The Vampyre: 1819 (Revolution and Romanticism, 1789-1834) [Paperback]

John William Polidori (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2001 | Series: Revolution and Romanticism, 1789-1834

A young Englishman traveling on the Continent with the mysterious Lord Rutven comes to realize that his companion is an evil and murderous vampire.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

About the Author:

"John William Polidori (7 September 1795 - 24 August 1821) was an Italian English physician and writer, known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction.

Polidori was the oldest son of Gaetano Polidori, an Italian political emigre scholar, and Anna Maria Pierce, a governess. He had three brothers and four sisters.

He was one of the earliest pupils at recently established Ampleforth College from 1804, and in 1810 went up to the University of Edinburgh, where he wrote a thesis on sleepwalking and received his degree as a doctor of medicine on 1 August 1815 at the age of 19.

In 1816 Dr. Polidori entered Lord Byron's service as his personal physician, and accompanied Byron on a trip through Europe. At the Villa Diadoti, a house Byron rented by Lake Geneva in Switzerland, the pair met with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, and her husband-to-be, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their companion (Mary's step-sister) Claire Clairmont.

One night in June, after the company had read aloud from the Tales of the Dead, a collection of horror tales, Byron suggested that they each write a ghost story. Mary Shelley worked on a tale that would later evolve into Frankenstein. Byron wrote (and quickly abandoned) a fragment of a story, which Polidori used later as the basis for his own tale, The Vampyre, the first vampire story published in English.

Rather than use the crude, bestial vampire of folklore as a basis for his story, Polidori based his character on Byron. Polidori named the character "Lord Ruthven" as a joke. The name was originally used in Lady Caroline Lamb's novel Glenarvon, in which a thinly-disguised Byron figure was also named Lord Ruthven.

Polidori's Lord Ruthven was not only the first vampire in English fiction, but was also the first fictional vampire in the form we recognize today - an aristocratic fiend who preys among high society.

Dismissed by Byron, Polidori travelled in Italy and then returned to England. His story, "The Vampyre", was published in the April 1819 issue of New Monthly Magazine without his permission, whilst in London he lived and died in Great Pulteney Street (Soho). Much to both his and Byron's chagrin, "The Vampyre"..." (Quote from wikipedia.org) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 84 pages
• Publisher: Woodstock Books; Facsimile of 1819 ed edition (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1854772562
• ISBN-13: 978-1854772565
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,724,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First vampire book I ever read..., June 16, 2003

By 

Melody of your Demise (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vampyre (Fleshcreepers) (Paperback)

Well i must say that this book was given to me when i was like 8 yrs old, i read the book and have been hooked ever since on horror books especially vampire books and it's more than 10 yrs later and i still read this book! I give it 5 stars because this is a great book for young readers that want to start reading horror or vampire books..

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From a great mind not truly appreciated, November 16, 2009

By 

Daniel Wild (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Vampyre (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)

Probably more legend surrounds the writing of this novella than the actual story itself. Polidori never received more than a few pounds, but the Vampire was translated into over seven languages and adapted for a play on the continent. Goethe cheekily says that it was the best thing Byron ever wrote!

However much this might be based on Byron's fragment, Polidori wrote it at the behest of a patroness after leaving Byron's service. Polidori had been teased and ostracised by Byron and the Shelleys. He himself was volatile and had probably had enough of being called Pollydolly.

The Vampire was published without poor Polly's permission, and under Byron's name. It sold like hotcakes. The mixture of melodrama and intrigue delighted the public and began our modern obsession with vampires which just won't die. Yes, there's the cliche of the innocent woman, Ianthe, getting seduced by the mysterious stranger, and her relation's slow unravelling of the danger. But it was Polidori's modelling of the Vampire on his ex-employer that has given this book longevity and made it a genre setter.

The Vampire is written quite well - the prose may be over-flowery but Mary Shelley's Frankenstein suffers from the same. The unravelling of the story as Lord Ruthven (pronounced Riven) takes the protganists further into his confidences, and the amusing ending, make it worth a read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Destruction of innocence, June 15, 2010

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Vampyre (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)

"The Vampyre" has a pretty impressive pedigree -- it was first dreamed up on the same legendary night as Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and the title character is based on Lord Byron (who actually got credited for the story). In fact, the history of Dr. John Polidori's short story is more fascinating than the story itself, a brief purple-prosed tale of innocence destroyed and a sinister aristocratic vampire.

A very naive, romantic young man named Aubrey becomes acquainted with a mysterious aristocrat named Lord Ruthven, and decides to go on a tour of Europe with him. But he soon discovers that Ruthven isn't the idealized romantic figure he thought -- he's cruel, depraved and has a corrupting influence on everyone he gets involved with.

Aubrey soon abandons Ruthven and flees to Greece, where he falls in love with a beautiful peasant girl -- only to have her die from a vampiric attack, followed by Ruthven being killed by bandits. Even more shocking, Ruthven reappears in London -- alive and well -- when Aubrey returns, and he has some spectacularly sinister plans in mind for Aubrey's sister.

The main character may be a vampire, but Polidori's story is less of a horror story and more of a study of innocence's destruction. Not only does Ruthven apparently wreck the morals of everyone he becomes close to (although we're never told how), but even the pure-hearted Aubrey turns into a glassy-eyed crazy wreck because of Ruthven.

Writingwise, I hope Polidori was a better doctor than he was a writer. His writing isn't BAD, but he tends to ramble in a purple, prim, distant style -- it feels like the entire story is a summary of someone else's novel, and he skims over the most interesting stuff like Ruthven's actual cruelty or his wooing of Aubrey's sister. But he does give the story an atmosphere of taut suspense especially when Aubrey is trying to escape Ruthven.

Ruthven (based on Byron) is a fairly fascinating character since he was the first aristocratic, elegant, attractive vampire that anybody knows of -- he's not just a monster, but a smart one who manipulates others to get the prize. We don't know whether he corrupts and murders because he's a vampire or whether he's just an evil manipulator, but strangely it makes him all the more fascinating.

"The Vampyre" has the distinction of being the first story involving an aristocratic, attractive vampire, and Lord Ruthven is a fascinating villain despite Polidori's clunky writing. Worth a read, if nothing else for the insights.