1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816.
ReplyDeleteInitially what I managed to find out about that fateful summer in 1816 happened from the 10th of June to 1st of November 1816. Lord Byron had rented the Villa Diodati which lay near the shore of Lake Genva in Cologny. The group in which stayed at this Villa happened to be Percy Shelly (23 year old poet), his future wife Mary Godwin (18 year old) and Claire Clairmont (Mary’s 18 years old stepsister), John Polidori (Byron’s 20 year old publisher), and Lord Byron. The tale happened to have been on a cold and stormy rain, in which Mary had described it to be “incessant rain”. This happened during the month of June which kept the group indoors in the Villa Diodati over three days. To my knowledge and what I had managed to find about this tale, they turned to reading fantastical stories before deciding to create short novels. Mary Shelly initially released a novel called “Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus” which was published in 1818. The novel “The Vampyre” was released in 1819 written by John Polidori, described to be a horror short story.
To my understanding, what had happened in the summer of 1816 lead to the creation of two greatest horror tales. What I found to be creepy was that all the men that was a part of this group had dead within the 8 years. John Polidori had dead from suicide, Percy Shelly from drowning in Italy and Byron from an illness he caught on his adventures. Mary Shelly had lived onto 1851, she had regarded herself to be the “companion of the dead.. for all were gone: even my young child, storm, and blight and death had passed over, and destroyed all”. Based on the research that I have conducted, she was the last one from the group that had lived after that fateful night. She would have been 53 years of age when she dead. She had suffered from headaches and paralysis in different parts of her body which prevented her from reading and writing, and dead in 1851 from what was assumed to be a brain tumour.
There is also a film directed by Ken Russel called Gothic released in 1986 which tells the tale about what happened that fateful summer of 1816. These poets and writers all contributed towards the movement of the romantics period. In todays society there has been many media which is created from these short horror novels. Some of these examples include: Roger Corman: Frankenstein Unbound (1990), Benjamin Ross & Barry Langford: The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015), Stuart Beattie: I, Frankenstein (2014) Stephanie Meya: Twilight (2005) and Jesus Franco: Count Dracula (1970). The initially short stories published has created fictional characters which has been adapted and changed to entertain people of all ages.
Reference:
Jackson, K. (2016). The haunted summer of 1816. Retrieved from https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/sumer-1816-frankenstein-shelley-byron-villa-diodati
A good, full account, although you miss the volcano eruption which affected the weather and must have given the whole event a very Gothic feel!
Delete2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816…
ReplyDelete1816 became known as The year without Summer. The reason being was caused by the April 1815 eruption of Mount Tamboro in Indonesia. Ash from the eruption polluted the air and covered the sun causing increasing rainfall and decreasing temperatures. Thus cancelling Summer for the following year. This however offered the perfect framework for two of the best horror tales.
In May 1816, a group of English travellers arrived in Switzerland. Among this group included Percy Shelley, a 23-year-old writer; Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Shelly’s 18-year-old-mistress; William, their 4th-month-old son; and Godwin’s younger step-sister Clare Clairmont. After travelling for 10-days from London and suffering from travel sickness, emotional troubles, and financial troubles, the group checked into the ‘Hotel d’Angleterre’. It was here that Shelly met Lord Byron. Byron had too travelled from London and had been accompanied by his physician Dr. Pollidori.
After a short period of time after having met each other, both Shelly and Byron vacated their hotel and moved into two properties close by; a chalet called Montalegre (accommodating Shelly and co.), and a large porticoed house called Villa Diodati (accommodating Byron and co.).
Many days were spent in Villa Diodati by Byron, Shelly, and the other travelling companions. Due to many days spent indoors because of the tumultuous weather, Lord Byron suggested that the group each write a ghost story. The inspiration of writing ghost stories came from a collection of German horrors stories titled Fantasmagoriana.
By now sexual tensions had arose in the Villa. Polidori had grown fond of Godwin who did not reciprocate the same interest in return, and Clairmont’s infatuation with Byron showed no signs of dying down.
During their time in the villa, Godwin had a nightmare that sparked the inspiration of Frankenstein. Godwin later described the nightmare that created famous monster in the 1831 preface of Frankenstein:
“Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had gone by before we retired to rest. When I placed my head on my pillow I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think. My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie. I saw – with shut eyes, but acute mental vision – I saw the pale student of the unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion …”
During those same days, Clairmont fell pregnant with Byron’s child, who at first, refused to accept the baby as his own. He also fell into nasty arguments with Polidori which in turn strained their relationship. Polidori soon left the Villa and began working on The Vampyre. Before long, readers noticed how the villain of Polidori’s novel, Lord Rethven resembled Lord Byron. Readers believed that the character, Lord Rethven was inspired by Lord Byron. Others considered it to be an accurate representation of Byron’s mischievous escapades. Whatever the case, the events that occurred in the Villa Diodati during the summer of 1816, resulted in two of the greatest horror stories ever written.
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Reference List:
Jackson, K., (2016, May 17). The Haunted Summer of 1816. Prospect. Retrieved from https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
Buzwell, G., (n.d.). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and the Villa Diodati. British Library. Retrieved from https://www.bl.uk/
Excellent answer. I like the way you have used the quote.
DeleteGood job Sela! I enjoyed reading this and the research that you conducted in order to find out what happened that fateful night in 1816 and the outcome of it. What I found interesting in what you wrote was the in-depth analysis on what happened. What I want to know is your thoughts on how this has impacted present day and modernism in terms of the events that has taken place.
ReplyDeleteHi Ilene, I think that the character of Frankenstein has become an icon in the horror genre and has influenced pop culture for a century inspiring films, television shows and video games such as the ones you have listed in your first post.
ReplyDeleteThe Vampyre,is noted as the pioneer of vampire romance novels. It too has had an influence on present day's pop culture. Most notably, in Stephanie Myers Twilight series, which in turn reignited the vampire craze for our generation and sparked a cult following.
Its interesting that the traditional roles of these iconic characters has been developed and recreated to capture the interest of our generations, like Stephanie Myers Twilight series, the vampires seem to have certain attributes that traditional vampries don't acquire. things like super powers, good vampires and sparkling in daylight. All these do not associate with traditional vampires, But from the series, it seems that by recreating these fictional characters, it has became a huge part of todays generation.
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ReplyDelete4. Discuss links between the Villa Diodati “brat-pack” and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts
ReplyDeleteGothic horror was developed in the 1700’s, which combines elements of horror and romance. Its birth as a modern genre came at the end of the 18th century and in the beginning of the 19th. During the summer of 1816, a group of young writers spent the summer together in the Villa Diodati in Switzerland. They challenged each other to write a horror story, which in turn would produce some of the most influential pieces in the modern gothic genre. The group was known as the “brat-pack”, made up of Lord Byron, his publisher John Polidori, the poet Percy Shelly and his mistress Mary Godwin, as well as Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont.
The summer of 1816 was known as “the year without a summer”, because volcanic ash covered the sky, creating a constant dark cover and heavy rainfall. This played a key role in the development of this genre, because “gothic fiction places heavy emphasis on atmosphere, using setting and dictation to build suspense and a sense of unease in the reader.”(Mansell) The setting in many of the texts written during this time was dark and gloomy, which brought a depth to the elements of horror and suspense. The dark and cold weather was what sparked the idea to write horror stories, and in turn give rise to the modern gothic genre.
The two pieces that have played major roles in shaping the Gothic genre are Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, and The Vampyre by John Polidori. These writers were influenced by the Romantic Movement, which focused on invoking strong emotions to its readers. Combining this style with a dark and gloomy atmosphere for their horror stories, “the novels were written to conjure up images of mysterious, decaying old buildings where dark secrets had laid hidden for hundreds of years. Gothic writers loved the imagery of an old castle, a place of decaying grandeur, once full of life and validity, but now seeped in decay. They described castles as being filled with memories of life gone by; and marked by death.”(Mansell)
The modern Gothic genre has widely expanded, with a large audience looking to be entertained with the thrill and suspense horror has to offer; “…the Gothic creates feelings of gloom, mystery, and suspense and tends to be dramatic and the sensational.”(Mansell) There have been thousands of pieces that have stemmed from these two stories, such as Edward Scissorhands and The Twilight Saga, to name a few. The main character Edward, in Edward Scissorhands, is a mysterious character who lives alone in an abandoned mansion on top of a hill. The story has elements from Frankenstein, in which Edward was a creation, and is seen by the citizens of the town as a monster. The Twilight Saga has elements from The Vampyre, and includes characters that are vampires and werewolves. It is also set in Seattle, Washington, specifically for the constant cloud cover, which adds to the sense of gloom and mystery; and is a similar setting to the summer of 1816, showing how this was a major influencer on the genre. These two pieces are examples of how this genre has expanded and developed on original concepts and elements from the first texts written in the modern Gothic genre, such as Frankenstein and The Vampyre.
Works Cited
Mansell, Article By: Val. "The Birth of Gothic Horror and Beyond." Booksie. N.p., 28 Apr. 2013. Web. 13 May 2017. .