Gothic Classics

Dorian Gray, giovane e bellissimo dandy della società londinese del diciannovesimo secolo, plagiato e iniziato dall'amico esteta Lord Henry, esprime, contemplando un proprio ritratto, il desiderio di poter rimanere sempre giovane e bello. Per un terribile sortilegio è il dipinto a portare i segni dell'età che avanza e della decadenza umana e morale ...

An old mansion in Salem, moss-covered and gabled, broods over the destiny of a distinguished but troubled New England Family, the Pynchons. A haunting, centuries-old curse, a forceful probing of national and personal guilt, a romance between the young heroine and an attractive stranger all intertwine in this classic work by one of America's greatest novelists.

El retrato de Dorian Gray es considerada una de las últimas obras clásicas de la novela de terror gótica con una fuerte temática faustiana, además muestra un pintor con afecto íntimo y directo con el personaje principal. El libro causó controversia cuando fue publicado por primera vez; sin embargo, es considerado en la actualidad como «uno de los clásicos modernos de la literatura occidental.

In a failed attempt to turn him into an ageless lover, the evil, not-quite-a-vampire Lamia DuLaine poisoned hunky Druid high priest Julian Talbot on his wedding day. The Seelie Fae transported Julian to their realm for treatment and captured DuLaine, but not before she brutally murdered his new wife, Maxine.

The Victorians were obsessed with Egyptology and mummies. It was during the second half of the 19th century that many of the most significant archeological finds were made in Egypt, and stories of the revenge of the mummies on anyone raiding their tombs, stealing their treasures or unwrapping their corpses abounded. This collection brings together the best and scariest short stories of the period, featuring vengeance-seeking mummies, bandaged zombies, pharaonic ghosts and ancient curses.

Henry Fleming is a young private in the Union army during the American Civil War - a farm boy untested by battle. Faced with charging rebels, he flees. With his ideals shattered and his heart burdened by shame, Henry seeks an opportunity to redeem himself, even hoping for a wound - a "red badge of courage" - to prove his bravery.

When a brilliant doctor's experiment goes wrong, a dangerous pursuit of separating good and evil follows... Tucked away in the dark and murky streets of London, a lawyer finds himself investigating strange incidents between his old friend Dr Henry Jekyll and the reclusive Edward Hyde. Although seemingly nothing alike, the two are more similar than what meets the eye... This classic tale is perfect for fans of Heather Parry and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

El extraño caso del doctor Jekyll y el señor Hyde es una novela escrita por Robert Louis Stevenson, que trata acerca de un abogado, Gabriel John Utterson, que investiga la extraña relación entre su viejo amigo, el Dr. Henry Jekyll, y el misántropo Edward Hyde. El libro es conocido por ser una representación vívida de un trastorno psiquiátrico que hace que una misma persona tenga dos o más identidades o personalidades con características opuestas entre sí.

Seven years after the death of Edward Hyde, a stylish gentleman shows up in foggy London claiming to be Dr. Henry Jekyll. Only Mr. Utterson, Jekyll’s faithful lawyer and confidant, knows that he must be an impostor - because Jekyll was Hyde. But as the man goes about charming Jekyll’s friends and reclaiming the estate, and as the bodies of potential challengers start piling up, Utterson is left fearing for his life, and questioning his own sanity.

The Castle of Otranto is regarded as the first Gothic novel. The son of Manfred, Prince of Otranto, is mysteriously killed on his wedding day by a huge helmet. The event leads to a fast-paced story of jealous passion, intrigue, murder and supernatural phenomena unfolding in an atmosphere of thunderclaps, moonlight, and dark castle walls mirroring the inner turmoil of the characters themselves.

Dorian Gray è un ragazzo bello, virtuoso e amabile come nessun altro giovane. Il pittore Basil Hallward, che nutre verso Dorian forti sentimenti, sta dipingendo con maestria il ritratto del giovane. Nello studio dell’artista si trova anche Lord Henry Wotton, sofisticato e cinico. Il nobile persuade a poco a poco Dorian dell’importanza della bellezza, un valore prezioso e assoluto che il tempo corrompe. Un’insana ossessione si impadronisce del ragazzo, che vorrebbe restare per sempre bello come nel ritratto.

Il capolavoro di Bram Stoker (nella versione di Angelo Nessi, ed. Sonzogno 1922), l'opera capostipitite di tutte le produzioni letterarie e cinematografiche sui vampiri. Qui troverete la descrizione dettagliata del modo di agire dei vampiri, e l'esatto codice di comportamento, casomai vi capitasse di imbattervi in uno di essi.

Alcuni dei racconti di Poe che danno dello scrittore un ritratto completo e sconcertante: La rovina della casa degli Usher; Morella; Il gatto nero; Il pozzo e i lpendol; La lettera trafugata; Lo scarabeo d’oro; Il diavolo nella torre.

The governess begins seeing a man around the house, and a woman down by the lake. The maid of the house tells the governess that the descriptions sound like the former governess and the valet. Strange things begin to happen, leading the governess to believe that the family is haunted. She is convinced that the ghosts are pandering to the children; yet the children deny being able to see or hear anything unusual.

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was born on August 28th, 1814, at 45 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, into a literary family with Huguenot, Irish and English roots. Between 1838 and 1840 Le Fanu had written and published twelve stories which purported to be the literary remains of an 18th-century Catholic priest called Father Purcell. Set mostly in Ireland they include classic stories of gothic horror, with grim, shadowed castles, as well as supernatural visitations from beyond the grave, together with madness and suicide.

"A Country Doctor" is a short story written in 1917 by Franz Kafka. It was first published in the collection of short stories of the same title. In the story, a country doctor makes an emergency visit to a sick patient on a winter night. The doctor faces absurd, surreal predicaments that pull him along and finally doom him. A Country Doctor is perhaps Kafka's most fantastical or surreal work. It takes its cue from Gothic literature – it has echoes of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne – and analysing and identifying the core 'meaning' of the story has proved tricky

While on routine patrol in the tinder-dry Topanga Canyon, environmental scientist Rafael Salazar expects to find animal poachers, not a dilapidated antique steamer trunk. Inside the peculiar case, he discovers a journal, written by the renowned Robert Louis Stevenson, which divulges ominous particulars about his creation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It also promises to reveal a terrible secret - the identity of Jack the Ripper.

It tells the story of a young woman whose mother died in her childbirth - just as Shelly's own mother died after hers - and whose relationship with her bereaved father becomes sexually charged as he conflates her with his lost wife, while she becomes involved with a handsome poet.

These three tales were written for the popular literary gift annual The Keepsake in 1828, 1829, and 1831. Their "sensational" themes include exotic locations, dire misfortune, long-lost kin, stolen identity, evil redeemed, plots resolved by strange coincidences, and in one case at least, an encounter with a supernatural being. Gothic fare.

Heathcliff was to serve as the name for the ragged orphan whom Mr. Earnshaw found abandoned in the streets of Liverpool and took home to live with his own children, Cathy and Hindley, at Wuthering Heights. The stormy life of the mysterious Heathcliff, his love for Cathy and his relationships with the people who lived at Wuthering Heights and at nearby Thrushcross Grange make up Emily Bronte's classic novel.