Gothic Classics

El castillo de Eppstein, una novela escrita en el más puro estilo gótico que hacía furor en el siglo xix con sus imprescindibles dosis de secretos familiares, maquiavélicos villanos, doncellas en peligro, amores apasionados y espectros vengadores. Una macabra leyenda pesa sobre la familia Eppstein desde tiempos inmemoriales: todas las mujeres que mueren en el castillo la noche del 24 de diciembre no encuentran el reposo eterno y regresan del más allá para atormentar a sus moradores. Y Albina, la bella esposa del malvado conde Maximiliano, no será una excepción.

"Les Hauts de Hurlevent," le seul roman d'Emily Brontë, est un chef-d'œuvre intemporel de la littérature anglaise. Publié pour la première fois en 1847 sous le pseudonyme d'Ellis Bell, ce roman gothique plonge les lecteurs dans l'atmosphère sombre et tumultueuse des landes du Yorkshire.

Nadie que conozca la película basada en esta novela podrá olvidar la voz en off que recita la frase inicial de la obra más lograda de Daphne du Maurier: Rebeca. Así comienzan los recuerdos de la segunda señora De Winter, que la transportan de nuevo a la aislada y gris mansión situada en la húmeda y ventosa costa de Cornualles. Con un marido al que apenas conoce, la joven esposa llega a este inmenso predio para ser inexorablemente ahogada por la fantasmal presencia de la primera señora De Winter, la hermosa Rebeca, muerta pero nunca olvidada.

"Приемная дочь богатой аристократки - красавица, которую ждет выгодное замужество. Что скрывает ее прошлое? Она жила в приюте, влачила жалкое существование и в минуту отчаяния присвоила себе чужие документы, чужую историю жизни. Но призрак прошлого врывается в настоящую жизнь - обманутая несчастная требует ответа. Хватит ли мужества у Принцессы превратиться в Золушку, пожертвовать любовью и богатством.

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the 19th century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. Carmilla is Le Fanu's famous classic vampire story which has been filmed numerous times, including Vampyre (1932), Blood and Roses (1960), Crypt of Horror (1964), The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Carmilla (1999).

A "Bluebeard" story in which a young woman marries a man whom she discovers has killed his previous wives and is trying to kill her as well.

Mary Shelley hat als 18jährige etwas vollbracht, was noch kein Mensch vor oder nach ihr geschafft hat: In diesem zarten Alter einen Roman zu verfassen, der die Zeiten überdauert und eine bis heute aktuelle Thematik behandelt. Können, dürfen und sollen wir Leben auf Basis aller uns zu Verfügung stehenden technischen Mitteln ermöglichen oder sind Gottes bescheidene und beschränkte Grenzen Sperrgebiet für unseren Intellekt?

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel which shocks us still. The sensibilities of its original Victorian readership may have blanched at the exoticism and barely disguised eroticism which drip from Wilde’s prose, but for us today who barely look twice at such things, we find something much more horrific at the heart of the book.

First published in French as a serial in 1909, "The Phantom of the Opera" is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully. All goes well until Christine's childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage.

Although Wuthering Heights is now a classic of English literature, contemporaneous reviews were deeply polarised; it was controversial because of its unusually stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty, and it challenged Victorian ideas about religion, morality, class, and woman's place in society.

"Fu in una lugubre notte di novembre che vidi la realizzazione delle mie fatiche. Preso da grande angoscia, raccolsi i miei speciali strumenti così da poter infondere una scintilla di vita nella cosa inanimata che giaceva ai miei piedi. Era già l'una di notte; la pioggia picchiettava ossessiva contro i vetri, e la mia candela era quasi consumata, quando, alla debole luce semi-estinta, scorsi l’occhio giallo, fermo, della creatura aprirsi; respirava a fatica e un moto convulso agitava le sue membra. [...]"

En 1877, l'Opéra de Paris est secoué par des phénomènes inquiétants... Lors des répétitions ou des spectacles, les accidents se multiplient. On murmure qu'il s'agit d'un fantôme qui menace les directeurs de l'Opéra des pires catastrophes s'ils ne lui obéissent pas. Cet être énigmatique qui erre dans le théâtre, prend sous son aile la jeune cantatrice Christine Danaé avec qui il noue une relation étrange. Il finit par l'enlever, peut-être dans un accès de folie.

An Historical Gothic Romance set in Paris and elsewhere in France, Germany, and Spain. A rollicking good tale from Parisian salons to Peasant feasts and more.

"Il castello di Otranto" è il primo vero romanzo gotico; tipico anche l'artificio di far passare il romanzo come una traduzione da un manoscritto italiano; artificio che poi fu lasciato cadere nelle edizioni successive alla prima, del 1764. L'idea che sottosta all'opera è l'intenzione di unire il romanzo storico al romanzo di fantasia; di fatto la storia della vita di Manfredi di Sicilia ha ispirato alcune parti della trama.

Abraham “Bram” Stoker was born in 1847 in Dublin as the third of seven children. Stoker was bedridden with an unknown illness until the age of seven, when he made a complete recovery. He even grew up to become a successful athlete. Stoker is best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. The novel Dracula begins when an English lawyer, Jonathan Harker, travels to Eastern Europe to meet Count Dracula, who is a client of his. When he arrives in Transylvania, he immediately notices that locals are shocked to learn where he is heading.

Il romanzo, scritto nel 1881, è ambientato nel 1864 in un luogo non ben precisato, sulle rive di un lago lombardo. Il Palazzo è invece la villa Pliniana, sul Lago di Como, visitata da Fogazzaro, la cui atmosfera cupa si adattava all'ambientazione del romanzo. Il libro fu ignorato dalla maggior parte delle riviste letterarie ma lodato da Verga, che lo definì una delle più belle concezioni romantiche mai apparse in Italia. Ne fu realizzato un film famoso nel 1942. Cornice musicale di Franz Strauss: notturno n. 7.

The desperate summons could not be ignored. Stephen Briar's note was more than the grief-stricken missive of a newly widowed brother-in-law. Since Ann's untimely death, evil had settled over Briarcliff, and Stephen was fighting for his survival. Jessica Rice sought to uncover the truth about the accident that had claimed her sister's life, but the mystery only deepened. Intrigue wove around intrigue, casting all the occupants of Briarcliff under the gloom of suspicion. No one could be trusted - including Stephen. Jessica had never felt so alone, or so gravely in danger.

This audiobook includes unabridged recordings of 13 of H. P. Lovecraft's most well-renowned stories, read by Audie-Award winner Jonathan Keeble. The stories included here are: 'The Colour Out of Space', 'The Dunwich Horror', 'The Whisperer in the Darkness', 'The Haunter of the Dark', 'Call of Cthulhu', 'The Rats in the Walls', 'From Beyond; Dagon', 'At the Mountains of Madness', 'In the Vault', 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth', 'The Dreams in the Witch House', 'The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'.

Published a year before her death at the age of 30, Emily Bronte's only novel is set in the wild, bleak Yorkshire Moors. Depicting the relationship of Cathy and Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights creates a world of its own, conceived with an instinct for poetry and for the dark depths of human psychology. Emily Jane Bronte was born July 30, 1818 at Thornton in Yorkshire. Emily's mother died in 1821 and her two eldest sisters died in 1825, leaving Emily, her brother and two sisters to be raised by their aunt. Later all three daughters were to publish poems and stories.

Cumbres borrascosas, la épica historia de Catherine y Heathcliff, situada en los sombríos y desolados páramos de Yorkshire, constituye una asombrosa visión metafísica del destino, la obsesión, la pasión y la venganza.