Romans terrifiants

Otranton linna on goottilaisen romaanin varhaisin kukinto ja modernin kauhukirjallisuuden lähtökohta. Sen tekijä oli taidehistorioitsija, poliitikko ja kirjailija Horace Walpole (1717-1797), joka julkaisi teoksen lahjaksi ystävilleen jouluna 1764.

Keskiajan Italiaan sijoittava tarina kertoo Otranton ruhtinaasta Manfredista, jonka pelko muinaisen kirouksen toteutumisesta suistaa hävityksen tielle. Otranton linna luo kauhuromaanin ainekset. Se tihkuu aavemaisia näkyjä, pimeitä salakäytäviä, ennustuksia, ilmestyksiä ja yllätyksellistä väkivaltaa.

Horace Walpolen Otranton linna ilmestyi alkukielellä 250 vuotta sitten. Nyt goottilaisen kauhun klassikko julkaistaan ensi kertaa suomeksi.

Otranton linna

B>The founding work of Gothic fiction/b>br>br>On the day of his wedding, Conrad, heir to the house of Otranto, is killed in mysterious circumstances. His calculating father Manfred fears that his dynasty will now come to an end and determines to marry his son''s bride himself - despite the fact he is already married. But a series of terrifying supernatural omens soon threaten this unlawful union, as the curse placed on Manfred''s ancestor, who usurped the lawful Prince of Otranto, begins to unfold. First published pseudonymously in 1764, purporting to be an ancient Italian text from the time of the crusades, The Castle of Otranto is a founding work of Gothic fiction. With its compelling blend of sinister portents, tempestuous passions and ghostly visitations, it spawned an entire literary tradition and influenced such writers as Ann Radcliffe and Bram Stoker.br>br>For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The castle of Otranto

Contes hieroglyphiques

As the invaluable present I am making to the world may not please all tastes, from the gravity of the matter, the solidity of the reasoning, and the deep learning contained in the ensuing sheets, it is necessary to make some apology for producing this work in so trifling an age, when nothing will go down but temporary politics, personal satire, and idle romances. The true reason then for my surmounting all these objections was singly this: I was apprehensive lest the work should be lost to posterity; and though it may be condemned at present, I can have no doubt but it will be treated with due reverence some hundred ages hence, when wisdom and learning shall have gained their proper ascendant over mankind, and when men shall only read for instruction and improvement of their minds.

Hieroglyphic Tales

Le château d’Otrante est un drame plastique, la forme la plus amère, la plus rugueuse, mais aussi la mieux taillée du malheur en amour.Seuls immortels, les désirs vont leur chemin, malgré d’extraordinaires obstacles, malgré les rideaux du sang et les miroirs vides, la nature exclue, l’existence approximative, la vue inutile, les ancêtres vomis par l’Enfer, malgré la peur, l’héroïsme, la férocité, malgré le marbre des tombeaux et les squelettes, les désirs sans cesse au fil de la mort, cherchent à briser avec l’imaginaire.

Le Château d'Otrante

Horatio Walpole, also known as Horace Walpole, was an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. His literary reputation rests on his Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764) and his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. From Walpole's own 1785 introduction: "The Hieroglyphic Tales were undoubtedly written a little before the creation of the world, and have ever since been preserved, by oral tradition, in the mountains of Crampcraggiri, an uninhabited island, not yet discovered. Of these few facts we could have the most authentic attestations of several clergymen, who remember to have heard them repeated by old men long before they, the said clergymen, were born. We do not trouble the reader with these attestations, as we are sure everybody will believe them as much as if they had seen them. . . ."

Romans terrifiants

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