Sunday, October 9, 2011

A Gothic Weekend

October is one of my favorite months, bringing with it an interest in the fantastic and paranormal. Every year around this time I always turn to of some of my favorite Gothic pieces of literature, enjoying their focus on the supernatural. Edgar Allen Poe often reigns forefront in my wind with his The Pit and the Pendulum, The Black Cat, and legendary The Raven. And of course I always revisit Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

However, arguably the best pieces of Gothic literature all derive their origins from the same weekend nearly two centuries ago. In the summer of 1816, George Gordon Byron, better known as the famous Lord Byron, rented the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, Switzerland. There he played host to several guest, including his personal physician John William Polidori, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Shelley's future wife Mary Godwin (aka. Mary Shelley), and her stepsister Claire Clairmont. 


Bored and closeted inside due to near incessant rain, the group spent their time reading horror stories and discussing the possibility of corpse reanimation. They decided to have a contest in which they would write their own ghost stories to entertain one another. Inspired by a dream, the eighteen year-old Mary Shelley wrote a short story that would later be fleshed into Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, one of the greatest examples of Gothic fiction of all time and a time-honored piece of classic literature.


For his own contest submission Lord Byron wrote a short, uncompleted piece which was vampiric in nature. Though it was quickly abandoned, this piece would later inspire John Polidori’s The Vampyre, a novel with an obscure history. Unfortunately, when published in the New Monthly Magazine in 1819 the piece was accredited to Lord Byron rather than the unknown Polidori. Despite the fact that Byron wrote of his personal dislike for vampires and published his original “Fragment of a Novel” in an attempt to clear up the misunderstanding, the tale remains strongly connected with him, an association made stronger by the fact that the main character, Lord Ruthven, resembles the Lord Byron himself. Despite its hazy origins and initial lack of recognition, The Vampyre goes down as the first British vampire novel and one of the progenitors of vampire literature, eventually inspiring Bram Stoker’s Dracula.


It continues to amaze me that one dreary weekend in 1816 would found two such important pieces of Gothic literature, paving the way for an explosion of writings and interest in the supernatural genre. To this day Frankenstein’s monster and the night-roaming vampires inspire constant fascination and allure.

26 comments:

  1. That sounds like a dreamy holiday home weekend to me - getting away from the noisy urban sprawl to a rainy haven and writing a horror story.

    You don't find that sort of stuff in holiday brochures.

    Great post, anyway. Frankenstein was an immediate favourite of mine.

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  2. Man, great post. Just read Kenneth Oppel's THIS DARK ENDEAVOR which is a telling of Victor Frankenstein as a young man, his pre-Frankenstein years and how he could have come to be the man in Mary Shelley's book. Kind of loved it!

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  3. This time of year so inspires reading and writing horror. That country getaway in the rain sounds perfect. I love Poe, too. My favorite is The Fall of the House of Usher sooo creepy.

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  4. Would I love to have been a fly on the wall back then. Such amazing minds that were gathered, too. I love October and Halloween is definitely my favorite time of year. I have a serious thing for werewolves and other beasts of darkness. Great post!

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  5. Hello! Nice to meet you and thanks for popping in on my blog!

    And great post...just think, what if they'd had SUN when they were there? Books today just wouldn't be the same!!!

    ; P

    Tessa.x

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  6. Oh how fun! I knew the broad story of that weekend, but not in so much detail. Several years back I went on a classics run and read Frankenstein, Dracula and a collection of HP Lovecraft's short stories--I loved it! Peter Straub is my favorite modern scare-crafter.

    (My word verification is Cadver *snort*)

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  7. That's the thing, creative people feed off each other. Putting both Shelley's and Byron in close company often spurred them to greater creative feats.

    Don't you think?

    Tirz

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  8. I'd never heard the story of that weekend before. Kind of amazing and a perfect blog post for the beginning of October.

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  9. This is a great story! I'm sure no one got much sleep that night! I wonder if any bats flew in for the telling. Julie

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  10. Hi! I just discovered your blog through Julie at Empty Nest Insider, saw your comment there and followed you here. I'm so glad to have found your site, it's fabulous and I loved this post. I'd never heard the story of this weekend, how fascinating.

    Great to meet you!

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  11. I never knew all this. Where did you read about this weekend? I'd love to research this more.

    Great post. I think I'll be spotlighting this next, if you don't mind.

    ~ Draven
    http://dravenames.blogspot.com/

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  12. Thanks everyone for the great responses – I love this story and was glad I could share it!

    Deb – I haven’t read that yet but it sounds GREAT! Must check it out.

    Melissa – me too! If I could go back to any one place in time, this would be it! Those lucky flies.

    Tessa – good thing it was so gloomy or the world of literature would never have been the same.

    Tirzah – I so agree. I think that’s why writing groups are so important. It makes me appreciate blogging more in some ways…it’s kind of like a modernized (and more spread out) version of Byron and the Shelleys’ circle.

    Julie – it’s great to meet you too! I love new followers, especially ones who find my blog through round-about means haha. Nice to meet you too.

    Draven – I would love that, thanks! It’s always great to be recognized by other writers/bloggers. And I first learned about this story in a college literature class (I was a lit major). It so inspired me I did a bunch of research on it and wrote a paper about it a few years later. It’s so interesting. I’ve actually been to Lake Geneva (though in high school before I knew about this). I can see why it inspired such amazing works!

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  13. Oh wow, I didn't know the background story behind those novels. Very interesting and cool.

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  14. october is my favorite month too.... nice weather, leaves change colors, and of course halloween! also, mary shelly's frankenstein is one of my favorite "old books" lol (i dont get around to reading much stuff not written in my lifetime unfortunately)

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  15. I read many Gothic novels in college. I loved them. This post brought me back to that reading era.

    I haven't had a chance to read Polidori yet, but I'm going to look him up right now.

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  16. Gothic literature is amazing (and I loved your blog).

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  17. What a weekend. Kinda like getting Stephen King and Dean Koontz together. And thanks for stopping by and saying hello!

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  18. I've always loved the back story of FRANKENSTEIN but didn't know that DRACULA was connected to that weekend as well. Thanks for sharing!

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  19. AWESOME BLOG NAME...love the feather.

    Trying to become a follower, but that darn button isn't work tonight. I refreshed 6 times, and it won't work. :(

    I will try later.


    Elizabeth

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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  20. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

    Your follower button still isn't working.

    I will keep trying. :)

    Elizabeth

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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  21. Yippee...success...I am a new Follower now. :)

    Elizabeth

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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  22. Aw, the classics. Back when monsters were monsters and vampires drank real blood. I'm to young to say this, but I miss the good old days.

    -Aaron

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  23. Jeremy – I love “old books” and read them all the time, but if you don’t often get the chance, I’d agree with you. Frankenstein is definitely a MUST read.

    Medeia – definitely check him out. The Vampyr is really interesting and marks the beginning of the vampire genre.

    Andressa – Thanks so much!!

    Stephen – I never thought about it like that but you’re totally right! Makes me wonder what we’d get to read if we DID get those two together…

    Elizabeth – Thanks for the many attempts and YAY for new followers!

    Aaron – I TOTALLY agree. It’s nice to see monsters as monsters and vampires in the night where they belong.

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  24. Interesting history. I knew about the weekend retreat and would love a time machine to go back and crash it. Do you think they'd be offended by an American woman in blue jeans? LOL But I never knew about the Doctor. Thanks for coming by my blog.
    Nancy

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  25. Ooh, very interesting! I didn't know all that! :)

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  26. It was a great weekend, sometimes many great things can all happen at once. I once managed to watch both Bill and Ted movies AND both Wayne's World movies in the same weekend.

    Huh, it sounded much cooler in my head.

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