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Article: Hero of his own Gothic romance
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- September 22, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Horace Walpole was the Gore Vidal of the 18th century. Born
into the elite (his father was Sir Robert Walpole), wealthy,
arrogant, scabrously witty, with a talent for satire and exposing
the absurdities of the society around him, Walpole was a man whose
tongue and pen were feared alike. The American scholar Wilmarth
Lewis spent his life collecting Walpole memorabilia and, with the
assistance of Yale University, produced a 48- volume definitive
edition of his letters.
Surely, then, we know all there is to know about Horace Walpole?
Not so, as Timothy Mowl demonstrates. The most Vidalian aspect of
Walpole was his homosexuality, evidence of which Lewis, a New
England puritan, straighter than ...