num_pages: 125
description: First published pseudonymously in 1764, The Castle of Otranto purported to be a translation of an Italian story of the time of the crusades. In it Walpole attempted, as he declared in the Preface to the Second Edition, "to blend the two kinds of romance: the ancient and the modern." Crammed with invention, entertainment, terror, and pathos, the novel was an immediate success and Walpole's own favorite among his numerous works. The novel is reprinted here from a text of 1798, the last that Walpole himself prepared for the press.
language: English
title: The Castle of Otranto
titlecomplete: The Castle of Otranto
characters: Matilda, Manfred, Hippolita, Friar Jerome, Isabella, Bianca, Theodore, Frederic
genres: Novels, 18th Century, Gothic, Literature, Horror, Fantasy, Classics, Mystery, British Literature, Fiction
ratings_count: 32714
places: Prabhat Prakashan, Italy, Otranto
publisher: Oxford University Press