The House of the Wolf

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The House of the Wolf

The House of the Wolf (Basil Copper novel - cover art).jpg

Dust-jacket illustration by Stephen E. Fabian for The House of the Wolf
Author Basil Copper
Illustrator Stephen E. Fabian
Cover artist Stephen E. Fabian
Country United States
Language English
Genre Horror novel, Gothic novel
Publisher Arkham House
Publication date
 1983
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 298 pp
ISBN 0-87054-095-5
OCLC 9324672
823/.914 19
LC Class PR6053.O658 H6 1983

The House of the Wolf is a Gothic horror novel by author Basil Copper. It was published by Arkham House in 1983 in an edition of 3,578 copies. It was the author's fourth book published by Arkham House. The book contains a number of interior black and white illustrations by Stephen E. Fabian. In 2014 Valancourt Books reissued The House of the Wolf with Fabian's illustrations and a new introduction by Stephen Jones.

Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the subgenre of Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "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 where, following Walpole, it was further developed by Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, William Thomas Beckford and Matthew Lewis. The genre had much success in the 19th century, as witnessed in prose by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the works of Edgar Allan Poe as well as Charles Dickens with his novella, A Christmas Carol, and in poetry in the work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Lord Byron. Another well known novel in this genre, dating from the late Victorian era, is Bram Stoker's Dracula. The name Gothic, which originally referred to the Goths, and then came to mean "German", refers to the medieval Gothic architecture, in which many of these stories take place. This extreme form of Romanticism was very popular throughout Europe, especially among English- and German-language writers and artists. The English Gothic novel also led to new novel types such as the German Schauerroman and the French Roman Noir.

Basil Frederick Albert Copper was an English writer and former journalist and newspaper editor. He became a full-time writer in 1970. In addition to horror and detective fiction, Copper was perhaps best known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created as a tribute to Sherlock Holmes by August Derleth.

Arkham House is an American publishing house specializing in weird fiction. It was founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House editions are noted for the quality of their printing and binding. The colophon for Arkham House was designed by Frank Utpatel.

Contents

Plot summary

The story, a Victorian thriller, involves Professor John Coleridge, who is a guest at Castle Homolky, situated above the tiny Hungarian village of Lugos. While staying at the castle, a huge black wolf is discovered with preternatural powers. When the beast is at last killed with silver bullets, it is found to be part man and part wolf.

Reception

It was reviewed favorably by Chris Henderson in the December 1983 issue of Dragon Magazine (#80). Henderson praised Copper for having achieved a difficult task in writing a "new, almost fresh, werewolf story". The characters are "fresh and stimulating" and have "an air of realism". In closing, he noted that: "For that fan of horror stories in your household, this novel is a must.". [1]

Werewolf mythological human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature

In folklore, a werewolf or occasionally lycanthrope is a human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction and especially on the night of a full moon. Early sources for belief in this ability or affliction, called lycanthropy, are Petronius (27–66) and Gervase of Tilbury (1150–1228).

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References

  1. ↑ Henderson, Chris (December 1983). "Off the shelf". Dragon . TSR (80): 66. ISSN   0279-6848.

Sheldon Jaffery was an American bibliographer. An attorney by profession, he was an aficionado of Weird Tales magazine, Arkham House books, the weird menace pulps, and related topics.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.


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