Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the genre of
Gothic horror and
gothic fiction, is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction,
horror,
death and
romance. Its origin is attributed to English author
Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel
The Castle of Otranto, subtitled (in its second edition) "A Gothic Story." The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of
Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel. It originated in England in the second half of the 18th century and had much success in the 19th, as witnessed by
Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein and the works of
Edgar Allan Poe. Another well known novel in this genre, dating from the late
Victorian era, is
Bram Stoker’s
Dracula. The name
Gothic refers to the (pseudo)-medieval buildings, emulating
Gothic architecture, in which many of these stories take place. This extreme form of romanticism was very popular in England and Germany. The English Gothic novel also led to new novel types such as the German
Schauerroman and the French
Georgia.