Description

Book Synopsis
In 1816, John William Polidori travelled to Geneva as Byron’s personal physician; there he met Mary and Percy Shelley and took part in the most famous house party in literary history. To pass the time in ‘a wet, ungenial summer,’ the travellers took to writing ghost stories. Byron wrote his Faustian drama Manfred (1817); Mary Shelley wrote her masterpiece, Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus (1818). Polidori appropriated an unfished story by Byron and turned it into the The Vampyre (1819). Polidori’s tale, with its nightmarish atmosphere and seductive, aristocratic villain, was a scandalous success; the fact that it was originally published, without Polidori’s knowledge, under Byron’s name, didn’t hurt. All the most famous vampires of popular culture, from Stoker’s Dracular to Anne Rice’s Lestat, descend from Polidori’s Byronic prototype.
Polidori also contributed an original novel to

The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold Or The Modern Oedipus

    Product form

    £21.59

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £2,399.00 – you save £2,377.41 (99%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Fri 3 Jul 2026.

    A Paperback by D.L. Macdonald, Kathleen Scherf

      Trusted by thousands of customers. See 2,385+ Customer Reviews

      View other formats and editions of The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold Or The Modern Oedipus by D.L. Macdonald

      Publisher: University of Toronto Press
      Publication Date: 1/28/1994 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN13: 9780802074652, 978-0802074652
      ISBN10: 0802074650
      Also in:
      Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      In 1816, John William Polidori travelled to Geneva as Byron’s personal physician; there he met Mary and Percy Shelley and took part in the most famous house party in literary history. To pass the time in ‘a wet, ungenial summer,’ the travellers took to writing ghost stories. Byron wrote his Faustian drama Manfred (1817); Mary Shelley wrote her masterpiece, Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus (1818). Polidori appropriated an unfished story by Byron and turned it into the The Vampyre (1819). Polidori’s tale, with its nightmarish atmosphere and seductive, aristocratic villain, was a scandalous success; the fact that it was originally published, without Polidori’s knowledge, under Byron’s name, didn’t hurt. All the most famous vampires of popular culture, from Stoker’s Dracular to Anne Rice’s Lestat, descend from Polidori’s Byronic prototype.
      Polidori also contributed an original novel to

      Recently viewed products

      © 2026 Book Curl

        • American Express
        • Apple Pay
        • Diners Club
        • Discover
        • Google Pay
        • Maestro
        • Mastercard
        • PayPal
        • Shop Pay
        • Union Pay
        • Visa

        Login

        Forgot your password?

        Don't have an account yet?
        Create account