The Influence of Gothic Literature in France: French translations and Ducray-Duminil and Arlincourt’s stories

Abstract

This paper deals with the influence and diffusion of the «Gothic Fiction» or «Gothic Novel» in France through French translations which appeared almost at the same time as their original English texts; for instance, Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) was translated only three years after its publication. A complete repertoire of translations appearing until the 1830s leads up to two writers who were highly influenced by the Gothic style, namely Ducray-Duminil and Arlincourt, whose short stories combined Gothic elements and «roman noir».