200 years since the dreary summer that gave birth to literary monsters
October 7, 2016 12:31 PM Subscribe
Just before sunset on April 5, 1815, a massive explosion shook the volcanic island of Sumbawa in the Indonesian archipelago. This destroyed the village of Tambora, erasing the unique culture, and changed world history (previously, more). Among the impacts, a small group of authors and creative types holed up in the Villa Diodati in June of 1816 and wrote two iconic "monster" stories that set up the next two centuries of story telling. You can read the inspiration and subsequent works of Lord Byron, Mary Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairmont below the break.
Lord Byron stayed in the Villa Diodati from June 10 to November 1, 1816, where he was a short walk from Shelley's residence at Montalegre (Google books preview). But Byron didn't know the Shelleys before he arrived at Lake Geneva, in a replica of Napoleon's coach, with a bevy of footmen, his personal physician (an emotionally troubled young doctor with a bookish bent named John Polidori), a peacock, a monkey and a dog. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, had arranged the meeting of Byron and Shelley, with herself and her stepsister Mary as part of the group. Due to the earlier eruption of Mount Tambora in faraway Indonesia, Byron and his new friends were trapped indoors by "an almost perpetual rain" and wild lightning storms, where, as Mary Shelley later recounted,
After reading those stories, Lord Byron said "We will each write a ghost story," and so they did, or tried. Oddly, the two established writers proved less apt for the task than the two novices.
Lord Byron stayed in the Villa Diodati from June 10 to November 1, 1816, where he was a short walk from Shelley's residence at Montalegre (Google books preview). But Byron didn't know the Shelleys before he arrived at Lake Geneva, in a replica of Napoleon's coach, with a bevy of footmen, his personal physician (an emotionally troubled young doctor with a bookish bent named John Polidori), a peacock, a monkey and a dog. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, had arranged the meeting of Byron and Shelley, with herself and her stepsister Mary as part of the group. Due to the earlier eruption of Mount Tambora in faraway Indonesia, Byron and his new friends were trapped indoors by "an almost perpetual rain" and wild lightning storms, where, as Mary Shelley later recounted,
Some volumes of ghost stories, translated from the German into French, fell into our hands. There was the History of the Inconstant Lover, who, when he thought to clasp the bride to whom he had pledged his vows, found himself in the arms of the pale ghost of her whom he had deserted. There was the tale of the sinful founder of his race, whose miserable doom it was to bestow the kiss of death on all the younger sons of his fated house, just when they reached the age of promise. His gigantic, shadowy form, clothed like the ghost in Hamlet, in complete armour, but with the beaver up, was seen at midnight, by the moon's fitful beams, to advance slowly along the gloomy avenue. The shape was lost beneath the shadow of the castle walls; but soon a gate swung back, a step was heard, the door of the chamber opened, and he advanced to the couch of the blooming youths, cradled in healthy sleep. Eternal sorrow sat upon his face as he bent down and kissed the forehead of the boys, who from that hour withered like flowers snapt upon the stalk. I have not seen these stories since then; but their incidents are as fresh in my mind as if I had read them yesterday.The collection of stories they read was Fantasmagoriana; ou Recueil d'Histoires d'Apparitions, de Spectres, Revenans, Fantômes, &c. Traduit de l'allemand, par un Amateur, 2 vols. (Paris, 1812), anonymously published by Jean Baptiste Benoît Eyriès (1767-1846). The source material was a selection of eight German ghost stories:
- "L'Amour Muet" was from Johann Karl August Musäus' satirical retellings of traditional folk tales Volksmärchen der Deutschen (1786)
- "Portraits de Famille" was by Johann August Apel, first published in 1805, but reprinted in his anthology Cicaden (1810)
- La Chambre Grise" was by the highly popular author Heinrich Clauren, which had been parodied by Apel in one of his Gespensterbuch stories ("Die schwarze Kammer", translated as "La Chambre Noire"), and
- The remaining five stories ("La Tête de Mort," "La Morte Fiancée," "L'Heure Fatale," "Le Revenant" and "La Chambre Noire") were from the first two volumes of Apel and Laun's Gespensterbuch (1811).
After reading those stories, Lord Byron said "We will each write a ghost story," and so they did, or tried. Oddly, the two established writers proved less apt for the task than the two novices.
- Shelley tried to write something inspired by his childhood, but soon gave up, having produced "Fragment Of A Ghost Story," and
- Byron produced both the poem "Darkness," a post-apocalyptic tale of climate change, and Fragment of a Novel; the latter was published later as an attachment on Mazeppa (direct link to the story)
- Polidor based his novella, The Vampyre, on that fragment and fashioned the vampire on Byron himself, which elevated the monsters from being feral mud-caked creatures to the aristocratic fiend we imagine today
- Mary Godwin, after listening to Lord Byron and her future husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, discuss scientific theories of the day regarding re-animation of the dead, wrote the best remembered of the lot: Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus.
Everybody forgets about Krakatoa 535 CE and its epic consequences. There's one novel I know of that is about that experience, Dark of the Sun by CQ Yarbro. A good read.
posted by MovableBookLady at 12:54 PM on October 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by MovableBookLady at 12:54 PM on October 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
And sadly, there are still pundits who argue that what Mary Shelly wrote wasn't science fiction, and that it didn't influence the genre. They come up with all kinds of justifications, but it all boils down to that they can't stand that one of the progenitors of the genre was a woman.
posted by happyroach at 12:54 PM on October 7, 2016 [15 favorites]
posted by happyroach at 12:54 PM on October 7, 2016 [15 favorites]
I guess I'll be watching Ken Russell's Gothic again.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 1:03 PM on October 7, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 1:03 PM on October 7, 2016 [10 favorites]
"1816, The Year Without a Summer" is a favorite song of mine. Thank you for the post!
posted by Caduceus at 1:18 PM on October 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Caduceus at 1:18 PM on October 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
Has there ever been a novel that has been so thoroughly changed (in virtually all of its filmed versions) when it is depicted on the screen? Frankenstein is not a baron, he was not a doctor, he did not create the monster in a castle, he did not have an assistant, Igor. The monster could speak and made devilish sorts of arguments. He chased his monster from country to country and ended up in the Arctic.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:18 PM on October 7, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:18 PM on October 7, 2016 [6 favorites]
More context for Frankenstein: The Science of Life and Death in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Public Domain Review) -- Professor Sharon Ruston surveys the scientific background to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, considering contemporary investigations into resuscitation, galvanism, and the possibility of states between life and death.
This post was kicked off by watching a few episodes of The Frankenstein Chronicles, based in a fictional version of 19th century London, wherein William Blake and Mary Shelley are friends or associates, which seems to be part of the fiction in this particular alternate universe.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:45 PM on October 7, 2016 [4 favorites]
This post was kicked off by watching a few episodes of The Frankenstein Chronicles, based in a fictional version of 19th century London, wherein William Blake and Mary Shelley are friends or associates, which seems to be part of the fiction in this particular alternate universe.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:45 PM on October 7, 2016 [4 favorites]
Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein was mostly faithful to the novel up to including the ship's captain prologue. Unfortunately, it's not a very good movie.
posted by octothorpe at 1:46 PM on October 7, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 1:46 PM on October 7, 2016 [5 favorites]
Mary Godwin, after listening to Lord Byron and her future husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, discuss scientific theories of the day regarding re-animation of the dead
A not wholly untrue but somewhat unfortunate and misleading way of framing the inspirations and insights enabling a highly (if eccentrically) educated woman to write one of the most important novels in literary history.
posted by howfar at 1:54 PM on October 7, 2016 [6 favorites]
A not wholly untrue but somewhat unfortunate and misleading way of framing the inspirations and insights enabling a highly (if eccentrically) educated woman to write one of the most important novels in literary history.
posted by howfar at 1:54 PM on October 7, 2016 [6 favorites]
Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein
Actually, the correct name is Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein's Monster. Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein was the doctor.
posted by Copronymus at 2:00 PM on October 7, 2016 [22 favorites]
Actually, the correct name is Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein's Monster. Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein was the doctor.
posted by Copronymus at 2:00 PM on October 7, 2016 [22 favorites]
It's interesting to know that the pre-Branagh filmed versions were so inaccurate to the novel mostly because they weren't really trying to adapt the novel directly, so much as the stage version by Richard Brinsley Peake: "Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein" (1823). Peake was the one who first made the creature mute (but especially responsive to music); who introduced the comic Igor-type character (Peake names him "Fritz"); and who introduced the Gothic castle/laboratory setup (among other tropes).
posted by demonic winged headgear at 2:01 PM on October 7, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by demonic winged headgear at 2:01 PM on October 7, 2016 [5 favorites]
What an excellent post. Thanks, filthy light thief!
posted by lord_wolf at 2:17 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by lord_wolf at 2:17 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
A not wholly untrue but somewhat unfortunate and misleading way of framing the inspirations and insights enabling a highly (if eccentrically) educated woman to write one of the most important novels in literary history.
Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring into being the substance itself. ... Invention consists in the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject, and in the power of moulding and fashioning ideas suggested to it.posted by Gerald Bostock at 3:01 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's interesting to know that the pre-Branagh filmed versions were so inaccurate to the novel mostly because they weren't really trying to adapt the novel directly, so much as the stage version by Richard Brinsley Peake:
Yup. William St. Clair has pointed out that it would have taken some work to get your hands on Frankenstein the novel, as its various editions didn't stay in print for long; instead, everyone became familiar with the story from stage productions or chapbook adaptations.
And sadly, there are still pundits who argue that what Mary Shelly wrote wasn't science fiction
To make matters worse, there are the conspiracy theorists who think that Percy wrote it. (PBS did edit the novel and add material; you can see pre- and post-PBS Frankenstein in this edition.)
There are a couple of novels out there about Polidori: Paul West's Lord Byron's Doctor and Benjamin Markovits' Imposture (the latter the first in a trilogy about Byron). Peter Ackroyd's The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein posits that Victor was hanging out with the Shelleys and co. in 1815.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:52 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yup. William St. Clair has pointed out that it would have taken some work to get your hands on Frankenstein the novel, as its various editions didn't stay in print for long; instead, everyone became familiar with the story from stage productions or chapbook adaptations.
And sadly, there are still pundits who argue that what Mary Shelly wrote wasn't science fiction
To make matters worse, there are the conspiracy theorists who think that Percy wrote it. (PBS did edit the novel and add material; you can see pre- and post-PBS Frankenstein in this edition.)
There are a couple of novels out there about Polidori: Paul West's Lord Byron's Doctor and Benjamin Markovits' Imposture (the latter the first in a trilogy about Byron). Peter Ackroyd's The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein posits that Victor was hanging out with the Shelleys and co. in 1815.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:52 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
[gothing intensifies]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:00 PM on October 7, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:00 PM on October 7, 2016 [7 favorites]
I saw a movie about this castle visit a long, long time ago. This one, not this one.
posted by infinitewindow at 4:29 PM on October 7, 2016
posted by infinitewindow at 4:29 PM on October 7, 2016
I guess I'll be watching Ken Russell's Gothic again.
I'm a Ken Russell fan and I liked Gothic, but I gotta say, in a comparison:
Haunted Summer (1988) was a more interesting film. Russell dived into the whole phantasmagoria in his interpretation, which is fun, but 'Haunted Summer' was more of a character study with a good script. Byron and Shelley's casual verse improv contest was a delightful scene. Also, guest stars Alex Winter, the Bill of 'Bill & Ted' as Doctor Polidori, among others in an interesting cast.
posted by ovvl at 6:01 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm a Ken Russell fan and I liked Gothic, but I gotta say, in a comparison:
Haunted Summer (1988) was a more interesting film. Russell dived into the whole phantasmagoria in his interpretation, which is fun, but 'Haunted Summer' was more of a character study with a good script. Byron and Shelley's casual verse improv contest was a delightful scene. Also, guest stars Alex Winter, the Bill of 'Bill & Ted' as Doctor Polidori, among others in an interesting cast.
posted by ovvl at 6:01 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bloody Poetry, the history in play-form
posted by curious nu at 7:16 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by curious nu at 7:16 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Obligatory link to the Dead Authors Podcast featuring Mary Shelley.
posted by littlesq at 7:52 PM on October 7, 2016
posted by littlesq at 7:52 PM on October 7, 2016
The team, led by University of Rhode Island volcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson, hailed the discovery as the "Pompeii of the East."
This is not your personal Lovecraft Pastiche fan-fic site! Away with you!
Wait... that's [real]?
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:19 PM on October 7, 2016
howfar: A not wholly untrue but somewhat unfortunate and misleading way of framing the inspirations and insights enabling a highly (if eccentrically) educated woman to write one of the most important novels in literary history.
Sorry for that, I meant no slight to Mary Godwin/Shelley. I intended to link the discussion of Percy Shelley and Lord Byron as an instigator for her story, which expanded on what she heard:
posted by filthy light thief at 11:39 PM on October 7, 2016
Sorry for that, I meant no slight to Mary Godwin/Shelley. I intended to link the discussion of Percy Shelley and Lord Byron as an instigator for her story, which expanded on what she heard:
"Many and long were the conversations between Lord Byron and Shelley, to which I was a devout but nearly silent listener. During one of these, various philosophical doctrines were discussed, and among others the nature of the principle of life, and whether there was any probability of its ever being discovered and communicated. They talked of the experiments of Dr. [Erasmus] Darwin, (I speak not of what the Doctor really did, or said that he did, but, as more to my purpose, of what was then spoken of as having been done by him) who preserved a piece of vermicelli in a glass case, till by some extraordinary means it began to move with voluntary motion. Not thus, after all, would life be given. Perhaps a corpse would be re-animated; galvanism had given token of such things: perhaps the component parts of a creature might be manufactured, brought together, and endued with vital warmth."They talked about the theories and science, she created the story that is now eternal.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:39 PM on October 7, 2016
Has there ever been a novel that has been so thoroughly changed (in virtually all of its filmed versions) when it is depicted on the screen? Frankenstein is not a baron, he was not a doctor, he did not create the monster in a castle, he did not have an assistant, Igor. The monster could speak and made devilish sorts of arguments. He chased his monster from country to country and ended up in the Arctic.
Though shockingly, and something which I hardly believed until I read the original, Bride of Frankenstein—you know, the Hollywood sequel with Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester—is conceived directly from Shelley’s work.
posted by Emma May Smith at 10:43 AM on October 8, 2016
Though shockingly, and something which I hardly believed until I read the original, Bride of Frankenstein—you know, the Hollywood sequel with Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester—is conceived directly from Shelley’s work.
posted by Emma May Smith at 10:43 AM on October 8, 2016
Has there ever been a novel that has been so thoroughly changed (in virtually all of its filmed versions) when it is depicted on the screen?
I know it's not a well-known novel, but Andre Norton's The Beast Master was changed from a science fiction novel about a former special forces soldier being resettled on an alien planet after Earth was nuked, to a generic fantasy barbarian movie. the only thing that was kept was his ability to communicate with animals. When I saw the movie I was outraged.
I mean, it's not on the same level as Frankenstein, but it was a story by a woman, that was drastically changed for the screen.
posted by happyroach at 12:05 PM on October 9, 2016
I know it's not a well-known novel, but Andre Norton's The Beast Master was changed from a science fiction novel about a former special forces soldier being resettled on an alien planet after Earth was nuked, to a generic fantasy barbarian movie. the only thing that was kept was his ability to communicate with animals. When I saw the movie I was outraged.
I mean, it's not on the same level as Frankenstein, but it was a story by a woman, that was drastically changed for the screen.
posted by happyroach at 12:05 PM on October 9, 2016
I played Polidori in Bloody Poetry in college! My whole family came, my parents, my brother, my grandfather, my uncle and pregnant aunt. Byron spends the whole play insulting people and talking about people and things he wants to have sex with, it's great. My grandfather had to leave early and go sit out in the lobby, he was so disgusted, my whole family was disgusted. I'm proud of that show, and ashamed.
posted by branduno at 4:26 PM on October 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by branduno at 4:26 PM on October 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
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