This past February 13, the Clark Library held an opening reception for its newest exhibition, Printing the Gothic: Horace Walpole and the Reimagining of English Aesthetic Tradition. This exhibit challenges presumptions historically held about the Gothic and its prevailing reputation as a genre possessing limited literary and cultural value. Curator Edward Hyunsoo Yang, the 2025-26 Loren and Frances Rothschild Endowed Graduate Research Fellow, traces the Gothic’s connection to a collective cultural effort to establish, and promote, an identifiably English art.
At the center of this exhibit is Horace Walpole—antiquarian, collector, and author of the first Gothic novel—whose Castle of Otranto (1764) makes striking use of the preface to address readers directly, and fundamentally reimagines how readers might engage with material texts. This gesture, which becomes a hallmark of later Gothic works, exemplifies how paratextual spaces invited interaction between writer and reader. By examining Gothic fiction alongside eighteenth-century art historiography, this exhibit highlights a shared practice of using the material book—its prefaces, framing texts, and editorial choices—not only to inspire readers, but also to contribute to a national cultural project. 
In his opening lecture, Yang further explored the origins of the Gothic with attendees. He contends that self-conscious doubts and anxiety about national identity drove the production of art in eighteenth-century England, and that the Gothic was born out of this tradition. Yang also shared with attendees his personal collection of Frankenstein memorabilia, which is currently on display alongside the exhibit. Printing the Gothic will remain on view for visitors through April 13.
-Edward Hyunsoo Yang