This volume in the "novels" section of casebooks surveys the rise and development of the Gothic tale of mystery and horror, from the mid-19th century to the eve of the Victorian period. The editor's introduction traces the development of the genre and its relation to contemporary aesthetic and literary movements and assesses the 18th and 19th centuries and the modern critical responses to it. Particular attention is given to the cardinal place in this literary genre of Walpole's "Castle of Otranto", Beckford's "Vathek", Lewis' "The Monk", Ann Radcliffe's "Mysteries of Udolpho" and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".