19th Century
A01=John William Polidori
Author_John William Polidori
Category=FBC
Category=FK
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Product details
- ISBN 9781857547870
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 135 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 25 Aug 2005
- Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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John Polidori (1795-1821) is a fascinating but always shadowy figure of Romanticism, an impetuous, sensitive writer of fierce talent. His encounter with Byron, Shelley and their circle has contributed both to his fame and notoriety on the one hand, and to his neglect on the other: he is too often known only at second-hand through the recollections of his famous friends.
That encounter with Byron, Shelley et al was the inspiration for his most celebrated work, the influential and still compelling tale of The Vampyre (1819). With this story, Polidori created a figure of seductive evil who continues to exert a powerful hold over literature and popular culture. The Vampyre alone would confirm Polidori's importance within the Gothic tradition. This collection also makes available many of the Polidori's lesser-known works, showing him to be a resourceful, sensitive writer whose literary career was cut short by his early death. Polidori's medical thesis on the subject of nightmares, his essay 'Upon the Source of Positive Pleasure' and his Gothic novel The Modern Oedipus (both included in full), his poetry, diaries and letters, illuminate the context in which The Vampyre was written and deepen our understanding of Romanticism and the Gothic. Many of these works have rarely, if ever, been republished since the nineteenth century.
That encounter with Byron, Shelley et al was the inspiration for his most celebrated work, the influential and still compelling tale of The Vampyre (1819). With this story, Polidori created a figure of seductive evil who continues to exert a powerful hold over literature and popular culture. The Vampyre alone would confirm Polidori's importance within the Gothic tradition. This collection also makes available many of the Polidori's lesser-known works, showing him to be a resourceful, sensitive writer whose literary career was cut short by his early death. Polidori's medical thesis on the subject of nightmares, his essay 'Upon the Source of Positive Pleasure' and his Gothic novel The Modern Oedipus (both included in full), his poetry, diaries and letters, illuminate the context in which The Vampyre was written and deepen our understanding of Romanticism and the Gothic. Many of these works have rarely, if ever, been republished since the nineteenth century.
JOHN WILLIAM POLIDORI was born in 1795 into a distinguished Anglo-Italian family.He was educated at Ampleforth College and the University of Edinburgh, where in 1815 he was awarded a degree of doctor of medicine, at the age of nineteen.In 1816 Polidori entered Lord Byron's service as his personal physician, accompanying him on his travels through Europe.It was while staying with Mary Wollstonecraft, Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont at Byron's rented house by Lake Geneva, that Polidori began to write the famous work, The Vampyre.The novel was published in 1819, originally attributed to Byron.Polidori and Byron parted company later in 1816; for a time Polidori continued to travel through Europe alone, before returning to England in 1817.He settled in Norwich, where for some years he practised as a doctor and pursued his literary career, until a serious accident damaged his health and made it impossible for him to work.On 21 August 1821 he died at the family home in London after accidentally taking poison. Franklin Bishop is the author of Polidori! A Life of Dr. John Polidori (1991), Selected Works of John Polidori (1991), and numerous articles on Gothic and Romantic literary figures. A freelance journalist and writer, he is also a tutor for the University of Nottingham, Continuing Education Department.
