The Castle of Otranto and the Mysterious

This Broadview edition pairs the first Gothic novel with the first Gothic drama, both by Horace Walpole.Published on Christmas Eve, 1764, on Walpole's private press at Strawberry Hill, his Gothicized country house, The Castle of Otranto became an instant and immediate classic of the Gothic genre as well as the prototype for Gothic fiction for the next two hundred years. Walpole's brooding and intense drama, The Mysterious Mother, focuses on the protagonist's angst over an act of incest with his mother, and includes the appearance of Father Benedict, Gothic literature's first evil monk.Appendices in this edition include selections from Walpole's letters, contemporary responses, and writings illustrating the aesthetic and intellectual climate of the period. Also included is Sir Walter Scott's introduction to the 1811 edition of The Castle of Otranto.

Acknowledgements

9

(1)

List of Illustrations

10

(1)

Introduction

11

(24)

Horace Walpole: A Brief Chronology

35

(9)

Publication History of The Castle of Otranto and The Mysterious Mother

44

(6)

Using the Edition

50

(7)

The Castle of Otranto; A Gothic Story

57

(110)

Preface to the First Edition

59

(6)

Preface to the Second Edition

65

(6)

Sonnet to the Right Honourable Lady Mary Coke

71

(96)

The Mysterious Mother; A Tragedy

167

(90)

Preface to the 1781 Edition

169

(2)

Advertisement from the Publishers

171

(86)

Appendix A: Walpole's Correspondence and Strawberry Hill

257

(31)

1. The Castle of Otranto in Walpole's Letters

257

(10)

2. The Mysterious Mother in Walpole's Letters

267

(13)

3. The Little Gothic Villa at Strawberry Hill

280

(8)

Appendix B: Responses and Reactions

288

(18)

1. Three Early Reviews of The Castle of Otranto

288

(5)

2. Notices of The Mysterious Mother

293

(3)

3. Two Poems: Ann Yearsley's ``To the Honourable H---e W---e, on Reading The Castle of Otranto December, 1784'' and John Courtenay's ``Letter the Seventh, Naples, April 16, 1793''

296

(6)

4. Comments on The Castle of Otranto and The Mysterious Mother by Early Readers

302

(4)

Appendix C: Aesthetic and Intellectual Backgrounds

306

(22)

1. The Graveyard Poets: Alexander Pope, Thomas Parnell, John Dyer, David Mallet, Edward Young, Robert Blair, Mark Akenside, William Collins, Thomas Warton the Younger, Thomas Gray

306

(9)

2. From James Hervey's Meditations Among the Tombs

315

(2)

3. From Bishop Richard Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance

317

(4)

4. From Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

321

(7)

Appendix D: Sir Walter Scott's Introduction to the 1811 Edition of The Castle of Otranto

328

(13)

Glossary

341

(10)

Bibliography

351

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The Castle of Otranto and the Mysterious Mother

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