The Poet and the Vampyre

Posted on 20 September 2018 by Andrew McConnell Stott

In the spring of 1816, Lord Byron was the greatest poet of his generation and the most famous man in Britain, but his personal life was about to erupt Fleeing his celebrity, notoriety, and debts, he sought refuge in Europe, taking his young doctor with him As an inexperienced medic with literary aspirations of his own, Doctor John Polidori could not believe his luck.That summer another literary star also arrived in Geneva With Percy Bysshe Shelley came his lover, Mary, and her step sister, Claire Clairmont For the next three months, this party of young bohemians shared their lives, charged with sexual and artistic tensions It was a period of extraordinary creativity Mary Shelley started writing Frankenstein, the gothic masterpiece of Romantic fiction Byron completed Childe Harold s Pilgrimage, his epic poem and Polidori would begin The Vampyre, the first great vampire novel.It was also a time of remarkable drama and emotional turmoil For Byron and the Shelleys, their stay by the lake would serve to immortalize them in the annals of literary history But for Claire and Polidori, the Swiss sojourn would scar them forever. Read The Poet and the Vampyre By Andrew McConnell Stott – kino-fada.fr Fascinating read I knew so little about John Polidori and Lord Byron s mistress Claire who was Mary Shelley s half sister They both have been sort of left out of the narrative of Byron and Percy Shelley Both rather tragic figures b... Thrilling InspiredPlease Did the reviewers actually READ this book Informative, yes Interesting, yes Thrilling Hardly.I can tell you that Andrew McConnell Stott, the author ofThe Poet and the Vampyrecertainly is a reader He must have read every scribble in the copious letters, journals, and other literaria produced by the literary icons traveling through this narrative He insists on taking us to every village, and down every twisting path and pigtrail Byron and his physician, John Thrilling InspiredPlease Did the reviewers actually READ this book Informative, yes Interesting, yes Thrilling Hardly.I can tell you that Andrew McConnell Stott, the author ofThe Poet and the Vampyrecertainly is a reader He must have read every scribble in the copious letters, journals, and other literaria produced by the literary icons traveling through this narrative He insists on taking us to every village, and down every twisting path and pigtrail Byron and his physician, John Polidori traverse traveling to Geneva where they join Percy Shelley, his mistress Mary and her step sister Claire Clairmont, engage in literary and sexual dalliances and then travel onand onand onA little less tramping would make the book muchpalatable.I ve had the theory that Lord Byron was the author of Fr...I really enjoyed this book, but then again, I have a strange fascination with the Romantic period I never can figure out why so many women went insane for Byron and Shelley, but then again, Justin Beiber so I read all the books I can find about these people, just looking for some clue These men were SUCH jerks, it absolutely baffles me, why intelligent women would LITERALLY throw themselves at them The other amusing this is this There is nothing new under the sun Free Love, Communism I really enjoyed this book, but then again, I have a strange fascination with the Romantic period I never can figure out why so many women went insane for Byron and Shelley, but then again, Justin Beiber so I read all the books I can find about these people, just looking for some clue These men were SUCH jerks, it absolutely baffles me, why intelligent women would LITERALLY throw themselves at them The other amusing this is this There is nothing new under the sun Free Love, Communism, etc I keep flashing forward to other daring ages, those of the sixties, and these of the progressive and modern hipster Look, sunshine, it s been done before and with wayflash and drama than you could ever dream of I enjoyed reading about the poor Polidori, also I only have one teeny complaint I didn t love the way it was laid out I had to keep flipping back ...how could the birth of gothic horror in literature in the 19th century be anything other than fascinatingVampyres have been around for centuries if not millennia Traditionally they were portrayed as decaying corpses come to life only to drink blood and then hide back in their grave John Polidori s story changed all that and the vampire became an aristocratic figure full of charm and seduction The birth of this new vampire coincided with the firth of a new kind of monster one created by man.John Polidori, who wrote, The Vampyre was trained traditionally to be a doctor Forced by his Italian im Vampyres have been around for centuries if not millennia Traditionally they were portrayed as decaying corpses come to life only to drink blood and then hide back in their grave John Polidori s story changed all that and the vampire became an aristocratic figure full of charm and seduction The birth of this new vampire coincided with the firth of a new kind of monster one created by man.John Polidori, who wrote, The Vampyre was trained traditionally to be a doctor Forced by his Italian immigrant father to study medicine, the London born John first studied in Amplworth ...Funny story This book was on the fiction shelf at my local library I started reading it, and found myself trying to wrap my mind around the story as fiction because, while the author s style was entertaining,it just didn t quite read like a proper novel Then I wised up and realized that I was reading a biography And, a good one Poets Alfred Lord Byron, John Polidori and Percy Bysshe Shelley were the bad boys of the early 19th century, followed passionately by their groupie girlfriends and h Funny story This book was on the fiction shelf ...Three things you never want to tell people how they re made laws, sausages, and classic monster novels That sums up my experience with Andrew McConnell Stott s book The Poet and the Vampyre I suspect many of us interested in this topic like to imagine Lord Byron et al gathered in a gothic castle on the coast of Lake Geneva during a midnight storm The snowy Alps tower over them Bathed in candlelight the Romantics sit rapt as, if by revelation, the thrilling character of Frankenstein s Monste Three things you never want to tell people how they re made laws, sausages, and classic monster novels That sums up my experience with Andrew McConnell Stott s book The Poet and the Vamp...Either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on why one picks up the book, there is very little here about the writing of Frankenstein or The Vampyre Indeed, the Villa Diodati incident s are barely discussed This is why a book that is well written and exceedingly well researched receives a low score from me the description lead me to believe the opposite would be true in both cases Scott s aim, rather, is to explore the lives of those who live near to fame, and to see what that nearness d Either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on why one picks up the book, there is very little here about the writing of Frankenstein or The Vampyre Indeed, the Villa Diodati incident s are barely discussed This is why a book that is well written and exceedingly well researched receives a low score from me the description lead me to believe the opposite would be true in both cases Scott s aim, rat...I wanted to like this book I really, really did want to like it as I read, and mostly enjoy, nineteenth century Gothic literature and books about the genre This book, however, tantalized about how it would be about the Swiss retreat which led to the creation of some of the defining literature for the genre, Mary Shelley s Frankenstein and John Polidori s The Vampyre What it actually turned out to be is a cross between tedious travelogue and a biography of Lord Byron Byron is the principal fo I wanted to like this book I really, really did want to like it as I read, and mostly enjoy, nineteenth century Gothic literature and books about the genre This book, however, tantalized about how it would be about the Swiss retreat which led to the creation of some of the defining literature for the genre, Mary Shelley s Frankenstein and John Polidori s The Vampyre What it actually turned out to be is a cross between tedious travelogue and a bi...While I m only 3 quarters of the way though, I m pretty sure this volume isn t going to change gears at this point A sober exploration of the famous and fascinating entourage of romantics that helped spawn Mary Shelley s Frankenstein as well as Byron s Childe Harold Perhaps most interesting here is the story of good Doctor P., a physician who accompanies Byron on his travels and is generally the odd man out among this group of flawed luminaries You re either interested in this milieu or you r While I m only 3 quarters of the way though, I m pretty sure this volume isn t going to change gears at this point A sober exploration of the famous and fascinating entourage of romantics that helped spawn Mary Shelley s Frankenstein as well as Byron s Childe Harold Perhaps most ...

20 September 2018

Andrew McConnell Stott