On the Origins of the Gothic Novel: From Old Norse to Otranto

This observation by Robert W. Rix (2011: 1) accurately assesses what may be considered a significant oversight in studies of the Gothic novel. Whilst it is well known that the ethnic meaning of ‘Gothic’ originally referred to invasive, eastern Germanic, pagan tribes of the third to the sixth centuries AD (Sowerby, 2000: 15–26), there remains a disconnect between Gothicism as the legacy of Old Norse literature and the use of the term ‘Gothic’ to mean a category of fantastical literature. This essay, then, seeks to complement Rix’s study by, in certain areas, adding more detail about the gradual emergence of Old Norse literature as a significant presence on the European literary scene. The initial focus will be on those formations (often malformations) and interpretations of Old Norse literature as it came gradually to light from the sixteenth century onwards, and how the Nordic Revival impacted on what is widely considered to be the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole (1717–97). As will be argued, although Walpole was ambivalent in his opinions on the growing influence of Nordic antiquity in the latter half of the eighteenth century, it is quite clear that it played an important role in stimulating his ‘Gothicised’ imagination, not least due to his close association with the poet Thomas Gray (1716–71), an unabashed enthusiast for the Old North.