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John Polidori and The Vampyre

annimi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:14:00 +0000

Polidori was the friend and personal physician of the infamous rogue and poet, Lord Byron. He was also part of the close-knit circle of friends, including Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Byron, and Claire Clairmont, Mary’s stepsister, and also Byron’s woman of the hour. Polidori was Byron’s personal physician, and traveled with him through Europe. Though he recorded his travels with Byron in his diaries, that were later published, sadly much of the diaries were destroyed or censored by his sister, who originally had them published. A considerable loss to the literary community, and Byron lovers worldwide, the diaries would have said and revealed much more about Byron’s character. Polidori accompanied Byron to the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva, where Byron and Polidori became fast friends with the nearby Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin (later the famous Mary Shelley), and Claire Clairmont.

So one night, after reading scary stories to each other from Tales of the Dead (you can still find re-edited and re-translated versions of this book today), they decide to each write a scary story. Byron wrote ‘Fragment of a Novel’ which he later discard, and Percy took up ‘A Fragment of a Ghost Story’, –which were actually five ghost stories he wrote down. Mary soon-to-be Shelley did not participate, but most say this night inspired her to write Frankenstein. Polidori wrote The Vampyre, using Byron’s base materials in his novel Fragment, as the foundation for his own tale. The vampyre in his story was closely modeled after Lord Byron himself, at least, as Polidori saw him. The story follows Lord Ruthven, and a young man named Aubrey, who accompanies Ruthven on a trip to Rome.

Ruthven is described in the short story by Polidori as “a man entirely absorbed in himself, who gave few other signs of his observation of external objects, than the tacit assent to their existence, implied by the avoidance of their contact…” and “the light laughter of the fair only attracted his attention, that he might by a look quell it, and throw fear into those breasts where thoughtlessness reigned.” Despite the overall arrogance and malignancy of the Lord Ruthven character, Aubrey is attracted, and accompanies Ruthven to Rome, where shortly after, Ruthven seduces the daughter of a mutual acquaintance. Aubrey leaves Ruthven for Greece, where he falls for Ianthe, the innkeeper’s daughter, who tells him of the vampyre. To Aubrey’s horror, she describes perfectly the character of Lord Ruthven. Later, Ruthven arrives, and Ianthe is killed by a vampire. But Aubrey is none-the-wiser and instead accompanies Ruthven once more.

What, did you think I was going to tell you the ending? Sorry, you’ll have to read the book; some good old-fashioned extra-long and unknown English words will be good for you, expands the vocabulary. Anyway, sadly, Polidori was never quite officially credited for the story; it was published and accredited to Lord Byron. Byron attempted to publish his own Fragment, in order to show people the difference, but no such luck. It wasn’t until long after Polidori’s apparent suicide that the story finally appeared with Polidori’s name above it. He died when he was only 26 years old, and probably still with-holding plenty more scary stories.

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre

Moonlight — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:48:48 +0000

Looks like Jane Austin is getting another makeover, or rather, addition. With the huge success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the highly anticipated Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters it only makes sense to keep the momentum going. And with vampires as popular as they are nowadays the next logical step would be to mix the two – Jane Austin and vampires. That is precisely what best-selling author Amanda Grange did with her latest Jane Austin inspired book, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre.

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre starts off where Pride and Prejudice finished but adds a dark little twist, a sinister curse. It looks like the beloved Mr. Darcy has quite the secret, he is a creature of the night, a vampire. This new story truly begins during Darcy and Elizabeth’s honeymoon (after a wedding flashback), where things feel a bit off to poor Elizabeth. Her and Darcy’s relationship becomes somewhat shaky and Elizabeth begins to suspect that something isn’t right with her darling husband. Through Elizabeth’s letters to her sister Jane we learn more and more about her issues with her husband and his wicked secret. Throughout the story Elizabeth and Darcy are left to fight for their love, their marriage and their very lives in this rousing, chilling, passionate new novel.

English author Amanda Grange has a vast amount of experience when it comes to writing about Jane Austin’s much loved characters. She is a world famous historical fiction writer that specializes in reinterpreting historic events and classic novels. This is her first paranormal novel but she still holds true to Jane Austin’s tone. This book may not be for everyone, since it is written like the old Jane Austin classics but if you are an Austin fan or an Amanda Grange fan you should most definitely pick this book up.

Click here to view the embedded video.

- Moonlight

Origins of Vampires

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:11:37 +0000

Vampires are beings of folklore and mythology that basically exist by feeding off the lifeforce of humans and/or animals.Usually, they are “undead” or ressurrected corpses, who live off the blood of other beings. Most popular legends refer to the blood-drinking Undead in Eastern Europe, but many other various cultures and regions have similar creatures. Some are non-human, or animal, bats, dogs, spiders, et cetera. Vampires are an extremely popular inspiration for various fictional works discussed later.

Vampirism itself is the act of drinking a human or animal’s blood. It is a form of cannibalism, however less often occurring, and is popularly regarded throughout modern fiction and legend, as a way to gain supernatural powers. Historically speaking, it was also a way to intimidate an enemy, for the opposing force to claim that they ate flesh or drank blood, and can reflect a culture’s spiritual beliefs.

The word vampire is widely distributed throughout various cultures and languages. The English word vampire, could have been derived from many possible languages, the most forestanding, the German “Vampir” and French “Vampyre”. The German word, vampir, is derived of its many similar variations in most Slavic languages.

The first recorded use of the word is believed to have been used in Old Russian, Upir, in a Book of Psalms, transcribed by a priest, in 1047 AD, who stated that his name was “Upir Iikhyi”, which means “Foul Vampire”. This was debated later, as it was the translated version of the name of a famous Swedish rune carver.

In Babylonian demonology, there were vampiric beings called Lilu, and further back, in Sumerian legend, were Akhkharu, who would prowl the night killing newborns and pregnant women. The Jewish adapted Lilith from one of the demons, called Lilitu. There are vampiric beings in India, found in Sanskrit folklore, called vetalas; ghouls who inhabit corpses. The Indian religion Hinduism has various mythological legends of blood-drinking gods and goddesses, and also humans, considering reincarnation is a part of Hinduism, and one leading a sinful, or unclean life may be reincarnated as reanimated corpse attacking the living at night. The Egyptian goddess Sekhmet became enslaved to her bloodlust after killing humans, and was only sated by drinking alcohol tinted to look like blood. The strix, appearing in Roman stories, was a nocturnal bird who fed on human flesh and blood.

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John Polidori and The Vampyre

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Mr. Darcy, Vampyre

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Origins of Vampires

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