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The Tales of Villa Diodati
Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Polidori and Lord Byron
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R329
R288
Discovery Miles 2 880
Save R41 (12%)
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`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!"'
John Polidori's classic tale of the vampyre was a product of the
same ghost-story competition that produced Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein. Set in Italy, Greece, and London, Polidori's tales is
a reaction to the dominating presence of his employer Lord Byron,
and transformed the figure of the vampire from the bestial ghoul of
earlier mythologies into the glamorous aristocrat whose violence
and sexual allure make him literally a 'lady-killer'. Polidori's
tale introduced the vampire into English fiction, and launched a
vampire craze that has never subsided. `The Vampyre' was first
published in 1819 in the London New Monthly Magazine. The present
volume selects thirteen other tales of the macabre first published
in the leading London and Dublin magazines between 1819 and 1838,
including Edward Bulwer's chilling account of the doppelganger,
Letitia Landon's elegant reworking of the Gothic romance, William
Carleton's terrifying description of an actual lynching, and James
Hogg's ghoulish exploitation of the cholera epidemic of 1831-2.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has
made available the widest range of literature from around the
globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to
scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of
other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading
authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date
bibliographies for further study, and much more.
One of the original tales of the figure of a vampire, The Vampyre
is a classic of horror literature that should be read by anyone
interested in the subject.
"The Vampyre" was first published on 1 April 1819 by Henry Colburn
in the New Monthly Magazine with the false attribution "A Tale by
Lord Byron." The name of the work's protagonist, "Lord Ruthven,"
added to this assumption, for that name was originally used in Lady
Caroline Lamb's novel Glenarvon (from the same publisher), in which
a thinly-disguised Byron figure was also named Lord Ruthven.
Despite repeated denials by Byron and Polidori, the authorship
often went unclarified. The tale was first published in book form
by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones in London, Paternoster-Row, in 1819
in octavo as The Vampyre; A Tale in 84 pages. The notation on the
cover noted that it was: "Entered at Stationers' Hall, March 27,
1819." Initially, the author was given as Lord Byron. Later
printings removed Byron's name and added Polidori's name to the
title page. The story was an immediate popular success, partly
because of the Byron attribution and partly because it exploited
the gothic horror predilections of the public. Polidori transformed
the vampire from a character in folklore into the form that is
recognized today-an aristocratic fiend who preys among high society
"The Vampyre" is a short story written by John William Polidori and
is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction.
The work is described by Christopher Frayling as "the first story
successfully to fuse the disparate elements of vampirism into a
coherent literary genre." Polidori's work had an immense impact on
contemporary sensibilities and ran through numerous editions and
translations
John Polidori's novella 'The Vampyre' had its genesis in the famous
'Year Without a Summer' (1816), when Lord Byron challenged a group
of his friends to each write a chilling horror story (Mary
Shelley's 'Frankenstein' also emerged from this session).
Polidori's work was highly influential, and has been described as
"the first story successfully to fuse the disparate elements of
vampirism into a coherent literary genre." It was a major influence
on Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'.
THIS IS A VAMPIRE HORROR COOL COLLECTOR'S EDITION - PRINTED IN
REALLY COOL MODERN GOTHIC AND CURSIVE FONTS THROUGHOUT. CHECK IT
OUT WITH THE AMAZON SEARCH INSIDE FEATURE. The first fictional
Vampire story ever written.
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