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Four Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto / Vathek / The Monk / Frankenstein (World's Classics)
Four Gothic Novels The Castle of Otranto / Vathek / The Monk / Frankenstein - World's Classics
Author: Horace Walpole, William Beckford, Matthew Lewis, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Macabre and melodramatic, set in haunted castles or fantastic landscapes, Gothic tales became fashionable in the late eighteenth century with the publication of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). Crammed with catastrophe, terror, and ghostly interventions, the novel was an immediate success, and influenced numerous ...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780192823311
ISBN-10: 0192823310
Publication Date: 8/18/1994
Pages: 612
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1

4 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

BaileysBooks avatar reviewed Four Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto / Vathek / The Monk / Frankenstein (World's Classics) on + 491 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
The Castle of Otranto:
I found this book somwehat difficult to read, mostly due to editing. There are no quotation marks when someone is speaking. New paragraphs delineating changes in conversation or thought are hard to come by. Essentially, it is a wall of unending text. If you can overlook those initial hurdles, the story itself is good although I found parts of it hard to follow. I was interested enough in it to see how it ended, but I cannot honestly say that I really understood all of the subtelties of the plot where the mystical/supernatural elements were concerned.

Vathek:
This book had elements that reminded me of Voltaire, Candide, or the Inferno. It was a story with a lesson, something on the level of 'reap what you sow'. It left me with a certain creepiness...The main character is not someone that you root for. The ending is not something that any of us like to think about.

Frankenstein:
I read this book in high school and thought it was ok. I read this book again just recently and thought it was phenomenal. This book is an incredible look into the hearts of both man and monster, of moral responsibility, of the question "Just because we can do something, should we?" If you were only to read one gothic novel, this one would be it.

The Monk:
What an interesting book! This story follows the rise of a very prominent and highly respected Monk, as well as his steady descent by small degrees into the depths of total depravity. While Frankenstein is a shoe-in for best gothic novel, I found this one to be equally entertaining, but for different reasons. I thought the plot was well paced, the characters interesting, and the ending stays with you even after the story has ended. This was easily my second favorite within this collection, falling just shy of Frankenstein.
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