Title Poor Polidori : a critical biography of the author of The vampire / D.L. Macdonald

Published Toronto [Ont.] ; Buffalo [N.Y.] : University of Toronto Press, 1991

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Description 1 online resource (xiv, 333 pages) : illustrations Contents Contents -- Preface -- I: BEFORE BYRON: 1795�1816 -- 1 Beginnings -- 2 The University of Edinburgh -- 3 Ximenes: The Modern Abraham -- 4 Oneirodynia -- 5 'On the Punishment of Death' -- II: BYRON: 1816 -- 6 Negotiations -- 7 Travels with Byron -- 8 A Star in the Halo of the Moon -- 9 Ghost Stories -- 10 A Series of Slight Quarrels -- III: AFTER BYRON: 1816�1821 -- 11 Crossing the Alps -- 12 Milan -- 13 Travels in Italy -- 14 Norwich -- 15 An Essay upon the Source of Positive Pleasure -- 16 London -- 17 The Scandal of The Vampyre 18 Ernestus Berchtold or, The Modern Oedipus -- 19 The Fall of the Angels -- 20 Death and Afterlife -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z -- Acknowledgments Summary In 1816, John William Polidori travelled to Geneva as Byron's doctor. There he took part in the famous ghost-story project that inspired Frankenstein. As the medical member of the party, he contributed some scientific information to Mary shelley's novel. As a writer, he was the most industrious of the party, producing both a novel of his own, Ernestus Berchtold, and The Vampyre, a tale based on an idea of Byron's. An unscrupulous publisher issued Polidori's tale under Byron's name, thereby ensuring great success for the book, although not for its true author. (Byron fired Polidori as his doctor soon after.) History has not paid Polidori much attention. Although he has figured prominetly in a few novels and films, there has never been a full-length study of his life until now. D.L. Macdonald rectifies the situation with this biography. He explains how Polidori's vampire was created as a caricature of the doctor's employer - the aristocrat, the traveller, the seducer. This version differed entirely from the vampire of folklore. It became extraordinarily influential, and remains essentially the vampire of popular culture today. Polidori's life, through short and unsuccessful, provides an opportunity for a new look at the Romantic period. His very lack of success forced him to engage himself succesfully in medicine, literature, law, politics, philosophy, and religion. In following his course we encounter not only a fascinating character but also a wide cross-section of cultural history Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record Subject Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 -- Friends and associates Polidori, John William, 1795-1821 Polidori, John William, 1795-1821. Vampyre. SUBJECT Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 fast Polidori, John William, 1795-1821 fast Vampyre (Polidori, John William) fast Subject Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Biography Physicians -- Great Britain -- Biography Horror tales -- Authorship Vampires in literature. LITERARY CRITICISM -- Gothic & Romance. BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Literary. LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh. Friendship Horror tales -- Authorship Novelists, English Physicians Vampires in literature Great Britain Genre/Form Electronic books Biographies Biographies. Biographies. Form Electronic book LC no. 92226279 ISBN 9781442678637 1442678631

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