The Standard for a Forgotten Genre: A Review

In today's modern culture where classic literature is largely ignored, the literature that shaped the 18th and 19th centuries have been shelved at the back of the library, forgotten with no hope of rekindled interest. High school and college students may read a few classic pieces such as Shakespeare and Dickens, but beyond that, many popular works of the last few centuries are lost to time. Even as a History major, I only read a handful of classic pieces during my college career, and now one of my primary goals is to compensate for my lack of literary diversity.

In my mildly educated opinion, one of the greatest forgotten genres is Gothic romance. This isn't a single author who is lost to time, but a handful of authors who would have rivaled Stephanie Meyers, J.K. Rowling, and Suzanne Collins in their day. These were popular authors and popular books which the gentry would have raved about on Twitter and Facebook and written fan fiction about the plight of the heroine if the internet existed 200 years ago. But these authors lost their popularity with the passage of time, just like most modern authors will lose their esteem eventually, too. In fact, these authors have lost so much of their popularity that, while their novels are still in print, one can't easily walk into Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy of the book. The novel has to be special ordered, or ordered off Amazon. Two of my Gothic novels, including the one which this review will discuss, came from a stack of free books at my college's library. (I was going to see a professor directly after finding these, and expressed my excitement about finding the books for free, which I expected the professor to share my excitement, but only provoked a blank stare.) So as you see, the libraries don't even want to keep Gothic novels around, most likely to make room for more popular novels!

Not all Gothic novels have been forgotten. In fact, I would surmise that the vast majority of people have heard of individual novels before they have heard of the genre of Gothic romance. The overarching label of "Gothic literature" can be extended to include Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Northanger Abbey, Wuthering Heights, and Dracula, and even Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe are even thrown into this genre occasionally. Everyone has heard of (most of) these novels, I am sure, if only because of film adaptations of the original novels. Modern film producers love to exploit Gothic literature because of the allure of the dark, haunting feeling of the mid-19th century. A primary example of this is the upcoming film produced by Guillermo del Toro, Crimson Peak, starring Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, and Mia Wasikowska. (Del Toro actually described this movie as a "Gothic" romance, much to my excitement.)

With all these Gothic novels being adapted for film, why do I call Gothic romance a "forgotten genre"? Because the first Gothic novels, primarily the ones written in the 18th century, have been gathering dust as they sit on the shelves. So, since my life goal is to rebel against modern culture and trends, my most recent literary conquest was the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole.

Before I delve into a discussion of Otranto, I want to define the elements that comprise Gothic novels. Gothic novels traditionally occur during the Medieval Era, although recently the Gothic label has increasingly described the Victorian Era. As a traditionalist, I consider a Medieval setting as a primary tenant of a Gothic novel, which excludes most 19th century authors from this genre. Gothic novels normally occur in a desolate castle, monastery, or similar setting, and includes supernatural elements and unexplained, mysterious occurrences, a villain intent on projecting his desires on those around him, an imprisoned heroine who receives the brunt of the villain's wrath, a hero who embodies the Medieval chivalric ideal and saves the heroine, and a romance between the hero and the heroine that will almost definitely be forbidden by the villain. So the basic elements are eerie castles, ghosts, oppressive men, distressed females, forbidden or lost love, and lots of violence.

Gothic novels are the equivalent of modern horror novels, with Medieval tones (chivalry, ghosts, monks, etc.) The Early Modern Era, the time period which Walpole, Radcliffe and Lewis lived, was a clash of the Medieval and Modern ideas. This transition period prompted revolutions in France, Britain, and America, and laid the pathway for the Industrial Revolution among other foundations in the modern world. Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of the Early Modern Era was the disillusionment of Medieval superstition, and authors such as Radcliffe in The Mysteries of Udolpho consciously strive to aid this disillusionment by explaining the supernatural occurrences.

The Castle of Otranto includes all the elements of oppression, romance, and supernatural occurrences discussed above. According to Walpole, a dream inspired him to write Otranto, and the novel was published in 1764. He published it, falsely, as an Medieval Italian novel written between the 12th and 13th centuries and printed in Italy in 1529 which was rediscovered, translated, and published. Walpole's style is straightforward; he is not descriptive about the characters or surroundings. He tells the story without embellishment. The only frustrating part of this book was Walpole's omission of paragraphs and quotation marks. Paragraphs may last for two or more pages, and the lack of quotation marks makes differentiating between speakers difficult.

The Castle of Otranto begins the morning ofthe marriage ceremony between Conrad, the heir of the Castle Otranto, and Isabella, the daughter of the Marquis of Vicenza. But Conrad never arrives at the altar; outside, he is crushed by an enormous helmet that fell from the sky. After Manfred, the Prince of Otranto, observes that his only son and heir has been killed, he remembers a prophecy stating "That the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it." (p.17) He plans to divorce his current wife, Hippolita, who has been barren for many years, and marry Isabella. When Isabella hears of Manfred's plans, she announces that she does not wish to marry him and flees from him. She is aided by a peasant boy as she escapes through a trap door and takes refuge at the church. Manfred finds the peasant boy, named Theodore, sentences him to death for helping Isabella escape, and locks him in one of the rooms in the castle. That evening, he talks with Matilda, the daughter of Manfred, through the open window and Matilda is smitten by the chivalric young man. As Theodore is about to be executed the following day, the local friar, Jerome, recognizes Theodore's birthmark and declares that Theodore is his son. Manfred forces Jerome to choose between his son and Isabella, but before he can decide, knights from another realm arrive and demand to see Isabella. The knights and Manfred race to go find Isabella and Matilda, meanwhile, frees Theodore. Theodore arrives to defend Isabella and wounds one of the knights. The wounded knight then reveals that he is Isabella's father. They rush back to the castle, where he begins to recover, and Frederic, Isabella's father, and Manfred agrees to Frederic's marriage to Matilda in exchange for his marriage to Isabella. Manfred begins to suspect that Isabella is consorting with Theodore, he sneaks into the church and stabs Matilda, who he thinks is Isabella. Shortly before Matilda dies, it is discovered that Theodore is the true heir of Otranto. Matilda's death fulfills the prophecy, and Manfred lives in sorrow for the rest of his life. Theodore takes the throne and marries Isabella because she is the only one who understands the loss of Matilda.

It is a melodramatic story with a somber ending, but Walpole drives home his point: the sins of the father affect the sins of the children. (p. 7) The wicked (Manfred) must pay for their sins, and the good (Theodore) will succeed. Walpole also introduced marriage for love in the romance between Theodore and Matilda. While they never married, they clearly wanted to, and in the end Theodore could only marry because Isabella understood his pain. But this notion of love was a new concept (compared to arranged marriages) and it is a concept that would gradually take hold more and more through the 19th century. Morally and romantically, it is a good story. But Walpole's success isn't in his morality or his literary style. Quite frankly, Walpole isn't very accurate. The only Medieval element is his portrayal of Theodore as a chivalric "knight in shining armor." The tale as a whole is clearly Early Modern. But he is a clever and skilled writer, so his historical inaccuracies (in a time before extensive historical scholarship and research) may be overlooked.

Walpole's success is what he created. Very few authors have the ability, let alone the creativity, to create an entirely new genre. Even fewer authors have the ability to create a genre with such a broad impact. Gothic novels were huge in the Regency Era, and many 19th century authors, such as Austen, were influenced heavily by Gothic novels. Before Walpole, nothing compared to this type of novel, and his novel set the tone -- the standard -- for future Gothic novels. He spawned an entirely new idea, an idea which still influences culture today.

So if you like horror or mystery novels and are looking for something a little different, I highly suggest delving into Gothic romance. While authors such as Walpole and Radcliffe are forgotten in most literary circles today, their works are just as much of classics as Austen, Bronte, and Dickens, and infinitely more original and clever than modern authors.

Walpole, Horace. The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story. Edited by W S. Lewis. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford England: Oxford University Press, 1998.