Book description
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.
