Aubrey, an orphaned young gentleman in possession of a large fortune arrives in London for the season where he meets the mysterious Lord Ruthven. Aubrey befriends Lord Ruthven and upon discovering that Lord Ruthven is planning a trip to Europe decides to take his grand tour at the same time and travel with him. The longer Aubrey is with Ruthven the more he discovers about him. He decides to distance himself from Ruthven but is he already too late to save all that he holds dear from the thirst of the vampire?
Although Polidori is the author of "The Vampyre," the original story idea is not his own. It came about during a gathering of writers, including Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, while Dr. Polidori was serving as Byron's traveling physician. In June of 1816, the authors, trapped inside due to bad weather, challenged each other to write ghost stories. Mary Shelley's story developed into the novel Frankenstein, while Polidori's own fragment became his novel Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus, published in 1819. Lord Byron wrote a short fragment about vampires, a subject which he had already explored in his poem The Giaour, one of the earliest pieces of fiction to address those mythic creatures. Whether or not he told the rest of the story to the others is unclear, but Byron abandoned the fragment. Soon after, Polidori was dismissed, and, at the request of a friend in Geneva, he expanded the concepts in Byron's fragment into a complete short story.
“The Vampyre” was published in the April 1819 issue of New Monthly Magazine as “The Vampyre: A Tale by Lord Byron.” The misattribution was intentional; the publishers wished to increase sales by taking advantage of Byron’s popularity. Polidori, who had never intended the story for publication, was shocked.
Lord Ruthven, was the most well-known image of vampires until Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897.
Although Polidori is the author of "The Vampyre," the original story idea is not his own. It came about during a gathering of writers, including Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, while Dr. Polidori was serving as Byron's traveling physician. In June of 1816, the authors, trapped inside due to bad weather, challenged each other to write ghost stories. Mary Shelley's story developed into the novel Frankenstein, while Polidori's own fragment became his novel Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus, published in 1819. Lord Byron wrote a short fragment about vampires, a subject which he had already explored in his poem The Giaour, one of the earliest pieces of fiction to address those mythic creatures. Whether or not he told the rest of the story to the others is unclear, but Byron abandoned the fragment. Soon after, Polidori was dismissed, and, at the request of a friend in Geneva, he expanded the concepts in Byron's fragment into a complete short story.
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| John William Polidori(F. G. Gainsford, 1816) |
Lord Ruthven, was the most well-known image of vampires until Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897.
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