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The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre
John Polidori's classic tale The Vampyre (1819), was a product of the same ghost-story competition that produced Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The present volume selects thirteen other tales of mystery and the macabre, including the works of James Hogg, J.S. LeFanu, Letitia Landon, Edward Bulwer, and William Carelton. The introduction surveys the genesis and influence of The Vampyre and its central themes and techniques, while the Appendices contain material closely associated with its composition and publication, including Lord Byron's prose fragment Augustus Darvell.
JOHN POLIDORI - The Vampyre
HORACE SMITH - Sir Guy Eveling's Dream
WILLIAM CARLETON - Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman
EDWARD BULWER - Monos and Daimonos
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM - The Master of Logan
ANONYMOUS - The Victim
JAMES HOGG - Some Terrible Letters from Scotland
ANONYMOUS - The Curse
ANONYMOUS - Life in Death
N. P. WILLIS - My Hobby,--Rather
CATHERINE GORE - The Red Man
CHARLES LEVER - Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer
LETITIA E. LANDON - The Bride of Lindorf
JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU - Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Contess
JOHN POLIDORI - The Vampyre
HORACE SMITH - Sir Guy Eveling's Dream
WILLIAM CARLETON - Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman
EDWARD BULWER - Monos and Daimonos
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM - The Master of Logan
ANONYMOUS - The Victim
JAMES HOGG - Some Terrible Letters from Scotland
ANONYMOUS - The Curse
ANONYMOUS - Life in Death
N. P. WILLIS - My Hobby,--Rather
CATHERINE GORE - The Red Man
CHARLES LEVER - Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer
LETITIA E. LANDON - The Bride of Lindorf
JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU - Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Contess
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Robert Morrison
13 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Robert J.H. Morrison is a Canadian author, editor, academic, and professor of English at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Lethbridge in 1983, a Master of Philosophy at the University of Oxford in 1987 and his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1991.
He specializes in late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature.
Robert J.H. Morrison is a Canadian author, editor, academic, and professor of English at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Lethbridge in 1983, a Master of Philosophy at the University of Oxford in 1987 and his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1991.
He specializes in late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
December 26, 2019
This is a companion volume to Tales from Blackwood's Magazine, containing early 19th century stories of grisly happenings and extreme psychological states culled from British magazines other than Blackwood's. The most influential piece here, of course, is "The Vampyre," originally thought to be Byron's but actually written by Byron's personal physician and cast-off middle-class toady Dr. John Polidori, a tale that turned the vampire into a 19th craze by transforming the rather shabby peasant Eastern European folkloric figure into the libertine image of Lord B. himself. It was Polidori who added sex, class and elegance to the vampire, forever putting his mark upon the legend. (The anthology also includes Henry Colborn's original introduction from the "New Monthly Magazine," the anonymous letter accompanying the manuscript on its first publication, a note by Polidori on authorship, and Byron's original fragmentary tale).
Most of the other stories are worth at least one reading and will give you a very good idea of the dark sensational fiction characteristic of the Regency. Edward Bulwer's "Monos and Daimonos" (1830) is distinguished by a narrative voice that inevitably reminds one of Poe and surely must have influenced him. "The Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman" is an horrific account of Irish terrorism, Charlotte Gore's "The Red Man" features a good story and an even more interesting frame, and Le Fanu's "A Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess" is an interesting first draft of his "Uncle Silas" published twenty-six years before the celebrated novel. Even Letitia Landon's "The Bride of Lindorf" (1836), a poorly-written piece stuffed with adjectives and sentimental commonplaces, is instructive in demonstrating how the cliches of the degenerate gothic would soon fill the most sensational productions of Victorian woman's fiction.
March 6, 2018
My first encounter with Vampire stories was Bram Stroker's Dracula and then a year later Joseph Sheridan Is Fanu's Carmilla, and this year John Polidori's The Vampyre. I enjoyed all three but my favorite is Polidori's short story. There is a sadness to all but to me, The Vampyre is the most devastating of the three. This short story was one of many written in the famous ghost story competition at Villa Diodati, the famous Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was included. Polidori was Lord Byron's personal physician and had Byron in mind for his main character. Byron wrote Augustus Darvell but it was not completed, it was thought that The Vampyre was Bryon's but that was proved to be Polidori's story. In this collection the unfinished Augustus Darnell is included which has many similarities which is eery. If you are looking for gothic, vampire, horrifying and grave robbing stories then the stories listed her will fit the bill. There are three anonymous stories which all are wonderfully written. (The Victim, The Curse and Life in Death)
The other stories-
*Sir Guy Eveling's Dream by Horace Smith - a ghost like story
*Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman by William Carleton - a very, very dark version that has an Ox Bow incident feeling.
*Monos and Daimonos by Edward Bulwer -ghost like story
*The Master of Logan by Allan Cunningham - like Sir Guy's story but different spin.
*Some Terrible Letters From Scotland by James Hogg- cholera victims and burying the living thought dead.
*N. P. Willis My Hobby -Rather - strange story regarding a corpse.
*The Red Man by Catherine Gore (more of a review under that title)
*Post- Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer -another burying a live man
* The Bride of Lindorf by Letitia E. Landon- (more review under that title)
*Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - (more review under that title)
Footnotes and explanatory notes included and helpful.
The other stories-
*Sir Guy Eveling's Dream by Horace Smith - a ghost like story
*Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman by William Carleton - a very, very dark version that has an Ox Bow incident feeling.
*Monos and Daimonos by Edward Bulwer -ghost like story
*The Master of Logan by Allan Cunningham - like Sir Guy's story but different spin.
*Some Terrible Letters From Scotland by James Hogg- cholera victims and burying the living thought dead.
*N. P. Willis My Hobby -Rather - strange story regarding a corpse.
*The Red Man by Catherine Gore (more of a review under that title)
*Post- Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer -another burying a live man
* The Bride of Lindorf by Letitia E. Landon- (more review under that title)
*Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - (more review under that title)
Footnotes and explanatory notes included and helpful.
March 23, 2022
With the exception of The Vampyre and Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman, which were both incredibly gripping and sinister, these stories unfortunately just weren’t all that memorable. J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess would’ve doubtless proved another such exception, but as I’ve already read his Uncle Silas, which was basically the full-length novel version of said story, it didn’t do as much for me as it might’ve done if I wasn’t already so familiar with it. But, while I didn’t find the plots of most of these stories terribly interesting, nearly all of them did have great atmospheres going for them (you know, that awesome old school, dark and mysterious, languidly creepy Gothic-type shit), so overall the reading experience was definitely an enjoyable one.
List of stories:
JOHN POLIDORI: The Vampyre*
HORACE SMITH: Sir Guy Eveling's Dream
WILLIAM CARLETON: Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman*
EDWARD BULWER: Monos and Daimonos
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM: The Master of Logan
ANONYMOUS: The Victim
JAMES HOGG: Some Terrible Letters from Scotland
ANONYMOUS: The Curse
ANONYMOUS: Life in Death
N.P. WILLIS: My Hobby, —Rather
CATHERINE GORE: The Red Man
CHARLES LEVER: Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer
LETITIA E. LANDON: The Bride of Lindorf
JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU: Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess
* = personal favorite
List of stories:
JOHN POLIDORI: The Vampyre*
HORACE SMITH: Sir Guy Eveling's Dream
WILLIAM CARLETON: Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman*
EDWARD BULWER: Monos and Daimonos
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM: The Master of Logan
ANONYMOUS: The Victim
JAMES HOGG: Some Terrible Letters from Scotland
ANONYMOUS: The Curse
ANONYMOUS: Life in Death
N.P. WILLIS: My Hobby, —Rather
CATHERINE GORE: The Red Man
CHARLES LEVER: Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer
LETITIA E. LANDON: The Bride of Lindorf
JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU: Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess
* = personal favorite
Read
June 15, 2012This is a partial review. I read The Vampyre out of this collection, but I will read the other stories when I have the opportunity.
Review of The Vampyre by John Polidori
Read: 6/13/12
Rating: Three Stars
The history of this short story might be even more intriguing than the actual writing itself. Mr. Polidori was the personal physician of the infamous Lord Byron, and this work of fiction was conceived on that famous holiday event in which Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin (who would later become Mary Shelley) issued a challenge to each other to write Gothic stories. This was Mr. Polidori's result.
My thoughts:
I have little doubt that Lord Ruthven was inspired by Lord Byron. Polidori's feelings towards his debauched past employer are quite clear. In this case, Lord Ruthven has a supernatural ability to ruin, damage, and destroy anything he lays his hands on, and enjoys doing so in the process. This does not speak well of Lord Byron, and based of what I have read of him, I can see some echoes of him in this character. Lord Caroline Lamb, the incredibly outrageous for her times, cast-off mistress of Byron is immortalized in a character who appears briefly in the beginning of the story, at least in my opinion.
As far as the writing, I didn't feel that it was particularly inspired or brilliant. This short story is all telling and little showing. This created a distance between the characters in this story and myself. It was hard to feel much sympathy for Aubrey, his sister Miss Aubrey, Ianthe, or anyone else because the narrative was too much like a bland newspaper article, with little connection to the intense emotions of the persons involved. I had a distant feeling of dislike and disgust for Lord Ruthven, which with more active, vivid writing could have been outright disgust. That is a sadly wasted opportunity for a writer, in my opinion.
It's hard to say much overall about this story. It wasn't bad. I can't say I was disappointed, because I didn't have high expectations. Regardless of the issues as far as the writing, Mr. Polidori has earned his place in the vampire fiction canon. Sadly, he lived a short, disappointing (to himself) life. Although he could not be aware of the famous status of this story, it is some comfort to me that he has created something that endured two hundred years later. For that I will respect and appreciate The Vampyre. And also for its commentary of Lord Byron, a man whose antics pretty much created its own character archetype in literature, the Byronic hero. Admittedly in this case, there is nothing at all to recommend Lord Ruthven. Lord Byron himself, I cannot say yay or nay to that question.
End verdict: Any vampire fiction aficionado should take the opportunity to read this story at least for its historical value.
Review of The Vampyre by John Polidori
Read: 6/13/12
Rating: Three Stars
The history of this short story might be even more intriguing than the actual writing itself. Mr. Polidori was the personal physician of the infamous Lord Byron, and this work of fiction was conceived on that famous holiday event in which Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin (who would later become Mary Shelley) issued a challenge to each other to write Gothic stories. This was Mr. Polidori's result.
My thoughts:
I have little doubt that Lord Ruthven was inspired by Lord Byron. Polidori's feelings towards his debauched past employer are quite clear. In this case, Lord Ruthven has a supernatural ability to ruin, damage, and destroy anything he lays his hands on, and enjoys doing so in the process. This does not speak well of Lord Byron, and based of what I have read of him, I can see some echoes of him in this character. Lord Caroline Lamb, the incredibly outrageous for her times, cast-off mistress of Byron is immortalized in a character who appears briefly in the beginning of the story, at least in my opinion.
As far as the writing, I didn't feel that it was particularly inspired or brilliant. This short story is all telling and little showing. This created a distance between the characters in this story and myself. It was hard to feel much sympathy for Aubrey, his sister Miss Aubrey, Ianthe, or anyone else because the narrative was too much like a bland newspaper article, with little connection to the intense emotions of the persons involved. I had a distant feeling of dislike and disgust for Lord Ruthven, which with more active, vivid writing could have been outright disgust. That is a sadly wasted opportunity for a writer, in my opinion.
It's hard to say much overall about this story. It wasn't bad. I can't say I was disappointed, because I didn't have high expectations. Regardless of the issues as far as the writing, Mr. Polidori has earned his place in the vampire fiction canon. Sadly, he lived a short, disappointing (to himself) life. Although he could not be aware of the famous status of this story, it is some comfort to me that he has created something that endured two hundred years later. For that I will respect and appreciate The Vampyre. And also for its commentary of Lord Byron, a man whose antics pretty much created its own character archetype in literature, the Byronic hero. Admittedly in this case, there is nothing at all to recommend Lord Ruthven. Lord Byron himself, I cannot say yay or nay to that question.
End verdict: Any vampire fiction aficionado should take the opportunity to read this story at least for its historical value.
March 31, 2024
Being so real I only read Vampyre but 10/10 we all surely fancy Ruthven just a TINY BIT?
September 28, 2021
This review covers only the title story of this collection, which grew out of the same “ghost story” contest that produced Frankenstein. Polidori is certainly the least known of that infamous gathering (the others being Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron), and quite probably the least talented, but hey, he still produced a tale that’s read and discussed more than two hundred years later, right?
Many consider this the first significant vampiric tale in the western canon, although it’s not all that vampiric in the modern sense. Or maybe it��s particularly vampiric in the modern sense because the title character is a bit of a soul- and energy-sucker, at least in his relationship with Aubrey, the ostensible hero of the piece. The relationship between Aubrey and Lord Ruthven may or may not reflect Polidori’s own feelings toward Byron, but it certainly makes the story more fun if you read it as if it does.
Ruthven’s actions are definitely more along the lines of a traditional vampire (tearing open throats, that sort of thing) when it comes to the bland and poorly drawn women of the story. But Polidori’s florid style often conveys more a sense of the syphilitic than the supernatural.
The story is fine, if a bit bloodless (ha, see what I did there?), and it’s certainly foundational. There’s even one passage that provides an almost direct line to Dracula some eighty years later:
“When they heard the name of the place, they all at once begged of him not to return at night, as he must necessarily pass through a wood, where no Greek would ever remain after the day had closed, upon any consideration.”
And Polidori even wades into Jane Austen territory for a moment:
“He was handsome, frank, and rich: for these reasons ... many mothers surrounded him, striving which should describe with least truth their languishing or romping favorites: the daughters at the same time ... soon led him into false notions of his talents and his merit.”
And one other line stands out, downright Dickensian a number of years before Dickens:
“He had, hence, that romantic feeling of honour and candour, which daily ruins so many milliners’ apprentices.”
Many consider this the first significant vampiric tale in the western canon, although it’s not all that vampiric in the modern sense. Or maybe it��s particularly vampiric in the modern sense because the title character is a bit of a soul- and energy-sucker, at least in his relationship with Aubrey, the ostensible hero of the piece. The relationship between Aubrey and Lord Ruthven may or may not reflect Polidori’s own feelings toward Byron, but it certainly makes the story more fun if you read it as if it does.
Ruthven’s actions are definitely more along the lines of a traditional vampire (tearing open throats, that sort of thing) when it comes to the bland and poorly drawn women of the story. But Polidori’s florid style often conveys more a sense of the syphilitic than the supernatural.
The story is fine, if a bit bloodless (ha, see what I did there?), and it’s certainly foundational. There’s even one passage that provides an almost direct line to Dracula some eighty years later:
“When they heard the name of the place, they all at once begged of him not to return at night, as he must necessarily pass through a wood, where no Greek would ever remain after the day had closed, upon any consideration.”
And Polidori even wades into Jane Austen territory for a moment:
“He was handsome, frank, and rich: for these reasons ... many mothers surrounded him, striving which should describe with least truth their languishing or romping favorites: the daughters at the same time ... soon led him into false notions of his talents and his merit.”
And one other line stands out, downright Dickensian a number of years before Dickens:
“He had, hence, that romantic feeling of honour and candour, which daily ruins so many milliners’ apprentices.”
February 1, 2024
3.68⭐
Introduction (The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre) • (1997) • essay by Chris Baldick and Robert Morrison 4⭐
The Vampyre • [Lord Ruthven] • (1819) by Dr. John William Polidori 5⭐
Sir Guy Eveling's Dream • (1823) by Horace Smith 3⭐
Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman (1830) by William Carleton (variant of Wildgoose Lodge) 3⭐
Monos and Daimonos by Edward Bulwer-Lytton 5⭐
The Master of Logan • (1831) by Allan Cunningham 3.25⭐
The Victim • (1831) by Anonymous 3.5⭐
Some Terrible Letters from Scotland • (1832) by James Hogg 4⭐
The Curse • (1832) by Anonymous 5⭐
Life in Death • (1833) by Anonymous 2.5⭐
My Hobby,—Rather • (1834) by N. P. Willis 3⭐
The Red Man • (1835) by Catherine Gore 2.5⭐
Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer • (1836) by Charles Lever 4⭐
The Bride of Lindorf • (1836) by Letitia Elizabeth Landon 4⭐
Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess • (1838) by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu 4.25⭐
Appendix A: Preliminaries for The Vampyre • (1819) • essay by Henry Colburn and Alaric Alexander Watts 3⭐
Appendix B: Note on The Vampyre • (1819) • essay by Dr. John William Polidori ✔
Appendix C: Augustus Darvell • (1819) • essay by Lord George Gordon Byron 3.5⭐
Introduction (The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre) • (1997) • essay by Chris Baldick and Robert Morrison 4⭐
The Vampyre • [Lord Ruthven] • (1819) by Dr. John William Polidori 5⭐
Sir Guy Eveling's Dream • (1823) by Horace Smith 3⭐
Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman (1830) by William Carleton (variant of Wildgoose Lodge) 3⭐
Monos and Daimonos by Edward Bulwer-Lytton 5⭐
The Master of Logan • (1831) by Allan Cunningham 3.25⭐
The Victim • (1831) by Anonymous 3.5⭐
Some Terrible Letters from Scotland • (1832) by James Hogg 4⭐
The Curse • (1832) by Anonymous 5⭐
Life in Death • (1833) by Anonymous 2.5⭐
My Hobby,—Rather • (1834) by N. P. Willis 3⭐
The Red Man • (1835) by Catherine Gore 2.5⭐
Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer • (1836) by Charles Lever 4⭐
The Bride of Lindorf • (1836) by Letitia Elizabeth Landon 4⭐
Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess • (1838) by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu 4.25⭐
Appendix A: Preliminaries for The Vampyre • (1819) • essay by Henry Colburn and Alaric Alexander Watts 3⭐
Appendix B: Note on The Vampyre • (1819) • essay by Dr. John William Polidori ✔
Appendix C: Augustus Darvell • (1819) • essay by Lord George Gordon Byron 3.5⭐
November 16, 2019
Okay, I really loved the title story 'The Vampyre' and would probably give that one 4 stars. It was really beautifully written, gripping and page-turning. didn't know what the story would really be about and it surprised me in a very positive way. I also enjoyed the introduction to the story - and that is something which the Oxford editions always do really well. Unfortunately, the title story was about 30 pages long and the other stories couldn't really grab my interest. I am starting to feel that this is more due to a problem I have with short story anthologies. There are just always more stories that I dislike than like in an anthology and that makes it hard to be positive about the whole thing.
March 15, 2021
Classic, Romantic tales of horror, this is a fine combination of Nineteenth Century short stories, headlined by Polidori's 'The Vampyre'.
Considerately edited and with some interesting contextual footnotes, this edition would be useful for scholarly work.
Considerately edited and with some interesting contextual footnotes, this edition would be useful for scholarly work.
January 26, 2019
It’s the 200th anniversary of John Polidori’s The Vampyre this year (2019). This short story kicked off the vampire craze in 19th-century literature. Apparently vampires were known before but Polidori’s crucial innovation was to take them upmarket, add brains, cunning and wit, and set them loose on aristocratic drawing rooms for their prey. Top hatted & cloaked vampires have been thrilling readers ever since.
It helped Polidori’s story immensely that the original publisher (a magazine) mistakenly published the story as by Lord Byron, then at the absolute zenith of his bad-boy enfant terrible chic. And that the vampire in the story shared an alias with a previous fictional portrayal of Byron by Byron’s ex, Lady Caroline Lamb. In short, the Vampyre was Byron.
Sadly, all this context is far more exciting than the story itself. Polidori’s followers have long since surpassed his efforts. However, it’s probably true to say that most if not all subsequent vampires share some Byronic personality traits.
OUP have padded out this edition with some more early tales of the macabre, all originally published in magazines around 1820-1840. It’s interesting to see what excited readers then. There are stories of the Irish troubles, Cholera epidemics, grave robbers, etc. The outstanding story is the last by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: in fact a dress rehearsal for his later novel ‘Uncle Silas’, which after this is going on my TBR. Interesting works also by writers I haven’t heard of before but who seem to have enjoyed successful literary careers in the early-19th century: Letitia E Landon and Catherine Gore. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a Victorian best selling author and statesman, contributes a short but eerily evocative tale. Le Fanu is regarded highly in the annals of horror fiction these days, & it appears Bulwer-Lytton is the focus of some interest by virtue of his perceived occultic practices (he was claimed by a contemporary Illuminati group but strenuously denied membership. But we all know what that means.)
It helped Polidori’s story immensely that the original publisher (a magazine) mistakenly published the story as by Lord Byron, then at the absolute zenith of his bad-boy enfant terrible chic. And that the vampire in the story shared an alias with a previous fictional portrayal of Byron by Byron’s ex, Lady Caroline Lamb. In short, the Vampyre was Byron.
Sadly, all this context is far more exciting than the story itself. Polidori’s followers have long since surpassed his efforts. However, it’s probably true to say that most if not all subsequent vampires share some Byronic personality traits.
OUP have padded out this edition with some more early tales of the macabre, all originally published in magazines around 1820-1840. It’s interesting to see what excited readers then. There are stories of the Irish troubles, Cholera epidemics, grave robbers, etc. The outstanding story is the last by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: in fact a dress rehearsal for his later novel ‘Uncle Silas’, which after this is going on my TBR. Interesting works also by writers I haven’t heard of before but who seem to have enjoyed successful literary careers in the early-19th century: Letitia E Landon and Catherine Gore. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a Victorian best selling author and statesman, contributes a short but eerily evocative tale. Le Fanu is regarded highly in the annals of horror fiction these days, & it appears Bulwer-Lytton is the focus of some interest by virtue of his perceived occultic practices (he was claimed by a contemporary Illuminati group but strenuously denied membership. But we all know what that means.)
October 10, 2013
Wow, this is a good book! The main reason why I liked it is because instead of getting beat over the head with the usual same-old, same-old, frequently anthologized horror stories ("Dracula's Guest", "The Jolly Corner", "Good Lady Ducayne" and so on), this book brings out some rarities that definitely deserve more attention.
Admittedly, a couple of the stories are rather boring - N.P. Willis' "My Hobby - Rather" (what the hell does that mean?!?) and Lever's "Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer". However, it is a small price to pay for how many good stories are in this book.
Catherine Gore's "The Red Man" is terrifying and heartbreaking. "Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess" is probably one of the best stories Le Fanu ever wrote. I also like that the appendices of this book include Byron's original cut of "The Vampyre", as well as the verses from his "Giaour" that involve vampirism:
Thy corse (corpse) shall from its tomb be rent;
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
Above all, I feel the real prize of this book is Letitia E. Landon's "The Bride of Lindorf". Yes, it is obvious this tale is from the age of sentimentality. But the prose is stunning, the imagery is gorgeous, and it makes for a nice romantic escape. Hey, Elizabeth Barrett Browning worshiped the ground Letitia E. Landon (L.E.L) walked - even though no one knows about her now - so I'd say there must have been something there!
Admittedly, a couple of the stories are rather boring - N.P. Willis' "My Hobby - Rather" (what the hell does that mean?!?) and Lever's "Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer". However, it is a small price to pay for how many good stories are in this book.
Catherine Gore's "The Red Man" is terrifying and heartbreaking. "Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess" is probably one of the best stories Le Fanu ever wrote. I also like that the appendices of this book include Byron's original cut of "The Vampyre", as well as the verses from his "Giaour" that involve vampirism:
Thy corse (corpse) shall from its tomb be rent;
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
Above all, I feel the real prize of this book is Letitia E. Landon's "The Bride of Lindorf". Yes, it is obvious this tale is from the age of sentimentality. But the prose is stunning, the imagery is gorgeous, and it makes for a nice romantic escape. Hey, Elizabeth Barrett Browning worshiped the ground Letitia E. Landon (L.E.L) walked - even though no one knows about her now - so I'd say there must have been something there!
October 27, 2018
Bodysnatchers, cholera, curses and ghosts...
This is a collection of fourteen stories that were first published in magazines between 1819 and 1838. The majority are from London’s New Monthly but there are a few from other London and Dublin magazines. This was a time when magazines were flourishing, providing information and sensation to a readership hungry for entertainment. The foreword tells me that this book deliberately omits the famous Edinburgh-based Blackwood magazine, because Oxford World’s Classics had already published a separate collection of them. The title story, The Vampyre by John Polidori, arose out of the same evening of ghost story-telling that inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and was the first literary portrayal of what would become the modern vampire, hence its star billing.
I found this an intriguing collection, different in tone to the usual horror anthology. Although some of the stories have a ghostly or otherwise supernatural element, many of them are strictly about human horrors and they’re often related in some way to events of the time. For example, James Hogg’s contribution, Some Terrible Letters from Scotland, arises from the cholera epidemic which killed thousands of Scots in 1831-2, while William Carleton’s Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman is based on a real-life lynching – the Ribbonmen were a secret organisation of Irish nationalists. More than one of the stories has been influenced by the true-life story of Burke and Hare, who robbed graves and murdered people to supply bodies for anatomy students. And there’s a good sprinkling of Scottish and Irish stories, which pleased my Celtic heart.
Macabre is undoubtedly the right word for the collection – some of the stories are fairly gruesome, with a proliferation of corpses and anatomists popping up more than once, and the ones based on real events have an added grimness for knowing that. Madness, when it appears, is not always of the Poe-esque high Gothic variety, but more of the realistic murderer type, and is therefore more chilling than scary, perhaps. A couple of them were too macabre for my squeamish taste, but they were more than compensated for by touches of humour or genuine spookiness in other stories. Here are a few of the ones I enjoyed most:-
Monos and Daimonos by Edward Bulwer – a story of a man’s desperate search for solitude and what happens when he can’t find it. Very well written and enjoyable, especially for the more misanthropic among us!
Sir Guy Eveling’s Dream by Horace Smith – this is written in the form of an old historical document, so the author has a lot of fun with old-fashioned language. Basically a warning to wastrels everywhere, this tells of a man who spends his life drinking and womanising, till one day he comes across a beautiful but mysterious lady, who is not quite what she appears. Quite naughty, this one, I thought, in a mild way – Victorian morality must not have kicked in yet. I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be funny, but it did make me laugh!
Some Terrible Letters from Scotland by James Hogg – this is presented as three letters supposedly written by people caught up, as I mentioned above, in the cholera epidemic. The first tells of a man who is pronounced dead and prepared for burial, but his mind is still conscious. Apparently this was a real fear during the epidemic, at a time when medicine was still a pretty primitive profession. The next letter gives a picture of how easily the disease could be spread, and how that led to fear of strangers. The last one takes us more into supernatural territory as a woman insists on nursing the sick over the protests of her fearful children. Together, they’re a great mix of history and horror with touches of black humour.
The Curse by Anonymous – a man is returning from India, having made his fortune there, to claim the hand of the girl he loves. But on the way home, he meets an old man who tells him that God has placed a curse on his family in revenge for murders committed by an ancestor. Needless to say, when he gets home, the curse is waiting for him! This is a more traditional story which touches on that never-ending Scottish obsession with sectarianism and hellfire religion, and it’s very well told.
Life in Death by Anonymous – a man invents an elixir which, when rubbed on a newly deceased body, will bring the dead back to life. But it all goes horribly wrong! Some deliciously shivery moments of pure horror in this one – sometimes death isn’t the worst thing that can happen...
There’s an interesting introduction by Robert Morrison, Professor of English Literature at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, and Chris Baldick, professor of English at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, in which they tell the story behind The Vampyre and discuss the history of the magazines and the part they played in the literature of the day. The notes are great, with each story put into its historical context. Needless to say, most of the information I’ve included above has been taken from the introduction or notes.
In total I gave nine of the tales either four or five stars individually, so despite there being a few I wasn’t so keen on, overall I enjoyed the collection very much, and recommend it as a good mix of stories that are a little different from the norm. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Oxford World’s Classics.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
This is a collection of fourteen stories that were first published in magazines between 1819 and 1838. The majority are from London’s New Monthly but there are a few from other London and Dublin magazines. This was a time when magazines were flourishing, providing information and sensation to a readership hungry for entertainment. The foreword tells me that this book deliberately omits the famous Edinburgh-based Blackwood magazine, because Oxford World’s Classics had already published a separate collection of them. The title story, The Vampyre by John Polidori, arose out of the same evening of ghost story-telling that inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and was the first literary portrayal of what would become the modern vampire, hence its star billing.
I found this an intriguing collection, different in tone to the usual horror anthology. Although some of the stories have a ghostly or otherwise supernatural element, many of them are strictly about human horrors and they’re often related in some way to events of the time. For example, James Hogg’s contribution, Some Terrible Letters from Scotland, arises from the cholera epidemic which killed thousands of Scots in 1831-2, while William Carleton’s Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman is based on a real-life lynching – the Ribbonmen were a secret organisation of Irish nationalists. More than one of the stories has been influenced by the true-life story of Burke and Hare, who robbed graves and murdered people to supply bodies for anatomy students. And there’s a good sprinkling of Scottish and Irish stories, which pleased my Celtic heart.
Macabre is undoubtedly the right word for the collection – some of the stories are fairly gruesome, with a proliferation of corpses and anatomists popping up more than once, and the ones based on real events have an added grimness for knowing that. Madness, when it appears, is not always of the Poe-esque high Gothic variety, but more of the realistic murderer type, and is therefore more chilling than scary, perhaps. A couple of them were too macabre for my squeamish taste, but they were more than compensated for by touches of humour or genuine spookiness in other stories. Here are a few of the ones I enjoyed most:-
Monos and Daimonos by Edward Bulwer – a story of a man’s desperate search for solitude and what happens when he can’t find it. Very well written and enjoyable, especially for the more misanthropic among us!
Sir Guy Eveling’s Dream by Horace Smith – this is written in the form of an old historical document, so the author has a lot of fun with old-fashioned language. Basically a warning to wastrels everywhere, this tells of a man who spends his life drinking and womanising, till one day he comes across a beautiful but mysterious lady, who is not quite what she appears. Quite naughty, this one, I thought, in a mild way – Victorian morality must not have kicked in yet. I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be funny, but it did make me laugh!
Some Terrible Letters from Scotland by James Hogg – this is presented as three letters supposedly written by people caught up, as I mentioned above, in the cholera epidemic. The first tells of a man who is pronounced dead and prepared for burial, but his mind is still conscious. Apparently this was a real fear during the epidemic, at a time when medicine was still a pretty primitive profession. The next letter gives a picture of how easily the disease could be spread, and how that led to fear of strangers. The last one takes us more into supernatural territory as a woman insists on nursing the sick over the protests of her fearful children. Together, they’re a great mix of history and horror with touches of black humour.
The Curse by Anonymous – a man is returning from India, having made his fortune there, to claim the hand of the girl he loves. But on the way home, he meets an old man who tells him that God has placed a curse on his family in revenge for murders committed by an ancestor. Needless to say, when he gets home, the curse is waiting for him! This is a more traditional story which touches on that never-ending Scottish obsession with sectarianism and hellfire religion, and it’s very well told.
Life in Death by Anonymous – a man invents an elixir which, when rubbed on a newly deceased body, will bring the dead back to life. But it all goes horribly wrong! Some deliciously shivery moments of pure horror in this one – sometimes death isn’t the worst thing that can happen...
There’s an interesting introduction by Robert Morrison, Professor of English Literature at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, and Chris Baldick, professor of English at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, in which they tell the story behind The Vampyre and discuss the history of the magazines and the part they played in the literature of the day. The notes are great, with each story put into its historical context. Needless to say, most of the information I’ve included above has been taken from the introduction or notes.
In total I gave nine of the tales either four or five stars individually, so despite there being a few I wasn’t so keen on, overall I enjoyed the collection very much, and recommend it as a good mix of stories that are a little different from the norm. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Oxford World’s Classics.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
April 20, 2016
**CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!!**
I have always enjoyed tales of the macabre, ghost stories and frightening tales and so I just had to read this book when it had a collection of varied stories that are more original than what we see today, all written at some time in the C19th:
1. The Vampyre / John Polidori (1819) ☆☆☆☆
'The Vampyre' predates Le Fanu's novella Carmilla and Stoker's novel Dracula, both of which are excellent tales of the vampire myth. The Vampyre focuses on Aubrey and his association with a Lord Ruthven whom he discovers to be a 'vampyre', a creature responsible for the ruin of many that have enjoyed his company. The tale develops into Aubrey's descent to madness at being unable to reveal Lord Ruthven's evil secret nor prevent him from pursuing the heart (and blood!) of his beloved sister. Overall, a worthy tale that deserves at least 4 stars out of 5.
2. Sir Guy Eveling's Dream / Horace Smith (1823) ☆☆☆☆
As soon as I began to read it I realised that I had actually read something like it before. This story bears great resemblance to Irving Washington's The Adventure of the German Student which was published in 1824 in Tales of a Traveller, by Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
Sir Guy Eveling is man who enjoys the likes of socialising and gambling, with no plans on settling down and securing a bride until he finds a woman that takes his breath away. One night he dreams of the most beautiful woman but, sure it is not such a dream, he sets out to find her and find her he does – with most unexpected results! As much as I love Horace Smith's version, I prefer Irving Washington's and that is why I offer it only 4 stars!
3. Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman / William Carleton (1830) ☆☆☆
This tale is based on the Wildgoose Lodge Murders that occurred on the night of 29–30 October 1816 in which eight people were murdered by burning to death, one only a five-month old infant. The Wildgoose Lodge was a farm building in the parish of Tallanstown-Reaghstown in Co. Louth, Ireland.
I found this one a little hard to get into, mostly because it takes some time to get to the crux of the story. It focuses mostly on the events leading up to and after the murder of a Protestant family by a Catholic Nationalist secret society of the 19th Century in Ireland, where members were known as the Ribbonmen. Also there is the the guilt of the narrator for his passive participation.
4. Monos and Daimonos / Edward Bulwer(1830) ☆☆☆
This was another of the tales that I didn't quite take to. It focuses on a young man who, having grown up away from society until his father's death when he was aged eighteen, returns to the city and finds life there to be quite unsatisfactory and so indulges in himself to travel.
The story then incorporates a shipwreck and a murder, both of which causes the author to feel a sense of haunted guilt over what he has done and how it won't be forgotten as he is tormented by the relentless spirit.
5. The Master of Logan / Alan Cunningham (1831)☆☆☆☆
An enjoyable Scottish story of temptation opposed by a preacher. There are elements of a cautionary folk-tale about it which makes it a very interesting read. A young man who shows some disrespect to old bones is told the tale of The Master of Logan, in which a young nobleman by the name of Logan is bears little heed to the warnings not to disrespect the spirits for they will punish him. Logan does not heed this advice at first but begins to feel uneasy soon and decides to send for the preacher to repent, only to be visited by a beautiful noblewoman who is not quite what she seems.
6. The Victim / Anonymous(1831)☆☆☆☆
Mentions of Burke reveals rather unsurprisingly that this is a tale of the body-snatchers, and a very good one at that! A young surgeon, preparing to pass examinations, pays for a body to be delivered so he and his good friend, St. Clare, can practice beforehand. However, things take a rather dark and unexpected turn when St.Clare's when his intended goes missing and a beautiful young female is delivered for the to-be surgeon's to practice their skills...
7. Some Terrible Letters from Scotland / James Hogg (1832)☆☆☆
Not much to really say about this one other than it does what it says it does. It contains three fictional letters relating to a genuine cholera epidemic in Scotland which killed almost 10,000 people from 1831-2. The final letter has more of a ghostly tale that is quite enjoyable to read.
8. The Curse / Anonymous (1832)☆☆☆☆
This story wasn't so bad actually! The narrator retells his story with a combination of sorrow and repentance for a horrible act he committed in his youth. Returning home from abroad he dreams of nothing more than to be wed to the beautiful Helen but fears she could have been struck ill or dead so he visits the cemetery first. An old man begins to tell him the tale of two lovers that died many years before and how a curse had been placed on three generations of the family that murdered the husband. Realising that he is part of said family, the third generation, he quickly goes off to find his family where he makes a fatal mistake in a fit of madness which costs him everything.
9. Life in Death / Anonymous (1833)☆☆☆
This one was rather disappointing. Life in Death focused on a dying man who gave a phial of liquid to his son in that belief that it would grant him new life and youth. The son gives a drop to his father three days after death and he begins to re-animate to a degree before the son puts a stop to it.
Years later, when he has had his own family and raised them in a strictly religious household, he asks his own son to do the same as his father asked him. He attributes the liquid to be of God's work and that his son should not fear it. When he dies the son uses the liquid and his father reanimates, causing his face to grow youthful and beautiful again. Alas, the rest of the tale is not a happy one as it does not go to plan! Doesn't quite have the same effect as Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
10. My Hobby, - Rather / N. P. Willis (1834)☆☆☆
Very short but rather effective! I can't say much about this tale without giving it away!
11. The Red Man / Catherine Gore (1835)☆☆☆
I didn't like this one as much as I thought I would. I found it confusing in a way, though maybe I just wasn't following it so well. I didn't quite understand how the title did fit in with the tale until I then realised the 'red' symbolised the rust of the iron. The main theme is that of crime and punishment of that time and pre-revolution (as the story itself was set in Paris).
The narrator meets an old scrap iron merchant by the name of Balthazar and is told a horrible tale of how the bones of a woman's hand came to be encased in an iron manacle. Balthazar's story is filled with adultery, lies, pain and murder all of which leads to a shocking end for the poor woman that it is about.
12. Post-mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer / Charles Lever (1836)☆☆☆
In essence, this is a very detailed and gripping account of being near death due to an illness which is based on a severe real life illness that Lever had suffered from. The fictional element incorporated into this tale is the threat that the narrator felt of being buried alive and being unable to show himself to be awake.
13. The Bride of Lindorf / Letitia E. Landon (1836)☆☆☆☆☆
I absolutely loved this one! With themes of insanity, incest and unrequited love, it made for quite an interesting read. Although his mother is making plans for him to marry his cousin Pauline, Ernest, an eccentric young nobleman, discovers a secret staircase to a beautiful woman, Minna. Minna claims she is being kept from her birthright by her uncle, the Baron. As Ernest falls for her he soon finds that all is not what it seems. There then follows a tragic end for one of the characters.
14. Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess / Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1838)☆☆☆☆☆
This tale, doubled with The Bride of Lindorf, are my favourite two in this entire book. The female narrator, Margaret, the heiress to her father's fortune, finds herself in the guardianship of her Uncle - an uncle who is being investigated for murder. Believing him to be innocent, she lives quite comfortably until she begins to realise that he has a darker side. Furthermore she is uncomfortable by the attentions of his son, Edward, and soon finds there is a plot against her for her money when she refuses Edward's hand. The story has a most unhappy ending for Margaret's young cousin Emily, her beloved friend.
Overall The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre is worth a read with some gems of stories in there!
I have always enjoyed tales of the macabre, ghost stories and frightening tales and so I just had to read this book when it had a collection of varied stories that are more original than what we see today, all written at some time in the C19th:
1. The Vampyre / John Polidori (1819) ☆☆☆☆
'The Vampyre' predates Le Fanu's novella Carmilla and Stoker's novel Dracula, both of which are excellent tales of the vampire myth. The Vampyre focuses on Aubrey and his association with a Lord Ruthven whom he discovers to be a 'vampyre', a creature responsible for the ruin of many that have enjoyed his company. The tale develops into Aubrey's descent to madness at being unable to reveal Lord Ruthven's evil secret nor prevent him from pursuing the heart (and blood!) of his beloved sister. Overall, a worthy tale that deserves at least 4 stars out of 5.
2. Sir Guy Eveling's Dream / Horace Smith (1823) ☆☆☆☆
As soon as I began to read it I realised that I had actually read something like it before. This story bears great resemblance to Irving Washington's The Adventure of the German Student which was published in 1824 in Tales of a Traveller, by Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
Sir Guy Eveling is man who enjoys the likes of socialising and gambling, with no plans on settling down and securing a bride until he finds a woman that takes his breath away. One night he dreams of the most beautiful woman but, sure it is not such a dream, he sets out to find her and find her he does – with most unexpected results! As much as I love Horace Smith's version, I prefer Irving Washington's and that is why I offer it only 4 stars!
3. Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman / William Carleton (1830) ☆☆☆
This tale is based on the Wildgoose Lodge Murders that occurred on the night of 29–30 October 1816 in which eight people were murdered by burning to death, one only a five-month old infant. The Wildgoose Lodge was a farm building in the parish of Tallanstown-Reaghstown in Co. Louth, Ireland.
I found this one a little hard to get into, mostly because it takes some time to get to the crux of the story. It focuses mostly on the events leading up to and after the murder of a Protestant family by a Catholic Nationalist secret society of the 19th Century in Ireland, where members were known as the Ribbonmen. Also there is the the guilt of the narrator for his passive participation.
4. Monos and Daimonos / Edward Bulwer(1830) ☆☆☆
This was another of the tales that I didn't quite take to. It focuses on a young man who, having grown up away from society until his father's death when he was aged eighteen, returns to the city and finds life there to be quite unsatisfactory and so indulges in himself to travel.
The story then incorporates a shipwreck and a murder, both of which causes the author to feel a sense of haunted guilt over what he has done and how it won't be forgotten as he is tormented by the relentless spirit.
5. The Master of Logan / Alan Cunningham (1831)☆☆☆☆
An enjoyable Scottish story of temptation opposed by a preacher. There are elements of a cautionary folk-tale about it which makes it a very interesting read. A young man who shows some disrespect to old bones is told the tale of The Master of Logan, in which a young nobleman by the name of Logan is bears little heed to the warnings not to disrespect the spirits for they will punish him. Logan does not heed this advice at first but begins to feel uneasy soon and decides to send for the preacher to repent, only to be visited by a beautiful noblewoman who is not quite what she seems.
6. The Victim / Anonymous(1831)☆☆☆☆
Mentions of Burke reveals rather unsurprisingly that this is a tale of the body-snatchers, and a very good one at that! A young surgeon, preparing to pass examinations, pays for a body to be delivered so he and his good friend, St. Clare, can practice beforehand. However, things take a rather dark and unexpected turn when St.Clare's when his intended goes missing and a beautiful young female is delivered for the to-be surgeon's to practice their skills...
7. Some Terrible Letters from Scotland / James Hogg (1832)☆☆☆
Not much to really say about this one other than it does what it says it does. It contains three fictional letters relating to a genuine cholera epidemic in Scotland which killed almost 10,000 people from 1831-2. The final letter has more of a ghostly tale that is quite enjoyable to read.
8. The Curse / Anonymous (1832)☆☆☆☆
This story wasn't so bad actually! The narrator retells his story with a combination of sorrow and repentance for a horrible act he committed in his youth. Returning home from abroad he dreams of nothing more than to be wed to the beautiful Helen but fears she could have been struck ill or dead so he visits the cemetery first. An old man begins to tell him the tale of two lovers that died many years before and how a curse had been placed on three generations of the family that murdered the husband. Realising that he is part of said family, the third generation, he quickly goes off to find his family where he makes a fatal mistake in a fit of madness which costs him everything.
9. Life in Death / Anonymous (1833)☆☆☆
This one was rather disappointing. Life in Death focused on a dying man who gave a phial of liquid to his son in that belief that it would grant him new life and youth. The son gives a drop to his father three days after death and he begins to re-animate to a degree before the son puts a stop to it.
Years later, when he has had his own family and raised them in a strictly religious household, he asks his own son to do the same as his father asked him. He attributes the liquid to be of God's work and that his son should not fear it. When he dies the son uses the liquid and his father reanimates, causing his face to grow youthful and beautiful again. Alas, the rest of the tale is not a happy one as it does not go to plan! Doesn't quite have the same effect as Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
10. My Hobby, - Rather / N. P. Willis (1834)☆☆☆
Very short but rather effective! I can't say much about this tale without giving it away!
11. The Red Man / Catherine Gore (1835)☆☆☆
I didn't like this one as much as I thought I would. I found it confusing in a way, though maybe I just wasn't following it so well. I didn't quite understand how the title did fit in with the tale until I then realised the 'red' symbolised the rust of the iron. The main theme is that of crime and punishment of that time and pre-revolution (as the story itself was set in Paris).
The narrator meets an old scrap iron merchant by the name of Balthazar and is told a horrible tale of how the bones of a woman's hand came to be encased in an iron manacle. Balthazar's story is filled with adultery, lies, pain and murder all of which leads to a shocking end for the poor woman that it is about.
12. Post-mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer / Charles Lever (1836)☆☆☆
In essence, this is a very detailed and gripping account of being near death due to an illness which is based on a severe real life illness that Lever had suffered from. The fictional element incorporated into this tale is the threat that the narrator felt of being buried alive and being unable to show himself to be awake.
13. The Bride of Lindorf / Letitia E. Landon (1836)☆☆☆☆☆
I absolutely loved this one! With themes of insanity, incest and unrequited love, it made for quite an interesting read. Although his mother is making plans for him to marry his cousin Pauline, Ernest, an eccentric young nobleman, discovers a secret staircase to a beautiful woman, Minna. Minna claims she is being kept from her birthright by her uncle, the Baron. As Ernest falls for her he soon finds that all is not what it seems. There then follows a tragic end for one of the characters.
14. Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess / Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1838)☆☆☆☆☆
This tale, doubled with The Bride of Lindorf, are my favourite two in this entire book. The female narrator, Margaret, the heiress to her father's fortune, finds herself in the guardianship of her Uncle - an uncle who is being investigated for murder. Believing him to be innocent, she lives quite comfortably until she begins to realise that he has a darker side. Furthermore she is uncomfortable by the attentions of his son, Edward, and soon finds there is a plot against her for her money when she refuses Edward's hand. The story has a most unhappy ending for Margaret's young cousin Emily, her beloved friend.
Overall The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre is worth a read with some gems of stories in there!
Read
October 21, 2017I'm going back and forth between whether to rate this a two or a three. It's probably a solid 2.5 stars. To be fair, I haven't finished the entire book. It was bought for the sole purpose of Polidori's The Vampyre, and I skimmed a couple of the others. There's a reason I don't get on with most early gothic (namely the melodrama) but it's worth it for the true origin of the vampire as a dark, seductive and aristocratic figure.
Read
March 10, 2022Marked as no rating as I haven’t read all the short stories but this is the edition I have. Read ‘The Vampyre’ for class, 4/5 stars. Very enjoyable read, clear and well-written. You can clearly see the influence of the Gothic’s predecessors and the contextual factors surrounding the author. Only wish we had less of an abrupt ending. Would’ve been nice to see more information based upon Ruthven’s calculated choices and how he manipulated his victims etc.
June 17, 2018
Really interesting to see how the development of the vampire trope hasn’t changed much since its conception.
Read
October 31, 2020obviously some of the stories were better than other but i only truly disliked a few of them. my favorites were the title story, Monos and Daimonos, The Victim, and Life in Death.
June 6, 2022
Bachelor <333
October 25, 2022
3.5/5
October 17, 2023
no but polidori slayed with his byron fanfic
November 14, 2023
thank you polidori without this contribution to society we would not have twilight or simon lewis
March 18, 2019
Well, I can finally say that I've read Polidori's The Vampyre. So there's that.
The thing I particularly enjoy about classic Gothics is how they use the melodrama and horror and menace to subtly critique dominant social norms. Alas, this tale seemed to be more interested in reifying them.
I continued on to the next story in the volume and, again, the use of horror served the purpose of reinforcing dominant moral views without critiquing dominant power structures. Meh.
This anthology is not my cuppa. Onward to something else.
The thing I particularly enjoy about classic Gothics is how they use the melodrama and horror and menace to subtly critique dominant social norms. Alas, this tale seemed to be more interested in reifying them.
I continued on to the next story in the volume and, again, the use of horror served the purpose of reinforcing dominant moral views without critiquing dominant power structures. Meh.
This anthology is not my cuppa. Onward to something else.
August 25, 2022
English major days are here again!!!!
Shelved as 'z-unread-left-at-home'
September 18, 2015I read from numerous short story collections rather erratically so it could be a while before I finish this one - so instead of waiting until I've read all of these and then posting a review for the collection after I've forgotten a lot of the details (which I'll probably do as well) I am going to use his space to post mini-reviews of particularly noteworthy stories as and when I read them.
2/14 stories read
The Vampyre, John Polidori (14/06/12)
The title book of this collection, and a few words have to be said about the author, the conception of the story, and its literary influence before I can start to asses it on its own merits. For the benefit of anyone who doesn't read much gothic fiction this is the story that brought the modern idea of the 'aristocratic and sexy' vampire to England - predating both Le Fanu's Carmilla and Stoker's Dracula. The author, Polidori, was a physician to Lord Byron and the story was conceived in the same evening of competitive ghost stories that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein. As such, the titular vampire, Lord Ruthven is widely believed to be based on Lord Byron and the relationship between Lord Ruthven and his victim reflecting an exaggerated version of that between Byron and Polidori. Considering that the name 'Lord Ruthven' had already been used for a character clearly meant to reflect Byron in another work of fiction written by a spurned lover, the Byron as the inspiration for The Vampyre is a theory I can accept - to an extent. Not being a Byron scholar though that's not really my interest, so onto the merits of the story!
While I really enjoyed it, I wasn't blown away. The narrative voice is incredibly passive and it reads more like an oral story than it does a written work; very bare-bones with little dialogue, a detached third-person narration, and scant description. It fits with the type of story - especially when you remember that the origin was essentially a group of writers making up campfire stories - but it really doesn't make for the most involved reading. I actually quite liked it - it enabled me to imagine the details more vividly - but it's a bit like reading an urban legend rather than a piece of literature - it doesn't suck you into caring about the characters, it just narrates the 'facts' of the story and leaves it at that.
The ending was also rushed, the last line unintentionally full of cheesy Hammer Horror movie DUN DUN DUN! It even has the last word capitalised with an exclamation mark at the end. After all the build-up I expected more - not for it to follow a different path, it was predictably signposted from the start, but for it to execute the final crime with a bit more style and finesse. Ending aside though I liked the plot - the danger of Lord Ruthven isn't just a physical thirst for blood but that he is 'mad, bad, and dangerous to know' (I'm sorry, it's cliché but it was fun!). Sure he kills beautiful young virgins and drains their blood but his real evil is more insidious and far more terrifying - a delight in finding and corrupting innocence and virtue, and joy in ruining lives. Lord Ruthven is a man who rewards vice with the ability to indulge in it even further, takes glee in misery, and goes out of his way to destroy the life of his idealistic young companion. His evil comes from his force of personality as much as it comes from his biological necessity to drink blood - and he's a stronger character for it than the rather simplistic Dracula. Or he would be, if this short and sketchy story had been fleshed out into the atmospheric novella it should clearly have been.
In short, I can see how it was as influential as it is and how the ideas sparked the whole vampire trend in England - transforming a rather base peasant myth of living corpses into a dark, charismatic, and deeply seductive danger - particularly for the upper classes. Unfortunately the execution never quite lived up to the ideas or potential and I never truly managed to bring myself to care about any of the victims or their sufferings, so detached was the narration. It's a good read, a fun read, a must for any vampire fan, but it left me wishing there was just a little bit more to it.
Sir Guy Eveling's Dream, Horace Smith (29/06/12)
2/14 stories read
The Vampyre, John Polidori (14/06/12)
The title book of this collection, and a few words have to be said about the author, the conception of the story, and its literary influence before I can start to asses it on its own merits. For the benefit of anyone who doesn't read much gothic fiction this is the story that brought the modern idea of the 'aristocratic and sexy' vampire to England - predating both Le Fanu's Carmilla and Stoker's Dracula. The author, Polidori, was a physician to Lord Byron and the story was conceived in the same evening of competitive ghost stories that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein. As such, the titular vampire, Lord Ruthven is widely believed to be based on Lord Byron and the relationship between Lord Ruthven and his victim reflecting an exaggerated version of that between Byron and Polidori. Considering that the name 'Lord Ruthven' had already been used for a character clearly meant to reflect Byron in another work of fiction written by a spurned lover, the Byron as the inspiration for The Vampyre is a theory I can accept - to an extent. Not being a Byron scholar though that's not really my interest, so onto the merits of the story!
While I really enjoyed it, I wasn't blown away. The narrative voice is incredibly passive and it reads more like an oral story than it does a written work; very bare-bones with little dialogue, a detached third-person narration, and scant description. It fits with the type of story - especially when you remember that the origin was essentially a group of writers making up campfire stories - but it really doesn't make for the most involved reading. I actually quite liked it - it enabled me to imagine the details more vividly - but it's a bit like reading an urban legend rather than a piece of literature - it doesn't suck you into caring about the characters, it just narrates the 'facts' of the story and leaves it at that.
The ending was also rushed, the last line unintentionally full of cheesy Hammer Horror movie DUN DUN DUN! It even has the last word capitalised with an exclamation mark at the end. After all the build-up I expected more - not for it to follow a different path, it was predictably signposted from the start, but for it to execute the final crime with a bit more style and finesse. Ending aside though I liked the plot - the danger of Lord Ruthven isn't just a physical thirst for blood but that he is 'mad, bad, and dangerous to know' (I'm sorry, it's cliché but it was fun!). Sure he kills beautiful young virgins and drains their blood but his real evil is more insidious and far more terrifying - a delight in finding and corrupting innocence and virtue, and joy in ruining lives. Lord Ruthven is a man who rewards vice with the ability to indulge in it even further, takes glee in misery, and goes out of his way to destroy the life of his idealistic young companion. His evil comes from his force of personality as much as it comes from his biological necessity to drink blood - and he's a stronger character for it than the rather simplistic Dracula. Or he would be, if this short and sketchy story had been fleshed out into the atmospheric novella it should clearly have been.
In short, I can see how it was as influential as it is and how the ideas sparked the whole vampire trend in England - transforming a rather base peasant myth of living corpses into a dark, charismatic, and deeply seductive danger - particularly for the upper classes. Unfortunately the execution never quite lived up to the ideas or potential and I never truly managed to bring myself to care about any of the victims or their sufferings, so detached was the narration. It's a good read, a fun read, a must for any vampire fan, but it left me wishing there was just a little bit more to it.
Sir Guy Eveling's Dream, Horace Smith (29/06/12)
November 1, 2016
Full review available at: warmdayswillnevercease.wordpress.com
The Vampyre is a fantastic story and it features Aubery, a young man from England who meets Lord Ruthven, a mysterious English nobleman. They travel together to Rome but Aubery leaves for Greece alone when Ruthven seduces the daughter of Aubery’s friend. In Greece Aubery becomes infatuated with Ianthe, a very young girl, who tells him a tale about vampires. Later, Ruthven seduces Aubery’s sister who has a nervous breakdown. I’m not going to reveal much more of the plot because you should read it to find out what happens. It’s a fantastic plot though and I really enjoyed it.
Another aspect that I loved about this story is that the the vampire is obviously Lord Byron. Ruthven is a name that a few of Byron’s lovers have used to represent him in novels, most notably in Glenarvon by Lady Caroline Lamb which is a very unflattering depiction of Lord Byron. I just love that Byron offended so many of his lovers that they had a thinly veiled code name for him so that everyone knew when a story was about Byron.
I think that this short story is excellently written and I really love this line from the opening on the story:
Polidori does not hide that Ruthven is a vampire. He makes it obvious from the first page. However, his protagonist doesn’t know so there’s a lovely bit of dramatic irony at play in this novella. I also really love the term ‘female hunters’ because women are usually seen as weak and submissive in vampire novels and novellas but Polidori considers women to be predators.
The other stories are great too. I loved My Hobby – Rather by N. P. Willis. It’s so short. It’s only three pages long and yet I still really enjoyed it. The story is so strange and yet compelling and that’s just how tales of the macabre should be. I also really enjoyed Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer because it was so different as well as The Bride of Lindorf.
I really wish that there had been more stories in this collection. It’s just a really good collection of tales if you’re into horror stories or the macabre.
The Vampyre is a fantastic story and it features Aubery, a young man from England who meets Lord Ruthven, a mysterious English nobleman. They travel together to Rome but Aubery leaves for Greece alone when Ruthven seduces the daughter of Aubery’s friend. In Greece Aubery becomes infatuated with Ianthe, a very young girl, who tells him a tale about vampires. Later, Ruthven seduces Aubery’s sister who has a nervous breakdown. I’m not going to reveal much more of the plot because you should read it to find out what happens. It’s a fantastic plot though and I really enjoyed it.
Another aspect that I loved about this story is that the the vampire is obviously Lord Byron. Ruthven is a name that a few of Byron’s lovers have used to represent him in novels, most notably in Glenarvon by Lady Caroline Lamb which is a very unflattering depiction of Lord Byron. I just love that Byron offended so many of his lovers that they had a thinly veiled code name for him so that everyone knew when a story was about Byron.
I think that this short story is excellently written and I really love this line from the opening on the story:
In spite of the deadly hue of his face, which never gained a warmer tint, either from the blush of modesty, or from the strong emotion of passion, though its form and outline were beautiful, many of the female hunters after notoriety attempted to win his attentions, and gain, at least, some marks of what they might term affection.
Polidori does not hide that Ruthven is a vampire. He makes it obvious from the first page. However, his protagonist doesn’t know so there’s a lovely bit of dramatic irony at play in this novella. I also really love the term ‘female hunters’ because women are usually seen as weak and submissive in vampire novels and novellas but Polidori considers women to be predators.
The other stories are great too. I loved My Hobby – Rather by N. P. Willis. It’s so short. It’s only three pages long and yet I still really enjoyed it. The story is so strange and yet compelling and that’s just how tales of the macabre should be. I also really enjoyed Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer because it was so different as well as The Bride of Lindorf.
I really wish that there had been more stories in this collection. It’s just a really good collection of tales if you’re into horror stories or the macabre.
June 16, 2013
Many readers today might think that it was Bram Stoker's novel, 'Dracula' (1897) where the vampire story started, in English fiction at least. However, John Polidori's short story (at only 20 pages or so) is generally acknowledged to be the first prose fictionalization of the vampire as the aristocratic predator whose victims are both female and male.
Polidori was the poet Lord Byron's personal doctor, and accompanied him to Geneva with the poet Percy Shelley, and his wife, Mary Shelley. 'The Vampyre' (1819) and 'Frankenstein' (1818) by Mary Shelley, were two of the ghost stories that arose from a competition among this group of English radical poets and intellectuals to amuse themselves in the wet summer Europe experienced in 1816. The narrator Aubrey's increasing obsession with the liverish aloof Lord Ruthven is clearly modelled on Lord Byron. Aubrey's obsessive fear that Ruthven may bite and possess his sister, suggests possibly a circumvented incestuous attraction is at work in the tale, alongside a sublimated homoerotic desire to be 'touched' by the 'unspeakable' Ruthven:
'Aubrey became almost distracted. If before his mind had been absorbed by one subject, how much more completely was it engrossed, now that the certainty of the monster's living again pressed upon his thoughts. His sister's attentions were now unheeded, and it was in vain that she entreated him to explain to her what had caused his abrupt conduct. He only uttered a few words, and those terrified her.'
Along with the poems 'Christabel' (1798) and 'Lamia'(1820) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and John Keats respectively, Polidori's story is an important Romantic text in the development of how the vampire becomes a figure to explore and contain society's fears around sexuality, class and race.
Polidori was the poet Lord Byron's personal doctor, and accompanied him to Geneva with the poet Percy Shelley, and his wife, Mary Shelley. 'The Vampyre' (1819) and 'Frankenstein' (1818) by Mary Shelley, were two of the ghost stories that arose from a competition among this group of English radical poets and intellectuals to amuse themselves in the wet summer Europe experienced in 1816. The narrator Aubrey's increasing obsession with the liverish aloof Lord Ruthven is clearly modelled on Lord Byron. Aubrey's obsessive fear that Ruthven may bite and possess his sister, suggests possibly a circumvented incestuous attraction is at work in the tale, alongside a sublimated homoerotic desire to be 'touched' by the 'unspeakable' Ruthven:
'Aubrey became almost distracted. If before his mind had been absorbed by one subject, how much more completely was it engrossed, now that the certainty of the monster's living again pressed upon his thoughts. His sister's attentions were now unheeded, and it was in vain that she entreated him to explain to her what had caused his abrupt conduct. He only uttered a few words, and those terrified her.'
Along with the poems 'Christabel' (1798) and 'Lamia'(1820) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and John Keats respectively, Polidori's story is an important Romantic text in the development of how the vampire becomes a figure to explore and contain society's fears around sexuality, class and race.
May 12, 2016
The first reaction towards reading was that it was ok since it doesn't involve much action in the sense of depicting a blood-thirsty vampire. But in retrospection I realized that it is a more complex story questioning the moral standards and the extents of virtuousness of the protagonistic figures. Lord Ruthven seemingly is nobleman but things aren't always what they look like. Unreliable narrative since the whole story is seen through the eyes of only one character, Aubrey.
July 23, 2018
"The Vampyre." Classic introduction of the blood-sucking night demon into the English short story tradition--as Coleridge's "Christabel," Byron's "The Giaour," and Southey's "Thalaba the Destroyer" had featured such creatures in verse. The tale that took an innocent supernatural superstition from the Balkans and transformed it into a metaphor for Victorian sexual repression and male fear of inadequacy--what's not to love? It seems to want to tell us that sex is great/sex is horrific/sex appeal is powerful/sex bleeds you like a leech all at once!
Still, this tale, with its origins in Byron's imagination, Polidori's outrage at Byron's womanizing, and perhaps Polidori's own bruised ego--along with the setting of its composition within the ghost-story-telling contest at Villa Diodati that also produced Mary Shelley's Frankenstein... Well, it's a must read and here are all the notes and apparatus one needs to get the full context. (I also recommend the introduction to Christopher Frayling's Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula for a fun, if highly personal and disputed take on those events. One of the more fun moments of literary gossip for scholars to voyeuristically peek upon.
"Sir Guy Eveling's Dream" A variation on the much better handled Bleeding Nun sequence from Matthew Lewis's The Monk. The Victorian author using archaic Elizabethan language is a bit hard to follow in this one.
"Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman." A chilling reminder that the greatest horrors are not metaphysical but real human evil--lack of pity, incapacity for empathy. I wonder why these traits are so often the product of fervent religious belief? How do so many zealots fall into what would seem the opposite of the major tenets of religion?
"Monos and Daimonos." A tale that inspired Poe--can see why! The fable approach straddles narrative and philosophy and ghosts stand for ideas. We're pack animals and mental illness began among us as soon as we started building single rooms in which we shut ourselves up. Yet I, too, consider myself a loner. Drugs also seem to me a retreat alone inward. Seems we identify nature as our own unnatural desire to be alone.
"The Master of Logan." Gothic version of the classic "rash oath" type folktale. I saw the ending coming quite a ways off. Still, nice Scottish setting.
"The Victim." I guess the inevitable over-melodramatic variation on Burke and Hare and Stevenson's much finer tale of the Resurrection Men. Done to death on anthology horror TV. Clumsily handled but, as I say, necessary, if overwrought.
"Some Terrible Letters..." Nice combination of real (medical) and supernatural horrors in Scotland from James Hogg, author of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, a terrific novel.
"The Curse." Nicely done Scottish-set medievalesque plotted and Poe-ish prose-styled Gothic tale. I approve of all of those things!
"Death in Life" Serviceable tale in the "Monkey's Paw" and Frankenstein forbidden knowledge vein. One lovely gory moment, completely gratuitous--a real shocker! This is shaping up to be the best collection of early Gothic short fiction I've read.
"My Hobby,--Rather" Pure sensationalism with no real literary substance. OK at three pages but not really worthy of inclusion here.
"The Red Man" Longish story within a story within a story. Nice Parisian/French setting. Luscious female Gothic tale pulls out all the stops. There are only two types of men: perfidious seducers and pitiless murdering fathers exacting vengeance upon the wives and daughters who fall prey to the former. Chilling!
"Post-Mortem Recollections" More sci fi than horror, in a certain sense. Also much more like a late Victorian than Romantic-era Gothic, both in subject matter and style. Interesting for that--philosophical and reflective as well. Considerably better than the ghost story fare of the first half of the 19th Century. Consequently, more affecting.
"The Bride of Lindorf" Super sentimental melodramatic Gothic, more fairy tale than macabre, more concerned with romance than evil deeds. Even so, there's a kind of built-in critique of the love at first sight aspect of romance--using the falling in love with a portrait motif lifted, I imagine, from Lewis's The Monk. at 25 pp this one's a bit longer than the others so if that's not your cup of tea, skip it.
"Secret History of an Irish Countess" A great mix of old school Radcliffian Gothic with the newer mystery sensibility of the mid- to late-Victorian period. Not as great as Le Fanu's much more famous "Carmilla" by any means, but a worthy conclusion to this collection. I do like the way Le Fanu was able to internalize what critics now call the "female Gothic." His Gothic is a bit of a hybrid, gender-less Gothic.
All-in-all a fine collection. I've read a few, but this, so far, has been the most enjoyable and well-tempered scholarly Gothic collection of short prose I've perused. (By "well-tempered" I mean that the footnotes are neither too many nor too few, as is so often the case, either belaboring obvious points or leaving one adrift in references to largely forgotten Victorian sayings, events, or texts.)
Still, this tale, with its origins in Byron's imagination, Polidori's outrage at Byron's womanizing, and perhaps Polidori's own bruised ego--along with the setting of its composition within the ghost-story-telling contest at Villa Diodati that also produced Mary Shelley's Frankenstein... Well, it's a must read and here are all the notes and apparatus one needs to get the full context. (I also recommend the introduction to Christopher Frayling's Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula for a fun, if highly personal and disputed take on those events. One of the more fun moments of literary gossip for scholars to voyeuristically peek upon.
"Sir Guy Eveling's Dream" A variation on the much better handled Bleeding Nun sequence from Matthew Lewis's The Monk. The Victorian author using archaic Elizabethan language is a bit hard to follow in this one.
"Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman." A chilling reminder that the greatest horrors are not metaphysical but real human evil--lack of pity, incapacity for empathy. I wonder why these traits are so often the product of fervent religious belief? How do so many zealots fall into what would seem the opposite of the major tenets of religion?
"Monos and Daimonos." A tale that inspired Poe--can see why! The fable approach straddles narrative and philosophy and ghosts stand for ideas. We're pack animals and mental illness began among us as soon as we started building single rooms in which we shut ourselves up. Yet I, too, consider myself a loner. Drugs also seem to me a retreat alone inward. Seems we identify nature as our own unnatural desire to be alone.
"The Master of Logan." Gothic version of the classic "rash oath" type folktale. I saw the ending coming quite a ways off. Still, nice Scottish setting.
"The Victim." I guess the inevitable over-melodramatic variation on Burke and Hare and Stevenson's much finer tale of the Resurrection Men. Done to death on anthology horror TV. Clumsily handled but, as I say, necessary, if overwrought.
"Some Terrible Letters..." Nice combination of real (medical) and supernatural horrors in Scotland from James Hogg, author of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, a terrific novel.
"The Curse." Nicely done Scottish-set medievalesque plotted and Poe-ish prose-styled Gothic tale. I approve of all of those things!
"Death in Life" Serviceable tale in the "Monkey's Paw" and Frankenstein forbidden knowledge vein. One lovely gory moment, completely gratuitous--a real shocker! This is shaping up to be the best collection of early Gothic short fiction I've read.
"My Hobby,--Rather" Pure sensationalism with no real literary substance. OK at three pages but not really worthy of inclusion here.
"The Red Man" Longish story within a story within a story. Nice Parisian/French setting. Luscious female Gothic tale pulls out all the stops. There are only two types of men: perfidious seducers and pitiless murdering fathers exacting vengeance upon the wives and daughters who fall prey to the former. Chilling!
"Post-Mortem Recollections" More sci fi than horror, in a certain sense. Also much more like a late Victorian than Romantic-era Gothic, both in subject matter and style. Interesting for that--philosophical and reflective as well. Considerably better than the ghost story fare of the first half of the 19th Century. Consequently, more affecting.
"The Bride of Lindorf" Super sentimental melodramatic Gothic, more fairy tale than macabre, more concerned with romance than evil deeds. Even so, there's a kind of built-in critique of the love at first sight aspect of romance--using the falling in love with a portrait motif lifted, I imagine, from Lewis's The Monk. at 25 pp this one's a bit longer than the others so if that's not your cup of tea, skip it.
"Secret History of an Irish Countess" A great mix of old school Radcliffian Gothic with the newer mystery sensibility of the mid- to late-Victorian period. Not as great as Le Fanu's much more famous "Carmilla" by any means, but a worthy conclusion to this collection. I do like the way Le Fanu was able to internalize what critics now call the "female Gothic." His Gothic is a bit of a hybrid, gender-less Gothic.
All-in-all a fine collection. I've read a few, but this, so far, has been the most enjoyable and well-tempered scholarly Gothic collection of short prose I've perused. (By "well-tempered" I mean that the footnotes are neither too many nor too few, as is so often the case, either belaboring obvious points or leaving one adrift in references to largely forgotten Victorian sayings, events, or texts.)
November 19, 2020
Sadly, I only liked 2 of the stories in this collection: "The Bride of Lindorf" and "The Secret History of an Irish Countess." After reading the latter which was an intense and gripping narrative, I am interested in reading more of Le Fanu. Oddly, I did not care very much for Polidori's story.
February 8, 2012
Este artigo revela uma parte considerável do enredo da obra.
John William Polidori nasceu em Londres a 7 de Setembro de 1795, filho do escritor e tradutor Gaetano Polidori (responsável pela tradução de Paradise Lost e The Castle of Otranto para italiano) e de Anna Maria Pierce. Em 1804 inicia a sua educação no Ampleforth College em Yorkshire, e em 1811 ingressa na Universidade de Edinburgo, conseguindo o seu doutoramento em medicina com apenas 19 anos.
Em 1816, através de uma recomendação de Sir William Knighton, Lord Byron contrata Polidori para o acompanhar nas suas viagens pela Europa como seu médico pessoal. Durante o Verão do mesmo ano instalam-se na Suiça, onde Byron é frequentemente visitado por Jane Clairmont, Percy Bysshe Shelley e Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, todos eles presentes na famosa competição realizada numa noite de Junho em que, após uma sessão de leitura de histórias de fantasmas, Byron desafiou cada um a escrever uma história dentro do género. A competição inspirou Mary Godwin, que começou a escrever uma das mais influentes obras da literatura gótica: Frankenstein; Byron cedo perdeu o interesse, limitando-se a escrever parcialmente um conto intitulado Augustus Darvell; Polidori dedicou-se a Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus - o único romance que viria a publicar - e, posteriormente, desenvolveu o conceito presente no fragmento de Byron, dando origem a The Vampyre.
Em 1819, Henry Colburn, procurando tirar partido da fama do poeta Inglês, publica The Vampyre na New Monthly Magazine com o subtítulo "A Tale by Lord Byron". Pouco tempo após a publicação, Polidori reclama a autoria da obra, muito embora reconheça a importância que Byron teve na sua constituição. A forma como o manuscrito chegou aos escritórios da New Monthly permanece um mistério, mas é facto que The Vampyre se tornou rapidamente num grande sucesso.
"It happened that in the midst of the dissipations attendant upon London winter, there appeared at the various parties of the leaders of the ton a nobleman more remarkable for his singularities, than his rank. He gazed upon the mirth around him, as if he could not participate therein. Apparently, the light laughter of the fair only attracted his attention, that he might by a look quell it and throw fear into those breasts where thoughtlessness reigned. Those who felt this sensation of awe, could not explain whence it arose: some attributed it to the dead grey eye, which, fixing upon the object's face, did not seem to penetrate, and at one glance to pierce through to the inward workings of the heart; but fell upon the cheek with a leaden ray that weighed upon the skin it could not pass."
The Vampyre destaca-se, essencialmente, por transportar o vampiro para o ambiente urbano. Até à data, tanto no folclore como na literatura, o vampiro era uma figura repugnante, subsistindo à base do instinto de modo a satisfazer a sua necessidade por sangue. Em contraste, a criação de Polidori – Lord Ruthven –, é uma personagem sofisticada e atraente, que se desloca pela alta sociedade inglesa sem levantar quaisquer suspeitas enquanto escolhe as suas vítimas. É esta ameaça latente, esta diluição da fronteira entre o natural e o sobrenatural, que torna Ruthven numa figura aterrorizadora de uma forma que os seus antecessores nunca conseguiram atingir.
O conto inicia-se apresentando o jovem e inexperiente Aubrey, que acredita que "os sonhos dos poetas são as realidades da vida," mas que cedo percebe, apesar da sua ingenuidade, que a vida social se distancia bastante do que se pode ler nos romances. Quebrada a ilusão, Aubrey fica intrigado com o misterioso mas fascinante Ruthven, e decide aproximar-se deste com a intenção de estudar a sua estranha personalidade. Eventualmente organizam uma viagem em conjunto, e é durante essa viagem que Aubrey detecta alguns sinais alarmantes no que toca à conduta do seu companheiro.
"His companion was profuse in his liberality; -- the idle, the vagabond, and the beggar, received from his hand more than enough to relieve their immediate wants. But Aubrey could not avoid remarking, that it was not upon the virtuous, reduced to indigence by the misfortunes attendant even upon virtue, that he bestowed his alms; -- these were sent from the door with hardly suppressed sneers; but when the profligate came to ask something, not to relieve his wants, but to allow him to wallow in his lust, to sink him still deeper in his iniquity, he was sent away with rich charity. This was, however, attributed by him to the greater importunity of the vicious, which generally prevails over the retiring bashfulness of the virtuous indigent. There was one circumstance about the charity of his Lordship, which was still more impressed upon his mind: all those upon whom it was bestowed, inevitably found that there was a curse upon it, for they were all either led to the scaffold, or sunk to the lowest and the most abject misery."
Estas situações inquietam Aubrey, mas só quando recebe uma carta dos seus pais a alertar para a comportamento imoral e para a capacidade de sedução de Ruthven, é que decide abrir mão da sua amizade, decidido a não viajar com alguém “cujo carácter não tinha mostrado um único ponto brilhante.”
Após esta quebra de relações, prossegue sozinho para a Grécia, onde durante algum tempo explora as ruínas de Atenas e se apega à bela Ianthe, filha dos donos da casa onde tomou residência. Ironicamente, Ianthe tenta convencer o céptico Aubrey da existência de vampiros, acabando por perecer nas mãos de um. Perturbado pelo sucedido, Aubrey adoece e, para sua surpresa, ao acordar do seu sono febril encontra Ruthven a cuidar de si.
"His lordship seemed quite changed; he no longer appeared that apathetic being who had so astonished Aubrey; but as soon as his convalescence began to be rapid, he again gradually retired into the same state of mind, and Aubrey perceived no difference from the former man, except that at times he was surprised to meet his gaze fixed intently upon him, with a smile of malicious exultation playing upon his lips: he knew not why, but this smile haunted him."
O inesperado acto leva a uma reconciliação, e os dois companheiros retomam a sua viagem durante a qual se tornam vítimas de uma emboscada. Durante o ataque Ruthven é ferido e acaba, aparentemente, por morrer, embora não sem antes obrigar Aubrey a jurar que ocultaria qualquer pormenor acerca dos seus crimes durante um ano e um dia. Decidido a não permanecer num país que só lhe trouxe infortúnios, e após descobrir que o amigo fora o responsável pela morte da encantadora Ianthe, Aubrey regressa a Inglaterra.
Gradualmente consegue abtrair-se do seu passado recente até uma noite em que, para seu choque, reencontra Ruthven. Tal acontecimento coloca-o num estado de histeria tal que a família se vê obrigada a confiná-lo ao seu quarto, com supervisão de um médico. O seu estado acaba por piorar ao se aperceber que a sua irmã está noiva de Ruthven, estando o casamento previsto exactamente para último dia do seu juramento. Incapaz de evitar que a sua irmã se torne em mais uma das vítimas do dissimulado vampiro, o seu desespero resulta no rompimento de um vaso sanguíneo, dando-lhe apenas tempo para relatar a sua história, revelando, finalmente, a verdadeira natureza de Lord Ruthven.
"He shut his eyes, hoping that it was but a vision arising from his disturbed imagination; but he again saw the same form, when he unclosed them, stretched by his side. There was no colour upon her cheek, not even upon her lip; yet there was a stillness about her face that seemed almost as attaching as the life that once dwelt there: -- upon her neck and breast was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth having opened the vein: -- to this the men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with horror, «A Vampyre! a Vampyre!»"
The Vampyre é importante não só por trazer o vampiro para a esfera aristocrática, mas também por ilustrar um período de transição na literatura gótica, em que os medos, que antes ganhavam forma nos oprimentes castelos ou mosteiros, passaram a ser incorporados por monstros. De facto, o persuasivo Ruthven encarna o receio que a nobreza tinha por homens elegantes e sem escrúpulos, capazes de atrair e desonrar as suas filhas, arruinando-as a nível moral e social. É também aterrorizador no sentido em que consegue subverter as normas sexuais, usando isso a seu favor para exercer um forte domínio tanto sobre as mulheres como sobre os homens.
Por outro lado, Polidori não adopta a típica estrutura utilizada na grande maioria dos romances góticos produzidos até à data, algo especialmente evidente no casamento que se realiza no final do conto, casamento esse que, ao invés de representar uma fase de libertação do mal que assombrou a história, representa, isso sim, a libertação e o triunfo desse próprio mal.
Independentemente da influência de Byron, que levou muitos a acusar Polidori de plágio, a verdade é que este último transformou um fragmento inacabado numa história coesa, estabelecendo um modelo que viria desenvolvido por James Rymer em Varney the Vampire, por Sheridan Le Fanu em Carmilla e, acima de tudo, por Bram Stoker em Dracula. É, pois, imerecidamente que este autor permanece na sombra, quando a sua contribuição, embora curta, se ramificou até aos nossos dias.
Referências:
Birkhead, Edith. The Tale of Terror . Project Gutenberg, 2004. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14154
Bomarito, Jessica. Gothic Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, 2006.
Botting, Fred. Gothic. Londres: Routledge, 1996.
Heiland, Donna. Gothic and Gender: An Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
Polidori, John William. The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre. Nova Iorque: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Nigel Leask, Polidori, John William (1795–1821), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article...
Punter, David; Byron, Glennis. The Gothic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
John William Polidori nasceu em Londres a 7 de Setembro de 1795, filho do escritor e tradutor Gaetano Polidori (responsável pela tradução de Paradise Lost e The Castle of Otranto para italiano) e de Anna Maria Pierce. Em 1804 inicia a sua educação no Ampleforth College em Yorkshire, e em 1811 ingressa na Universidade de Edinburgo, conseguindo o seu doutoramento em medicina com apenas 19 anos.
Em 1816, através de uma recomendação de Sir William Knighton, Lord Byron contrata Polidori para o acompanhar nas suas viagens pela Europa como seu médico pessoal. Durante o Verão do mesmo ano instalam-se na Suiça, onde Byron é frequentemente visitado por Jane Clairmont, Percy Bysshe Shelley e Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, todos eles presentes na famosa competição realizada numa noite de Junho em que, após uma sessão de leitura de histórias de fantasmas, Byron desafiou cada um a escrever uma história dentro do género. A competição inspirou Mary Godwin, que começou a escrever uma das mais influentes obras da literatura gótica: Frankenstein; Byron cedo perdeu o interesse, limitando-se a escrever parcialmente um conto intitulado Augustus Darvell; Polidori dedicou-se a Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus - o único romance que viria a publicar - e, posteriormente, desenvolveu o conceito presente no fragmento de Byron, dando origem a The Vampyre.
Em 1819, Henry Colburn, procurando tirar partido da fama do poeta Inglês, publica The Vampyre na New Monthly Magazine com o subtítulo "A Tale by Lord Byron". Pouco tempo após a publicação, Polidori reclama a autoria da obra, muito embora reconheça a importância que Byron teve na sua constituição. A forma como o manuscrito chegou aos escritórios da New Monthly permanece um mistério, mas é facto que The Vampyre se tornou rapidamente num grande sucesso.
"It happened that in the midst of the dissipations attendant upon London winter, there appeared at the various parties of the leaders of the ton a nobleman more remarkable for his singularities, than his rank. He gazed upon the mirth around him, as if he could not participate therein. Apparently, the light laughter of the fair only attracted his attention, that he might by a look quell it and throw fear into those breasts where thoughtlessness reigned. Those who felt this sensation of awe, could not explain whence it arose: some attributed it to the dead grey eye, which, fixing upon the object's face, did not seem to penetrate, and at one glance to pierce through to the inward workings of the heart; but fell upon the cheek with a leaden ray that weighed upon the skin it could not pass."
The Vampyre destaca-se, essencialmente, por transportar o vampiro para o ambiente urbano. Até à data, tanto no folclore como na literatura, o vampiro era uma figura repugnante, subsistindo à base do instinto de modo a satisfazer a sua necessidade por sangue. Em contraste, a criação de Polidori – Lord Ruthven –, é uma personagem sofisticada e atraente, que se desloca pela alta sociedade inglesa sem levantar quaisquer suspeitas enquanto escolhe as suas vítimas. É esta ameaça latente, esta diluição da fronteira entre o natural e o sobrenatural, que torna Ruthven numa figura aterrorizadora de uma forma que os seus antecessores nunca conseguiram atingir.
O conto inicia-se apresentando o jovem e inexperiente Aubrey, que acredita que "os sonhos dos poetas são as realidades da vida," mas que cedo percebe, apesar da sua ingenuidade, que a vida social se distancia bastante do que se pode ler nos romances. Quebrada a ilusão, Aubrey fica intrigado com o misterioso mas fascinante Ruthven, e decide aproximar-se deste com a intenção de estudar a sua estranha personalidade. Eventualmente organizam uma viagem em conjunto, e é durante essa viagem que Aubrey detecta alguns sinais alarmantes no que toca à conduta do seu companheiro.
"His companion was profuse in his liberality; -- the idle, the vagabond, and the beggar, received from his hand more than enough to relieve their immediate wants. But Aubrey could not avoid remarking, that it was not upon the virtuous, reduced to indigence by the misfortunes attendant even upon virtue, that he bestowed his alms; -- these were sent from the door with hardly suppressed sneers; but when the profligate came to ask something, not to relieve his wants, but to allow him to wallow in his lust, to sink him still deeper in his iniquity, he was sent away with rich charity. This was, however, attributed by him to the greater importunity of the vicious, which generally prevails over the retiring bashfulness of the virtuous indigent. There was one circumstance about the charity of his Lordship, which was still more impressed upon his mind: all those upon whom it was bestowed, inevitably found that there was a curse upon it, for they were all either led to the scaffold, or sunk to the lowest and the most abject misery."
Estas situações inquietam Aubrey, mas só quando recebe uma carta dos seus pais a alertar para a comportamento imoral e para a capacidade de sedução de Ruthven, é que decide abrir mão da sua amizade, decidido a não viajar com alguém “cujo carácter não tinha mostrado um único ponto brilhante.”
Após esta quebra de relações, prossegue sozinho para a Grécia, onde durante algum tempo explora as ruínas de Atenas e se apega à bela Ianthe, filha dos donos da casa onde tomou residência. Ironicamente, Ianthe tenta convencer o céptico Aubrey da existência de vampiros, acabando por perecer nas mãos de um. Perturbado pelo sucedido, Aubrey adoece e, para sua surpresa, ao acordar do seu sono febril encontra Ruthven a cuidar de si.
"His lordship seemed quite changed; he no longer appeared that apathetic being who had so astonished Aubrey; but as soon as his convalescence began to be rapid, he again gradually retired into the same state of mind, and Aubrey perceived no difference from the former man, except that at times he was surprised to meet his gaze fixed intently upon him, with a smile of malicious exultation playing upon his lips: he knew not why, but this smile haunted him."
O inesperado acto leva a uma reconciliação, e os dois companheiros retomam a sua viagem durante a qual se tornam vítimas de uma emboscada. Durante o ataque Ruthven é ferido e acaba, aparentemente, por morrer, embora não sem antes obrigar Aubrey a jurar que ocultaria qualquer pormenor acerca dos seus crimes durante um ano e um dia. Decidido a não permanecer num país que só lhe trouxe infortúnios, e após descobrir que o amigo fora o responsável pela morte da encantadora Ianthe, Aubrey regressa a Inglaterra.
Gradualmente consegue abtrair-se do seu passado recente até uma noite em que, para seu choque, reencontra Ruthven. Tal acontecimento coloca-o num estado de histeria tal que a família se vê obrigada a confiná-lo ao seu quarto, com supervisão de um médico. O seu estado acaba por piorar ao se aperceber que a sua irmã está noiva de Ruthven, estando o casamento previsto exactamente para último dia do seu juramento. Incapaz de evitar que a sua irmã se torne em mais uma das vítimas do dissimulado vampiro, o seu desespero resulta no rompimento de um vaso sanguíneo, dando-lhe apenas tempo para relatar a sua história, revelando, finalmente, a verdadeira natureza de Lord Ruthven.
"He shut his eyes, hoping that it was but a vision arising from his disturbed imagination; but he again saw the same form, when he unclosed them, stretched by his side. There was no colour upon her cheek, not even upon her lip; yet there was a stillness about her face that seemed almost as attaching as the life that once dwelt there: -- upon her neck and breast was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth having opened the vein: -- to this the men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with horror, «A Vampyre! a Vampyre!»"
The Vampyre é importante não só por trazer o vampiro para a esfera aristocrática, mas também por ilustrar um período de transição na literatura gótica, em que os medos, que antes ganhavam forma nos oprimentes castelos ou mosteiros, passaram a ser incorporados por monstros. De facto, o persuasivo Ruthven encarna o receio que a nobreza tinha por homens elegantes e sem escrúpulos, capazes de atrair e desonrar as suas filhas, arruinando-as a nível moral e social. É também aterrorizador no sentido em que consegue subverter as normas sexuais, usando isso a seu favor para exercer um forte domínio tanto sobre as mulheres como sobre os homens.
Por outro lado, Polidori não adopta a típica estrutura utilizada na grande maioria dos romances góticos produzidos até à data, algo especialmente evidente no casamento que se realiza no final do conto, casamento esse que, ao invés de representar uma fase de libertação do mal que assombrou a história, representa, isso sim, a libertação e o triunfo desse próprio mal.
Independentemente da influência de Byron, que levou muitos a acusar Polidori de plágio, a verdade é que este último transformou um fragmento inacabado numa história coesa, estabelecendo um modelo que viria desenvolvido por James Rymer em Varney the Vampire, por Sheridan Le Fanu em Carmilla e, acima de tudo, por Bram Stoker em Dracula. É, pois, imerecidamente que este autor permanece na sombra, quando a sua contribuição, embora curta, se ramificou até aos nossos dias.
Referências:
Birkhead, Edith. The Tale of Terror . Project Gutenberg, 2004. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14154
Bomarito, Jessica. Gothic Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, 2006.
Botting, Fred. Gothic. Londres: Routledge, 1996.
Heiland, Donna. Gothic and Gender: An Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
Polidori, John William. The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre. Nova Iorque: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Nigel Leask, Polidori, John William (1795–1821), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article...
Punter, David; Byron, Glennis. The Gothic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
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