Sometimes in reading you get a pleasant surprise when you least expect it, sometimes you get the opposite.
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Three Gothic Novels - Edited by E.F. Bleiler
One of the reasons I bought this book was because it contained one I had heard of and had always wanted to read: The Castle of Otranto. The other two in it I had never heard of so I took a bit of a gamble buying it and reading it.
The Castle of Otranto - Horace Walpole
Maybe I was just too excited by the prospect, maybe I just did not get it but I was a bit confused and disappointed by it. What I got from it was this: we have Manfred the lord of Otranto, he has a castle and a wife, son and daughter. His son is due to be married but dies (killed by some huge, mysterious helmet?) and then Manfred figures why waste a perfectly good bride and decides to marry the girl himself. She, in true damsel style finds this idea appalling and decides to run off to the neighbouring monastery. She meets the mandatory handsome stranger and is rescued from the bad guys. Meanwhile, mum is having kittens about her son and her faith. The daughter is doing a bit of detective work and finds out most of what dad is planning and tries to prevent this as she does not want her mother to be hurt or disgraced. Meanwhile in the monastery things are not what they seems and once the head meets the mysterious handsome stranger it turns out he is his son and potentially the rightful heir to Otranto. Not only that but in the meantime a party of mysterious knights has arrived as well and one of them turns out to be bride to be's father who was missing in action... somewhere... In the end Manfred gives up his title and him and his wife enter the convent... oh and the daughter gets killed but the bride gets a happy ending with the mysterious handsome stranger.
Vathek - William Beckford
If the first one in the volume was not what I expected then this one was even more of the same.
I think this one is trying to say pride comes before a fall and that there are things that us humans should not try to understand and just leave to the gods. However, it might also be about making sure you wrap up warm when you travel, do not get on unsafe swings and that just because you think you are dead you may not be.... I am not sure yet?
Vathek is a caliph with an overbearing mum and a hunger for power and knowledge. He is also indulged a bit too much by aforementioned mum and seeks knowledge he is not ready to understand or comprehend.He is cruel to his subjects he is brutal and ruthless. He is tested by the gods and fails. His entire life and world are destroyed and he is left with nothing. He is cast in to what I think is Hell and they are welcome to him!
The Vampyre - John Polidori
This one was the pleasant surprise in the volume.
It is a little tale of a man who befriends someone who turns out to be his downfall.
It starts out okay. Our hero, Aubrey meets a man Lord Ruthven and decides to go travelling with him. this is despite his misgivings about the man - apparently he is distant and cold and nobody is sure of his character. But Aubrey takes a chance on him being a suitable travel companion but hey... sometimes you just have to right? Things come to a head when the lord takes an interest in a young lady. Our hero has heard in the meantime that there are all sorts of rumours about the Lord's character floating around.. none of it good. he decides to warn the lady involved and then breaks of his arrangements with Lord Ruthven. Aubrey then goes on to Greece and falls in love with a local Greek girl Ianthe. Interestingly there are tales told about a man, a living vampyre and he seems to have an uncanny resemblance to Lord Ruthven. However, Aubrey ignores this. Then Ianthe is killed and Aubrey breaks down. Enter Lord Ruthven who takes care of his former travel companion. The men kiss and make up and travel on together. Then Ruthven's luck seems to turn and he gets killed... only to turn up in England a long time later! Aubrey has by this time sussed it out but is bound by a promise to the Vampyre not to tell who he is. Like a gentleman he keeps his word but it costs him his sister's life.
I liked this one. it is a bit convoluted in places - the circumstances are made to fit the story in a bit of a clumsy and obvious way but it is a good little vampire tale.
Title: Three Gothic Novels
Authors: Various, edited by E.F. Bleiler
283 pages
Dover Publications Inc
No ISBN nr - published in 1966
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