Four Gothic Novels The Castle of Otranto; Vathek; The Monk; Frankenstein

Macabre and melodramtic, set in haunted castles or fantastic landscapes,Gothic tales became fashionable in the late eighteenth century with thepublication of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). Crammed withcatastrophe, terror, and ghostly interventions, the novel was an immediatesuccess, and influenced numerous followers. These include William Beckford'sVathek (1786), which alternates grotesque comedy with scenes of exoticmagnificence in the story of the ruthless Caliph Vathek's journey to damation.The Monk (1796), by Matthew Lewis, is a violent tale of ambition, murder, andincest, set in the sinister monastery of the Capuchins in Madrid. Frankenstein(1818, 1831) is Mary Shelley's disturbing and perennially popular tale of youngstudent who learns the secret of giving life to a creature made from humanrelics, with horrific consequences.This collection illustrates the range and the attraction of the Gothic novel.Extreme and sensational, each of the four printed here is also a powerfulpsychological story of isolation and monomania.