Vathek was by far the best novella out of the three.

This book is worth getting if just for Vathek, which is a wonderfully chilling 18th-century Oriental tale. While Walpole's work spurred the development of the Gothic genre, its clunky writing and plot are difficult to stomach. Polidori's "Vampyre" is dreadful, especially in comparison with Byron's intriguing fragment. Essential reading for anyone who wants to see the beginnings of the Gothic and modern horror genres.

I read this for The Castle of Otranto. Has all the good makings of a gothic novel. I enjoyed it.

Castle of Oranto & Vathek read like very long fairy tales- but I have read fairy tales that were much more interesting. The Vampire was so unrememberable that I cannot even recall it now even though I read a few days ago. Overall, an historically interesting collection if you are curious about gothic literature and early fantasy. But underwhelming in regards to all the other things you can read. They all follow a standard formula- pretty maiden, check; corrupt, power-hungry main character, check...

Fascinating and overblown in the way of all books from this time period.

John Polidori: The Vampyre: a Tale (1819)and a Fragment of a Novel by Lord Byron (1816)in Three Gothic Novels (edited by E F Bleiler)Dover 1966Buttressed by an editor's introduction, the author's own introduction, an extract from a later letter to Polidori's publisher, and Byron's original vampire tale fragment, this -- the first completed modern vampire story in English -- already contains many of the clichés now expected from the genre. Here is the pale nobleman with a dark secret, and her...

A very neat little collection containing the Castle of Otranto, the very first Gothic novel, Vathek, an interesting Gothic tale with a more exotic setting than most, and The Vampyre, written by John Polidori, Byron's physician whom nobody really liked, but was present at the "contest" of sorts during which Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Here, Polidori wrote the first piece of vampiric prose.

Oh, transport!

Two classic Gothic Novels and a short.THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO is regarded as the first Gothic novel and has probably been pored over by bored students everywhere in every semester that passes by on God's green earth. Much has been said about it, by much better brains than mine, so I thought I'd reserve this review to my particular reasons for reading it (and the orientalist nightmare that is VATHEK). As a long time fan of the horror/supernatural genre, but also as an avid reader with wide-ranging

The stories in this book are perhaps more useful as examples of the beginnings of a genre than on their own merits. The three prefaces given in the introduction in this edition are particularly useful in this regard.Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto was the ur-text of the Gothic novel and set the tone with its use of the supernatural (which would increase in later phases of the genre) and its medieval settings. The book itself is a reasonable engaging mix of the dramatic, the comic and the frig...

This 1966 Dover edition includes The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1811), Vathek by William Beckford (1893), The Vampyre by John Polidori (1819), (, and a fragment by Lord Byron. There is a very informative introduction by the editor giving historical and biographical facts about all these influential works. The Castle of Otranto “has been called one of the half-dozen most important novels in English.” Page xiii. And of course Polidori’s Vampyre is “probably the first extensive Vampire st...

I was assigned Walpole's tale "The Castle of Otranto" for my Gothic Tale of Terror class. I enjoyed the story although the dialogue was a little hard to follow. The story reminded me of the Knights of the Round Table stories and I couldn't help but see a glimpse of Henry VIII in there as well. This story set the mold for future Gothic tales. The giant helmet bit hooked me from the beginning.

The Castle of Otranto is of interest more for setting the pattern for later Gothic novels than for its own dubious quality. Walpole creates a framework of dark castles, secret underground passages, ghostly hauntings, virtuous maidens, and dispossessed heroes that later novelists like Ann Radcliffe embellish and elaborate to better effect. Still, Walpole is the originator, although what he “originates” is actually a pastiche of the plots of Medieval adventures combined with the 18th-century Roman...

I have long wanted to read these stories, not so much for the stories, but for what they represent as the start of gothic novels. I have long heard about the castle of otranto particularly and was not disappointed.

As literature, these stories are just awful. As curiosities in the history of literature, they are interesting.

I have long sought a copy of Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto," which has oft been cited as the founding Gothic novel, so one can imagine my surprise and delight to find it reprinted in this volume, together with Beckford's "Vathek" (less well-known, I suppose) and Polidori's "The Vampyre"(!), as well as a fragment of a novel by George Gordon (Lord Byron) which bears some interesting similarities to the tale of Polidori.

Although it look me longer to read this book than many others, it was pretty interesting. The stories written in the mid 1700's to early 1800's during the peak of the true gothic novels have almost a poetry about them.

Originally read this as part of a Gothic novel class thirtysome year ago.The Walpole story is an enjoyable piece of Romantic-period trash. Denizens of the titular Castle are disturbed by manifestations of a giant helmet, a giant leg, and so forth. A knight arrives with a giant sword to match. Characters are variouly revealed to be former nobility or the children of nobility, women enter convents since they don't have the right to vote, and so on. Vathek chronicles the downfall of a Caliph, as he...

I've read this book several times. I like the fact that it's reasonably priced and that instead of including ,Frankenstein like other "three gothic novels" compilations, it includes Polidori's "The Vampire" and the Bryon fragment. The texts themselves aren't as scholarly as in other editions. However, it does have a fairly detailed introduction, and the typeface is easy to read.

The Castle of Otranto is a classic and much worth the read. The other two novels lack but do hold their place in literary history.