The Gothic novel came into vogue in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, beginning with Horace Walpole's novel "The Castle of Otranto," which was published in 1764. Perhaps the most famous of all original Gothic novels is Ann Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho." Today, the word Gothic has come largely to represent something that is sensational, dark and related to the supernatural. Many things that were exciting and new in the first Gothic novels have now become stereotypes.
THE SUPERNATURAL IN GOTHIC NOVELS
Gothic novels are pervaded with a sense of mystery. There are often prophecies, omens, ancestral curses and visions. Sometimes ghosts appear or inanimate objects move. In some novels these events are eventually explained, but in others they remain truly supernatural. There is also an inclination to the bizarre and sensational. Plots may include incest or devil worship. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is an example of a supernaturally-inspired Gothic novel.
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