack of being able to see immediately where the problem lies.
She bore a quite uncanny resemblance to my Auntie Elsie.

Other dictionaries explain "uncanny" as something misterious, rare, unexpected but with a sinister and creepy touch.

Personally, I feel a roman is "uncanny" when I need to take my cardigan and wear it on my shoulders (as Lady Log, from Twin Peaks, would do).

Gothic literature was born in XVIII century in England; at first it used to be published weekly in chapbooks, bluebooks or "penny dreadfuls" and was bought by women ¡yes! They were the first goth readers.

According to academic professor César Fuentes Rodríguez (Gothic World) and others, like David Stevens (The Gothic Tradition), the general characters of a gothic roman are:

- the story happens in a castle, abbey, manor house... the architectal element si important.
- There are a mistery atmosphere, creepy or uncanny. Storms, frog, rain...
- There are a familiar plot, surprises with lineages, dissapearences...
- There may be an ancestral prophecy
- Supernatural facts or difficult logic explanation facts.
- Supernatural beings: a ghost, a vampire, a....
- Emotions at limit: faintings, indispotional, sighs...
- some sutil kind of erotism.
- Many simbolic signs, often taken from classic and mithological works.

We can find three different periods for the Gothic Literature:

1st: the beginning. We can find all characteristics upper exposed. The number one: The Castle of Otranto (Horace Walpole). We must mention too "The Misteries of Udolfo" (Ann Radcliff) and "The Monk" (Matthew Gregory Lewis).

2nd. Maturity. The great gothic writters: E.T.A. Haffmann, Mary Shelley "Fankenstein", John Polidori "The Vampire", Charles Maturin "Melmoth", Edgar Allan Poe "House Usher fall" and"Ligeia" and, or surprise, Amily Brontë "Cumbres Borrascosas"; yes, it's a gothic roman.

3th Post gothic roman:great writters but not 100% gothic: "The guard" ( by Charles Dickens), "Carmilla" (by Sheridan Le Fanu), "Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" (by R.L. Stevenson), "Dorian Gray's picture" (by Oscar Wilde), "The great god Pan" (by Arthur Manchen), of course "Drácula" (by Bran Stoker) o "the turn of the screw" (Henry James)

Now, it's possible deffine as gothic some romans from XX and XXI century by Charlontte Perlings Gilmon, Joseph Conrad, H.P. Lovecraft (I'd dare to say all his production is gothic), "Rebecca", by Daphne du Maurier, "The Shining" by Stephen King, "The name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco etc. etc. etc. Just remember, "uncanny" is the key to say this roman is gothic.

Good night.