{"product_id":"old-english-baron-book-clara-reeve-9781598183559","title":"The Old English Baron","description":"\u003cp\u003eClara Reeve (1729-1807), novelist, was the author of several novels, of which only one is remembered -- \u003cem\u003eThe Old English Baron\u003c\/em\u003e (1777), written in imitation of, or rivalry with, the \u003cem\u003eCastle of Otranto\u003c\/em\u003e by Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, with which it has often been printed. Her novel has noticeably influenced Mary Shelley's \u003cem\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/em\u003e. Her innovative history of prose fiction, \u003cem\u003eThe Progress of Romance\u003c\/em\u003e (1785), can be regarded generally as a precursor to modern histories of the novel and specifically as upholding the tradition of female literary history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the Preface: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis Story is the literary offspring of \u003c\/em\u003eThe Castle of Otranto, \u003cem\u003e written upon the same plan, with a design to unite the most attractive and interesting circumstances of the ancient Romance and modern Novel, at the same time it assumes a character and manner of its own, that differs from both; it is distinguished by the appellation of a Gothic Story, being a picture of Gothic times and manners. . . . A man shall admire and almost adore the Epic poems of the Ancients, and yet despise and execrate the ancient Romances, which are only Epics in prose.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhen your expectation is wound up to the highest pitch, these circumstances take it down with a witness, destroy the work of imagination, and, instead of attention, excite laughter. I was both surprised and vexed to find the enchantment dissolved, which I wished might continue to the end of the book; and several of its readers have confessed the same disappointment to me: The beauties are so numerous, that we cannot bear the defects, but want it to be perfect in all respects.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53187148316945,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53187148349713,"sku":"NIN9781598183559","price":13.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781598183559.jpg?v=1772389418","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/old-english-baron-book-clara-reeve-9781598183559","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}