Pubblicato in Italia con il titolo Il castello di Otranto. È considerato uno dei primi romanzi gotici, con ambientazione medievale, damigelle in pericolo, strani eventi soprannaturali e passaggi segreti.
First published in 1764, The Castle of Otranto is considered one of the earliest gothic novels. With a mix of terror and medievalism, the novel is set in a haunted castle and it’s the story of an evil prince who, following the sudden death of his son on his wedding day to the lovely Isabella, plans to marry her himself (despite being already married). However, Isabella has no intention to marry him and runs away with the help of a young peasant while a series of supernatural events announce the fulfillment of a prophecy.
In the preface to the first edition, published on 24 December 1764, the author wants the reader to believe that the story is a translation from an Italian work “found in the library of an ancient catholic family”. When the author published the second edition just a few months later, on 11 April 1765, he wrote another preface admitting that the idea for the story came to him in a dream, explaining that “it was an attempt to blend two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern”.
There are secret passages, ghosts, moving portraits, and animated corpses. Barely 100-pages long, it’s a mix of romance and mystery that will keep the reader quite entertained and intrigued.
