For two and a half centuries, the Gothic novel proves its viability. Formed as a genre in the 18th century, it has transformed over time. In fantasy and fiction, horror and thriller, to some extent, there are elements of Gothic.
The story of the appearance of the Gothic novel
The first Gothic novel is considered to be published in 1764 by Otranto Castle by Horace Walpole, the fourth Earl of Oxford. The author has published a book under the guise of a translation from Italian. A year later, this Gothic novel saw the light of day with the name of Walpole on the cover and with a preface in which the author expressed the hope that "he managed to pave the new path that others will follow." The name of the gothic novel genre also first appeared in the subtitle for "Castle of Otranto".
Following the "Otranto Castle" a whole stream of Gothic poured into literature. Over 30 years after the publication of Walhol’s novel, more than 600 works of this genre appeared.
But each founder has his predecessors. Literary historians have found a novel published by the Irish priest Leland, The Long Sword, or Earl of Salisbury, published 2 years earlier. But it was Horace Walpole who gave the new genre a name and built its canons.
In the name of the genre "Gothic novel" was ambiguity. In the 18th century, when it appeared, "Gothic" denoted barbaric (the word came from the name of the Goths who ruined Rome) and was equated with the Middle Ages, which, according to the concepts of that time, covered the entire period from Antiquity to the Enlightenment.
