The Ghost of Strawberry Hill: Pseudotranslation and Horace Walpole´s Aesthetic Proposition (based on a reading of the prefaces of The Castle of Otranto)

Abstract

The first edition of The Castle of Otranto was published in December, 1764, during the initial period of development of the English novel. The fact that it was introduced as a translation of an original work written in Italian in the 16^th century softened the critics' response to the narrative, as it came into conflict with the modern rationality of the period, which expected to establish an instructive and exemplary character to the rising literary form. However, the second edition, published in April, 1765, surprised the public with the revelation that the narrative was not a translation, but an original work written by Horace Walpole (a pseudotranslation). Such revelation brought about inflamed aesthetic and ethical discussions about the sham created by the author, which ended up giving the Otranto the status of founding work of the Gothic novel, which it retains up to our days.