Bøker av Horace Walpole

Offers an extensive selection of author's letters, arranged by subject so that you can choose from themes including social life, the Court, politics, literature, and the evolution of his Gothic castle and art and book collections at Strawberry Hill.

A four-volume edition of Horace Walpole's "Memoirs of the Reign of King George III". It provides Walpole's text in its entirety, unabridged and unexpurgated, with an introduction and annotation designed to help reassess the value of the memoirs as historical evidence.

On the day of his wedding, Conrad, heir to the house of Otranto, is killed in mysterious circumstances. His calculating father Manfred fears that his dynasty will now come to an end and determines to marry his son's bride himself - despite the fact he is already married. But a series of terrifying supernatural omens soon threaten this unlawful union, as the curse placed on Manfred's ancestor, who usurped the lawful Prince of Otranto, begins to unfold. First published pseudonymously in 1764, purporting to be an ancient Italian text from the time of the crusades, The Castle of Otranto is a founding work of Gothic fiction. With its compelling blend of sinister portents, tempestuous passions and ghostly visitations, it spawned an entire literary tradition and influenced such writers as Ann Radcliffe and Bram Stoker.

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.

Each of these four Gothic stories reveals a psychological tale of isolation and monomania. H. Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto' is filled with terror and ghostly interventions. William Beckford's 'Vathek' alternates grotesque comedy with scenes of exotic magnificence. 'The Monk', by Matthew Lewis and M. Shelley's 'Frankenstein' are also included.