The Poet and the Vampyre

June 16, 2014
Stott’s chronicle of Lord Byron and his circle concerns itself exhaustively with their itineraries and entanglements—less so with their literary works. In 1816, following the collapse of “Byromania” in the wake of his broken marriage, Byron crosses the Channel in the company of his physician, John Polidori. While abroad, the poet and the doctor encounter Percy Bysshe Shelley, Shelley’s wife-to-be, Mary Godwin, and Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont. The party lingers in picturesque spots, and readers learn of their erotic intrigues and the jostling of their Romantic egos; the momentous literary consequences of their European vacation, however, receive less consideration. The novels Frankenstein and The Vampyre, written by Mary Shelley and Polidori respectively, were prompted by the “ghost story contest” set by Byron one night in Geneva. Stott (The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi) observes this occasion and gives updates on the drafting processes and practicalities of publication (or, in Polidori’s case, piracy), but his discussion of the novels themselves, which gave birth to “literature’s greatest monsters,” is cursory. Though the book successfully draws attention to two figures—Polidori and Clairmont—who have been overshadowed by their more illustrious companions, it can scarcely be described as literary scholarship. As a popular history, however, it’s certainly engaging. 16 pages of color and b&w photos. Agent: Ben Mason, Fox Mason.

September 15, 2014

Stott (English, director, Honors Coll., associate dean for undergraduate education, State Univ. of New York Univ. at Buffalo; The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi) explores several core manuscript collections to piece together the travels and travails of several early 19th-century authors and poets such as John William Polidori, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Lord Byron as well as the myriad love interests that entered and exited their lives primarily between 1816 and 1822. Stott's examination of letters, manuscripts, and diaries reveals these authors and their pseudoattempts to live the dissenting cultural ideas of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Stott's Byron and Shelley are particularly complicated in that they claim to pursue freedom and free love, but they live off family money and their love interests are all tinged with pain. The narrative sheds light using Polidori's diary and a series of missives, as well as interviews collected by those who knew people around these writers. From these sources, readers get a perspective on the origin of the short story The Vampyre, supposedly written by Polidori during these years with Byron, Shelley, and Mary Shelley--even while the latter was crafting another icon of horror, Frankenstein. Stott's work deftly brings together aspects of the culture of poetic fame and the writing life of these renowned authors. VERDICT A dramatic literary history ideal for readers interested in Romantic-era writing as well as stories mixed with sensation.--Jesse A. Lambertson, Metamedia Management, LLC, Washington, DC

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.