Works

The Castle of Otranto

Citation Formats

General Reference

Literature Atlas. "The Castle of Otranto." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-literature.interactiveatlas.org/works/the-castle-of-otranto.

APA Style

Literature Atlas. (n.d.). The Castle of Otranto. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-literature.interactiveatlas.org/works/the-castle-of-otranto

BibTeX

@misc{literatureatlas-the-castle-of-otranto,
  author = {Literature Atlas},
  title = {The Castle of Otranto},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-literature.interactiveatlas.org/works/the-castle-of-otranto},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The Castle of Otranto (1764) is Horace Walpole's short Gothic novel of a haunted, prophecy-bound castle, in which the illegitimate ruler Manfred's plans collapse under a series of escalating supernatural omens, including a giant helmet that falls from nowhere to kill his own son. Walpole first published it anonymously, presenting the book as his own translation of a found medieval Italian manuscript; when a second edition followed within a year to strong sales, he acknowledged authorship and added the subtitle A Gothic Story, naming the genre the novel is credited with founding. Its combination of medieval setting, supernatural terror and a family curse driving the plot established a pattern later Gothic novelists, including Ann Radcliffe and Mary Shelley, would develop.

Facts

Composed, From (Year)

from 1764 1

Composed, To (Year)

to 1764 2

Cross-Tradition Connections