Gothic Classics

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.

"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.

Enid Graham could only wonder why handsome, brilliant, wealthy Pierre St. John should have chosen her as his bride. But when the lovely American girl arrived with her husband at his lonely chateau, the reason become terribly clear. Pierre had a wife before Enid, a bewitching temptress who could have been Enid's twin in appearance.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's powerful and unsettling story of a young woman descending into psychosis. Confined to her attic bedroom by her husband to ensure rest and recuperation after having her baby, and with nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman slowly becomes obsessed with the old yellow wallpaper covering the walls until she loses her grip on reality, imagining herself and others imprisoned behind the wallpaper.

Mary Shelley wished with her classic Gothic novel Frankenstein to "make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart". Mary Shelley succeeded. Victor Frankenstein finally fulfills his dream of creating his own living creature, stitched together from the macabre remains of corpses. To his horror he finds he has created something even more ghastly than in his worst imaginings. Frankenstein has created a monster with a soul!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (originally titled Notre Dame de Paris) is a Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story of Quasimodo, the Gypsy street dancer Esmeralda and Quasimodo's guardian the Archdeacon Claude Frollo in 15th century Paris. The novel sought to preserve values of French culture in a time period of great change, which resulted in the destruction of many French Gothic structures. The novel made Notre Dame de Paris a national icon and served as a catalyst for renewed interest in the restoration of Gothic form.

"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.

Henry Fleming is a young private in the Union army during the American Civil War - a farm boy untested by battle. Faced with charging rebels, he flees. With his ideals shattered and his heart burdened by shame, Henry seeks an opportunity to redeem himself, even hoping for a wound - a "red badge of courage" - to prove his bravery.

A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - these form a series of events that change the orphaned Pip's life forever, and he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman. Dickens' novel depicts Pip's development through adversity as he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'.

Sullo sfondo della brughiera battuta dai venti, una ragazza umile ma volitiva trova lavoro come istitutrice nella casa di un uomo aspro e malinconico. Tra di loro nascerà inaspettata una grande passione, che dovrà però fare i conti con un segreto scabroso. Un capolavoro di una modernità dirompente, un cult che continua ad affascinare generazione dopo generazione.

Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens, first serialised in All the Year Round from December 1860 to August 1861. The action of the story takes place from Christmas Eve 1812, when the protagonist is about seven years old, to the winter of 1840. Great Expectations is written in a semi-autobiographical style, and is the story of the orphan Pip, tracing his life from his early days of childhood until adulthood.

Als Jonathan Harker nach Transsylvanien reist, um Graf Dracula zu treffen, überkommen ihn schon bei der Ankunft in den Karpaten schlimme Vorahnungen. Graf Dracula zwingt Harker gegen seinen Willen, in seinem Schloss zu bleiben. Doch das wahre Grauen beginnt erst als er fliehen kann und nach London zurückkehrt. Denn sein unheimlicher Gastgeber hat sich schon auf dem Weg dorthin gemacht...

A masterpiece of Gothic horror and suspense that inspired such writers as H. P. Lovecraft, The Three Impostors is Machen’s famous collection of “weird tales” - a string of shocking short stories woven together with a fine narrative thread. The three impostors of the title are members of a secret society devoted to debauched pagan rites who weave a web of deception in the streets of London as they search for a missing Roman coin commemorating an infamous orgy by the Emperor Tiberius and close in on their prey: “the young man with spectacles”.

This chilling tale of a gruesome monster unleashed into the world by an unthinking scientist was first conceived by 19-year-old Mary Shelley on a dark, rainy night on Lake Geneva. Lord Byron and Percy Shelley challenged their friends to see who could come up with the most horrifying story imaginable. Mary Shelley did, terrifying them all with her nightmare-inspired tale. It is followed by "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge which was an early haunting influence on the young Mary Shelley.

Three Gothic Novels is a compelling collection that brings together three quintessential works of Gothic literature: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Each novel delves into the macabre and the supernatural, exploring themes of fear, horror, and the unknown, while also probing deeper questions about humanity, morality, and the boundaries of science and nature. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley tells the haunting tale of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who defies natural laws to create life, only to be horrified by the monstrous being he brings into existence.

Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte's only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell"; Bronte died the following year, aged 30. Wuthering Heights and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre.

In a failed attempt to turn him into an ageless lover, the evil, not-quite-a-vampire Lamia DuLaine poisoned hunky Druid high priest Julian Talbot on his wedding day. The Seelie Fae transported Julian to their realm for treatment and captured DuLaine, but not before she brutally murdered his new wife, Maxine.

Venti anni dopo la pubblicazione del primo romanzo gotico, "Il monaco" di Lewis, viene pubblicato questo romanzo di Hoffmann che approfondisce gli stessi temi con un'aggiunta di esoterismo; tale ispirazione viene addirittura dichiarata in un punto del libro, quando l'eroina riferisce di aver letto il libro e di esserne stata influenzata.

A Charlotte Riddell novella from the British Library Tales of the Weird collection Haunted Houses. When his cousin Geoffrey dies, barrister Hercules Stafford Trevor agrees to act as his young widow’s guardian. But Trevor has troubles of his own when he discovers that the legends surrounding his country house might have more than a grain of truth in them, and it seems these hauntings are destined to become intertwined with the fate of the widow.

On a quiet Christmas Eve, a governess’ manuscript detailing her encounters with the supernatural is read. She tells the story of moving into an estate to take care of two children and becoming slowly aware that the area is overrun with ghosts of the previous inhabitants - and that the children are aware that these ghosts exist.