Abstract (EN)

The literary genre of Gothic was born in 1764 with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. Its initial evolution lasted little more than 50 years, culminating in the creation of Mary Shelley's iconic Frankenstein in 1818. Whilst this milestone had seemed likely to give rise to immediate further expansion of the genre, in fact it was to take nearly another 80 years for Gothic to once again find prominence. It was in 1897 that Bram Stoker’s Dracula was sprung into life. In truth, the Gothic had hardly survived the intervening period between what are now considered its two primary icons. How did such a spectacular revival come about, for indeed it was something that propelled the genre to the heights of a permanent literary fixture?