The Merciful Women [Hardcover]

Federico Andahazi (Author), Alberto Manguel (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2000

The second novel from the best-selling Argentine author of The Anatomist, The Merciful Women is a brilliant retelling of the birth of the Gothic novel. In the summer of 1816, Percy and Mary Shelley, Mary's sister, and Lord Byron hid themselves away in a Swiss villa, whiling away rainy afternoons with the Gothic novel contest that would produce Frankenstein. Andahazi's reimagining focuses on the fifth competitor: John Polidori, Byron's manservant, a talent-less hack resentful of the ease of his master's life. Through a Faustian pact with an unseen intercessant, Polidori obtains the most compelling vampire story ever written. But "The Vampyre" has striking similarities to Polidori's benefactor and to what she asks of him in return. Opium, erotica, and decadence meld into a sly and stylish novel about literary ambition, talent, and inspiration.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Argentine writer Andahazi (The Anatomist) fictionalizes, tongue in cheek, the legendary beginnings of the gothic novel in this slender, winningly erudite volume. In the Swiss Alps, where Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley, Mary's stepsister and Lord Byron live in the summer of 1816, the writers contend with the ambitions of John Polidori, Byron's gloomy secretary, who winds up shocking everyone with the first masterful gothic tale, The Vampyre, but only because he's struck a Faustian deal with a devilish woman. Arch, but never smug or precious, Andahazi's tale centers on the disgruntled Polidori, a brooding, self- important scrap of a man who feels "a delicious pleasure in self-pity," and whose foul mood only improves when he receives a strange series of missives, penned by an enigmatic pariah who refers to herself as Annette Legrand. Readers swiftly learn that Annette is a hideously misshapen but preternaturally intelligent freak of nature, formed from the membranous excrescence that linked her two sisters, Colette and Babette, in utero. Vampirishly dependent upon "the essential fluid that only... men possess," Annette has heretofore relied upon her gorgeous sisters' seductions to provide her with sustenance. Now desperate for the "elixir" that her aging siblings can no longer easily obtain, Annette suggests a bizarre arrangement to the ambitious, fame-seeking Polidori: if he provides her with his seed, she will provide him with an unpublished manuscript of rare depth and inventiveness, which he can pass off as his own creation. Written entirely in a cleverly modulated mock-Gothic style, encompassing references from Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold-Bug to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Andahazi's well-researched tale succeeds as an elegant, clever deconstruction of authorship, imagination and the writing process. This is a short, tricky novel, peopled almost exclusively by broadly limned caricatures and with a plot hinging on a few well-placed double-crosses. As a piece of mock-scholarly, wickedly ironic entertainment, it is an utter delight. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Andahazi, the best-selling Argentine author of The Anatomist, brings his readers another raucous exploration of sensuality and sexuality. The framing characters are familiar enough: Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley, and Mary's stepsister are spending summer 1816 in a Swiss villa, where each vies to write the best vampire story. But the most terrifying story is not of any of these brilliant writers but of John Polidori, Byron's resentful secretary, who makes a pact of sorts with the devil in order to achieve his literary ambitions. Poor Polidori, of course, gains neither fame nor fortune but descends into orgies, opium, and madness. Andahazi's adult tale of literary creation is as darkly humorous and grim as any early 19th-century Gothic novel. This translation of Las Piadosas is appropriate for large collections.DMary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802116744
• ISBN-13: 978-0802116741
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,877,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dark, ironic parody of the Gothic genre...., April 23, 2003

By 

Loxy (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Merciful Women (Paperback)

On a dark stormy night, a group of people holidaying by Lake Geneva gather to read out their stories. It is a competition devised by the dashing Lord Byron, to see who can write the most horrific and terrifying story... one of these people is Mary Shelley....

This book is a fantastic parody of the Gothic genre; the dark stormy nights, the mysterious castle and the heaving,storm-tossed lake... all in all, a tremendous read for anyone who enjoys Gothic tales or their parodies. Although sometimes graphic, the story is gripping and the elements of historical truth are enough to keep you interested right up to the thrilling and unexpected end. The book is filled with dark irony, and the intertextual references to the Gothic genre and the creation of that monstrous, classic tale Frankenstien, are witty and clever, but the book can be enjoyed on many levels. I would highly recommend this book, and have bought multiple copies for all of my friends.

1.0 out of 5 stars I found out why this book was on sale, January 31, 2009

By 

A. M. Hofman-frethem (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Merciful Women (Paperback)

I picked this book up, as it was on sale, and the synopsis sounded interesting. Some of my favorite writers, stormy nights in Geneva, it sounded right up my alley.

Very quickly, I found it wasn't. Byron, the Shelleys, and Claire were only barely relevant to the plot. They were simply a ploy to beef up a lackluster story. The tale centered around awkwardly written sex scenes, and not much else. They don't do much to further the story, and the overall plot is weak at best. It may have fared better as a short story rather than a novella, giving it a chance to be entertaining rather than tedious.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun book for those who enjoy mock-Gothic writing and literary mysteries, August 1, 2008

By 

Handee Books, LLC (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Merciful Women (Hardcover)

Set during the legendary period that inspired Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to write "Frankenstein", Federico Andahazi's "The Merciful Women" uses as its central character John Polidori, the neurotic, despised secretary and personal physician to Lord Byron. One dark and stormy night a challenge is issued by Byron to his three guests, Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont: write an effective supernatural tale. Though he is not invited to participate, the despised Polidori, longing to belong to the group, takes up the challenge. This challenge is made easier when Annette Legrand, the hideous and secret third member of the theatrical Legrand Sisters, offers to provide Polidori with an original manuscript she guarantees will ensure his literary immortality. But, of course, Polidori must provide something in return.

"The Merciful Women" is a fun book for those who enjoy mock-Gothic writing and literary mysteries. It has moments of true horror (some not for the squeamish), but it all leads up to an ironic ending.