Week 7-9

Literature/Desire

Week 7-9 

3. See what you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...

It was the year known as “the year without summer” 1816. This year saw the most dramatic environmental and weather changes in history caused by the aftermath of the Mount Tambora volcanic eruption in Indonesia. This led many to due from scarce amount of food supplies, and increase in famine spreading Great Britain with the death toll being 65,000 (Origjanska, M. 2018). It was definitely a year that brought pain and suffering, leading me to believe that the summer spent at Villa Diodati was the perfect opportunity for the most famous horror stories to emerge, being ‘The Vampyre’ and ‘Frankenstein’.

In the summer of June 1816, Lord Byron and John Polidori rented the Villa Diodati, located in the village of Cologny near Lake Geneva in Switzerland (Wikipedia, n.d.). Byron fled England to escape the scandals of his love affairs with Mary Shelleys half sister Claire Clairmont (Bayer, W. n.d). Percy Shelley and Mary Shelley (neé Godwin) rented a house called ‘Maison Chapuis’ nearby. However, due to the wet conditions the group was forced to spend their time inside the candlelit villa, which in turn resulted in the discussions of many topics, one of which being the nature of the principle of life, causing the inspiration for ‘Frankenstein’ to come about (Buzwell. 2014). The group, often referred to as ‘the brat pack’ passed time by telling their own ghost stories, resulting in ‘The Vampyre’ by John Polidori and ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley. 

5. 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).

The Gothic genre is subgenre of Horror, with the main elements being horror, death and romance. Through this genre we now have more subgenera such as supernatural and paranormal romance.

Prior to that fateful night in the Villa Diodati, the Gothic genre only merely existed. The earliest Gothic literature is Horace Walpoles novel (1764) ‘The Castle of Otranto’ stating in the subtitle ‘A Gothic Story’. However, as the genre was not taken all too seriously during this period, there was no popularity nor huge following of the genre up until the late 18^thcentury with the influence of the brat packs literature to thank for that (Mullan, J. 2014). 

The “brat pack” ideally were the group of young founders of the Gothic genre, who just happen to come together one night and tell each other scary stories to pass time (Willms, K. 2018). This very moment ultimately paved the pathway for many sub genres we know today, such as dark fantasy, horror and thriller.

Lord Byron and John Polidori rented out the Villa Diodati and was accompanied by neighbours Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley (neé Godwin) for a couple of nights due to the horrific weather forcing them inside. Each wrote a scary story to pass time resulting in John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” and Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’. 

Through Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ and John Polidori’s ‘The Vamprye’ we are able to see the characteristics of stories that changed and created a whole new era in time. However, over 200 years later we are able to see the evolution of the genre and its presence in modern literature today. Such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Twilight saga, The Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf. 

References:

Bayer, W. (n.d) Villa Diodati. Retrieved May 3, 2019. From https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/villa-diodati

Buzwell, G. (2014) Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and the Villa Diodati. Retrieved April 27, 2019. From https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/mary-shelley-frankenstein-and-the-villa-diodati

Mullan, J. (2014) The origins of the Gothic. Retrieved May 5, 2019. From https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-origins-of-the-gothic

Origjanska, M. (2018) The Year Without Summer. Retrieved May 1, 2019. From https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/16/year-without-summer-1816/

Wikipedia. (n.d) Villa Diodati. Retrieved May 1, 2019. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Diodati

Willms, K. (2018) Dare to Scare: The Origins of Gothic Literature. Retrieved May 3, 2019. From https://owlcation.com/humanities/Dare-to-Scare-The-Origins-of-Gothic-Literature