ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Gothic fiction as a genre was first established with the publication of Horace Walpole’s dark, foreboding The Castle of Otranto in 1764. In the centuries since, gothic fiction has not only flourished, but also branched off into many popular subgenres.

Detailed explanation-2: -Gothic literature arose at the end of the eighteenth century during a time of social, political, and economic unrest. Thus, it was and continues to be described as a reactionary genre devoted to returning repressed societal fears to our attention so we might expel them.

Detailed explanation-3: -Generally regarded as the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto was first published in 1764. Its author is Horace Walpole (1717–1797), but it purports to be a translation of a work printed in Naples in 1529 and newly discovered in the library of ‘an ancient Catholic family in the north of England’.

Detailed explanation-4: -American Gothic Fiction: 1833-1901-The Rise of Gothic Fiction in England & the United States-LibGuides at Tufts University.