Weeks 7-9
1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. 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).
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. 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).
2. What really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816?
ReplyDeleteAfter researching on-line there are numerous accounts that describe the events that took place at the gathering at Villa Diodati in the summer of 1816. We will never be sure of the exact details of what happened, however one thing that is obvious is that this is where the birth of the gothic genre took place.
1816....”The year without a summer.” Apparently, according to Olson (2011) the entire Northern Hemisphere experienced a perpetual winter. This unusual weather pattern was caused from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia a year earlier. Switzerland was affected the worst and after daily ongoing rain the country was declared in a state of emergency.
Andrew May (2011) suggests that Lord Byron, a famous romantic poet had relocated to the shores of Lake Geneva and moved into the Villa Diodati, along with some house guests who were all experienced writers.
The summer or non-summer of 1816 has become well known throughout literary history, mainly due to the fact that the house guests at Villa Diodati simply had nothing other to do than read to each other from a collection of German ghost stories Fantasmagoriana. Included were stories from a supernatural genre. The other pastime was to write, as venturing outdoors was not an option.
Continuation of question 2:
ReplyDeleteLord Byron put up a challenge amongst his guests......the challenge was to see who could write the finest, most terrifying story.
This took place on the evening of the 16th of June. Mary Shelley who was amongst the guests had a monster dream, and this dream was the inspiration of her story, which was to be a short story, as this is what Shelley was known for, but instead the short story developed into a novel due to the encouragement of her soon to be husband Percy Shelley. This novel was called Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus.
“Shelley artfully mixes the audience’s popular fears of goblins and ghouls with the new science of the times to create a masterful work of speculative fiction.” Scholarship.rollins.edu (Rollins College).
The 18 year old Shelley pushed every literary boundary with this Gothic thriller and passionate romance that has been revised and made into movies, stage productions etc.
“The novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is a natural culmination of the influences on her life and a window inside the mind of a woman who was far beyond the restricting world in which she found herself.”
“Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness.”
This famous summer is often referred to as “The Frankenstein summer.” It has been said that this famous monster story has become a modern myth. Lord Byron wrote the famous controversial poem “Darkness” and another guest John Polidori wrote the first vampire short story, “The Vampyre.”
Frankenstein falls into both the horror and science fiction genres. The story in itself is terrifying but it also brings up questions around the very nature of life. What does it mean to be human? How far will humans go in messing with Nature? These questions are particularly relevant in our age, where experiments of genetic engineering, organ donation and transplants etc are seen as ordinary.
We can assume that if the summer of 1816 had occurred as usual these stories may never have evolved.
Creativeshadows. (2013). And now for something completely diabolical–The year without a summer (1816) and its monsters. Retrieved from http://creativeshadows.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/and-now-for-something-completely-diabolical-the-year-without-a-summer-1816-and-its-monsters/
Damron, T.K. (2012). Frankenstein: A Seminal Work of Modern Literature. Retrieved from http://scholarship.rollins.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mls
May, A. (2011). The Year Without a Summer. Retrieved 06/06/2014 from http://forteana-blog.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/year-without-summer.html
Providentia. (2010). Who Inspired Frankenstein? Retrieved from http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2010/12/inspiring-frankenstein.html
This is what I found out about that fateful summer of 1816; Lord Byron rented a summer lake house called “Villa Diodati”. Clair Clairmont (Mary’s half-sister and Byron’s mistress) invites Mary Wollstonecraft (Who later becomes Mary Shelley a year later) and Percey Shelly to Geneva, Switzerland to meet Lord Byron and his friend John Polidori. As Mary Shelly recalled in her introduction of the 1831 edition of “Frankenstein”, “In the summer of 1816, we visited Switzerland, and became the neighbors of Lord Byron. At first we spent our pleasant hours on the lake, or wandering on its shores; and Lord Byron, who was writing the third canto of Childe Harold, was the only one among us who put his thoughts upon paper. These, as he brought them successively to us, clothed in all the light and harmony of poetry, seemed to stamp as divine the glories of heaven and earth, whose influences we partook with him. “Upon arrival at Villa Diodati, what was meant to be a warm and sunny summer turned into periods of heavy rain and lightning storms. “It proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house. Some volumes of ghost stories, translated from German into French, fell into our hands.” Shelly recalled. The group was therefore forced to remain indoors and sought ways to entertain themselves. They kept warm around the fireplace reading ghost stories from Fantasmagoriana and discussed galvanism by Erasmus Darwin. Lord Byron proceeded to challenge everyone to write the most frightening horror novel. “’We will each write a ghost story’, said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to. There were four of us. “Shelly, more apt to embody ideas and sentiments in the radiance of brilliant imagery, and in the music of the most melodious verse that adorns our language, than to invent the machinery of a story, commenced one founded on the experiences of his early life. Poor Polidori had some terrible idea about a skull-headed lady, who was so punished for peeping through a key-hole… I busied myself to think of a story, - a story to rival those which had excited us to the task. One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror – one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart. If I did not accomplish these things, my ghost story would be unworthy of its name. I thought and pondered – vainly. I felt that blank incapability of invention which is the greatest misery of authorship, when dull nothing replies to our anxious invocations. ‘Have you thought of a story?’ I was asked each morning, and each morning I was forced to reply with a mortifying negative.” Later that night, Mary Wollstonecraft had a nightmare which led to one of the most popular horror novels ever written: Frankenstein. A year later, Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus at the young age of 19. She remembered; “My imagination… possessed and guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie. I saw – with shut eyes… I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out… The idea so possessed my mind, that a thrill of fear ran through me… I could not so easily get rid of my hideous phantom; still it haunted me… I recurred to my ghost story, - my tiresome unlucky ghost story! O! If I could only contrive one which would frighten my reader as I myself had been frightened that night!... I have found it! What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow. On the morrow I announced that I had thought of a story. I began that day with the words, ‘It was on a dreary night of November, making only a transcript of the grim terrors of my waking dream.”
DeleteExcellent answer. You bring the event to life.
DeleteMary Shelley wrote during the era of Romantics and at that time Pantheism (the belief that nature was influenced by God's existence) was all the rage. Coleridge, Wordsworth and Byron thought that the role of nature was essential for creativity because it was very well connected to God as well as also a source of God's encouragement. As a result the outdoors created a big writing place for analyzing, wandering and finding inspiration (Smedley, 2011).
DeleteReference
Smedley, R. (2011). The writing spaces: Villa Diodati & Mary Shelley. Retrieved May 18, 2014, from http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/the-writing-spaces-villa-diodati-mary-shelley/
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
ReplyDeleteThere are various fictional accounts that I found on the summer of 1816. Of course there is Ken Russell’s 1986 film “Gothic”. But there is “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935), the film opens with the fateful summer at Villa Diodati. I first saw this film when I was ten. But recently, I found more documentaries that include a fictional account on the event. It's really difficult to find movies and/or documentaries with fictional accounts of the event. But here are some of the links;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2yKqa4VSRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf4w8heMmKA
Following on from what Simon has said fictional media or narrative media is a media that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative (Wikipedia. n.d).
DeleteFor example -
•The Castle of Otranto -- Horace Walpole
•Frankenstein -- Mary Shelley
•Confessions of an English Opium-Eater -- Thomas de Quincey
•Wuthering Heights -- Emily Bronte
•Gothic Tales -- Elizabeth Gaskell
•The Picture of Dorian Gray -- Oscar Wilde
•Dracula -- Bram Stoker
•The Turn of the Screw -- Henry James
•The Phantom of the Opera -- Gaston Leroux
•Rebecca -- Daphne du Maurier
•Other Voices, Other Rooms -- Truman Capote
•The Haunting of Hill House -- Shirley Jackson
•Rosemary's Baby -- Ira Levin
•'Salem's Lot -- Stephen King
•Ghost Story -- Peter Straub
•My Heart Laid Bare -- Joyce Carol Oates
•Heart-Shaped Box -- Joe Hill
Reference
J, J, IGARTUA. (2010). Identification with characters and narrative persuasion through fictional feature films.
How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
ReplyDeleteThe Oxford dictionary definition of sublime is :Producing an overwhelming sense of awe or other high emotion through being vast or grand.
Pateman (1991) suggests that the sublime evokes a powerful and inspired emotion on the readers using contrasting imagery invoking terror, passion, beauty, admiration, respect, reverence etc.
He also discusses terror in particular as producing the sublime, “terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently the ruling principal of the sublime.” P.193
Pateman (2004) outlined that the sublime can also be seen in works of terror saying that “we find pleasure in the encounter with imagined or fictional pain”. This type of sublime can be found within Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.
“How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delicate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful”
Frankenstein builds on the sublime by his profound link and bond he has formed with the monster he created. It is almost depicted as love, without the typical romantic notion that is often expected of love. He describes the endless pains he had undergone to create his monster. He perceives his monster as sublimely perfect; a total outpouring of himself in the making. He describes him as “beautiful”. This may seem bizarre and shocking to the reader bearing in mind that Frankenstein was made from pieces from dead people.
To align with the concept of sublime, in his poem “ Ode to the West Wind”, Percy Bysshe Shelly uses a lot of natural images like “west wind”, “dead leaves”, “winged weeds”, “plain and hill” and so on. The suggestion of winter and the setting on a dark, stormy evening creates an atmosphere of chill and loneliness. The author compares the tough time to the lonely, cold winter and readers can relate easily to this force of nature.
In the first stanza we are given a description of an autumn breeze described in such a way that the wind itself almost becomes sublime. Initially he illustrates autumn as a “being”; a living entity. He then goes on to describe the wind as being its “breath”.
The sublime is additionally evident in the wind’s rather divine ability to make the “ghosts” of the dead leaves flee. Even though this is merely depicting the natural occurrence of wind blowing leaves away, it is expressed in such a way that is striking to the reader. There is a feeling of Autumn as a heavenly being whose breath has the ability to drive away ghosts with unseen presence.
“O WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being
Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing”
References
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sublime?q=sublime
Pateman, T. (2004, 1991) ‘The Sublime’ in Key Concepts: A
Guide to Aesthetics, Criticism and the Arts in
Education.London: Falmer Press,
Shelley, Mary. (1985; 1818). Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, London: Penguin
Pateman, T. (2004, 1991) ‘The Sublime’ in Key Concepts: A Guide to Aesthetics, Criticism and the Arts in Education.London: Falmer Press
Percy Bysshe Shelley, from The complete poetic Works of Shelley,
Thomas Hutchinson, (ed) pp.550, 577-579 respectively
What is missing from your account is the mystical or religious aspect of the sublime. The sublime is God in nature, feeling God in nature...
DeleteThe only way to distinguish Romanticism poets from 18th century neo-classicism poets is what the authors point of imagination is. Poets in the Romanticism era considered their imagination to be the most significant tool in the construction of their work, they believed that without imagination poetry could not exist.These poets like Mary Shelley, thought that they could draw direct inspiration from nature and their surrounding, hence why Romanticism poetry often has nature related themes.They thought that they could absorb inspiration from the surrounding land and try to get the inspiration from nature. Consequently, a common trait of most Romanticism poetry is a nature friendly concept. Not all poets shared this same inspiration and thought process and the Romanticism poets were often frustrated by this (poets.org, 2004).
DeleteDuring the late 18th century there was a significant amount of change within society and with the development of reason and rationality the Romanticism poetry began to lose some of its purity. William Blake attempted to recover the lost purity within the poetic language by creating a new bond between emotive language and conventional poetry. Blake began to see the world as the people within society around him did and with that had the ability to look at his surroundings in a new light with only the spiritual elements of life essential. Blake "attached great importance to emotion, fancy and individuality instead of reason and conventionality" (poetry foundation, n.d.). The following Poem "the Garden of Love" is the example I have chosen to use -
The Garden of Love
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen;
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And "Thou shalt not." writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore,
And I saw it was filled with the graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be;
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds.
And binding with briars my joys & desires.
(poetry foundation, n.d.)
According to Woods (2012), Blake presented four very grand or 'Sublime' themes in his poetry.These four themes are Innocence, Vulnerability, Contentedness, and lack of identity. Despite the Garden of Love being set in amongst a church yard Blake himself wasnt a traditional Christian and didn't like Churches however he believed in mystical powers of God which leads to the sublime.
4. 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).
ReplyDeleteAll authors present in the summer of 1816 at The Villa Diodati contributed to the formation of the gothic genre and have had an enormous influence on the modern gothic genre.
John William Polidori shaped the vampire genre with his famous short story, “The Vampyre”. At the same time Mary Shelley developed her well known work “Frankenstein”. Without these works of fiction born from that fateful summer, the gothic genre in modern society would be very different and we have no idea what the gothic revolution would have looked like.
The term Villa Diodati “brat-pack” relates to the effect these prominent figures have had on the literary world. They have shaped this style of writing and impacted on literature since its conception. From the works that eventuated after the ‘dare’ that was put forward by Lord Byron to his literary guests, various movies, novels, and other works have emerged. Many have been influenced by the writing of Frankenstein, there have been many Frankenstein movies made and numerous books based on the concept of someone being brought back to life. Also the vampire genre is huge at the moment with massive followings in the area of TV, films, and novels. Examples of these are the famous ‘Twilight’ saga and the TV series ‘True Blood and ‘The Vampire Diaries.’
The "Brat-Pack" truly was the birth of not only Gothic but all the modern genres of thriller/horror.
4. 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.).
DeleteEverybody knows the name of “Dracula”; it is one of the most famous vampire novels of all time. It was first unleashed on a terrified public in 1897 – the year of Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee and the year in which Sigmund Freud began his research into Psychoanalysis. Bram Stoker’s famous novel was not only inspired by a sensual nightmare, but it was also inspired by the literary tradition of the vampire which began 75 years earlier at the Villa Diodati, on the shore of Lake Geneva. For on that stormy summer of 1816, two great horror stories had been born – of course – Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and an equally scary contribution from Lord Byron. On that dismal June evening after Mary had told her story, Lord Byron began a tale about an ancient aristocratic family called “Davelle”. It was a story about a family who travelled with a young acquaintance to Turkey and died in a graveyard there after promising to come back from the dead one-month later. And there, the tale tantalizingly ended. But it was resurrected three years later by Dr. John William Polidori, Byron’s young physician. Who had rewritten and embellished it as, anonymously and without permission, under the tile “The Vampyre: A Tale”.
"The Vampyre" is a short story or novella written in 1819, is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction. The work was described by Christopher Frayling as "the first story successfully to fuse the disparate elements of vampirism into a coherent literary genre." The story was an immediate popular success, partly because of the Byron attribution and partly because it exploited the gothic horror predilections of the public. Polidori transformed the vampire from a character in folklore into the form that is recognized today—an aristocratic fiend who preys among high society.
"The Vampyre" was first published on 1 April 1819 by Henry Colburn in the New Monthly Magazine with the false attribution "A Tale by Lord Byron". But then it was published in book form in octavo as The Vampyre; A Tale in 84 pages. The notation on the cover noted that it was: "Entered at Stationers' Hall, March 27, 1819". The name of the work's protagonist, "Lord Ruthven", added to this assumption, for that name was originally used in Lady Caroline Lamb's novel Glenarvon (from the same publisher), in which a thinly disguised Byron figure was also named Lord Ruthven. Initially, the author was given as Lord Byron. Later printings removed Byron's name and added Polidori's name to the title page. But despite repeated denials by Byron and Polidori, the authorship often went unclarified. Lord Byron was furious; “from the little acquaintance I have of vampires” he wrote, “I have a personal dislike of them.” Polidori was in disgrace and three years later he died, probably by suicide, at the age of twenty-five.
Prior to that fateful evening, Lord Byron had been working a story called “Manfred”. It is a dramatic poem written in 1816–1817. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Romantic closet drama.
DeleteByron wrote this "metaphysical drama", as he called it, after his marriage failed in scandal amidst charges of sexual improprieties and an incestuous affair between Byron and his half-sister, Augusta Leigh. Attacked by the press and ostracized by London society, Byron fled England for Switzerland in 1816 and never returned. Because Manfred was written immediately after this, and because it regards a main character tortured by his own sense of guilt for an unmentionable offence, some critics consider it to be autobiographical, or even confessional. The unnamed but forbidden nature of Manfred's relationship to Astarte is believed to represent Byron's relationship with his half-sister Augusta. Most of Manfred was written on a tour through the Bernese Alps in September 1816. The third act was rewritten in February 1817 since Byron was not happy with its first version of the story. Byron commenced this work in late 1816, only a few months after the famed ghost-story sessions, which provided the initial impetus for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The supernatural references are made clear throughout the poem.
Manfred begins with citation of the phrase of Shakespeare's Hamlet: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Manfred shows heavy influence by Goethe's Faust, which Byron most likely read in translation (although he claimed to have never read it); still, it is by no means a simple copy.
Simon makes an interesting point regarding the relationship between Byron and his half sister Augusta Leigh.
DeleteByron’s life was very short, just 36 years. He was born noble and led an unusual and fascinating life filled with political and sexual controversy.
Byron and his sister were undoubtedly close and his love for her was not one of a sibling, but a woman he truly cared for. He was publicly charged for the inappropriate relationship that was supposedly going on with her. This led to him being exiled from his home country England in 1816 and was ostracized by most of his friends.
Manfred too is of noble birth and is haunted by the memory of some unspeakable crime. Throughout this poem, the themes of guilt and remorse are apparent. Many assume these emotions are focussed toward his lover, Astarte, and death is possibly the only solution. It has been hinted that Astarte took her own life. Indeed there seems to be many parallels between the life of Byron and the poem “Manfred.” A confessional of Byron’s own life biography is a very likely summary.
Delete4. 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 has come a long way since the summer of 1816, and there are many genres that take from past Gothic poets and writers. A well-known novel inspired by the Gothic genre with a large cult following, perhaps not as popular today as 'Frankenstein' or 'Dracula', is Henry Farrell's 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' (1960).
'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' tells the story of a has-been child actress, Jane, who refuses to face the reality that her older sister, Blanche, is more successful than she is and in an act of jealousy-filled rage attempts to run her over. This results in Blanche becoming crippled and entirely dependent on her alcoholic sister who still can't accept Blanche's successful career. What follows is a life filled with torture and despair, with Jane even serving a starving Blanche a dead bird on a silver platter.
While 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' may not be of the Gothic genre, this Psychological Thriller certainly takes notes. Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and Farrell's 'Baby Jane' both draw from the same theme; a monster that is born as a result of it's environment. These two specific stories were both created in order to thrill readers and provide a darkly-written story of the imagination. 'Baby Jane', however, takes a more modern approach to the story's 'monster' by having Jane as a relatively successful performer who wants to see her name in bright lights and on television; something Mary Shelley certainly couldn't have predicted even though the science in 'Frankenstein' was indeed ahead of it's time.
'Sweeney Todd' is a more modern approach to the Gothic genre. Tim Burton's dark musical tells the story of a barber who loses, both, his wife and child and seeks revenge on the man responsible for the death. He then meets a woman who works in a pie shop and eventually starts supplying the woman's demands with corpses.
The grim nature of this story appropriately fits the definition of Gothic, 'of or relating to a style of writing that describes strange or frightening events that take place in mysterious places'- The Online Merriam Webster Dictionary', and the themes of darkness and violence is similar to those of Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. 'Sweeney Todd', however, can be viewed as a modern approach to Gothic genre as it incorporates a dark humour, such as singing and making light of a grim situation, that is often seen in films today. Film reviewer, Rianne Hill Soriano, describes the film as "Operatic gruesomeness to its Victorian gothic moodiness, the consistently dark and foggy visuals create the right dose of menace as the murder, music, and ‘monsters’ become happily drenched in bloody gore."
References:
Boeder, L. (2002). Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?:. Classic Movies. Retrieved from http://classicfilm.about.com/od/earlysciencefiction/fr/Baby_Jane.htm
Knowles, J., & Hunter, D. (1998). Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?.
The Terror Trap. Retrieved from http://www.terrortrap.com/killerthrillers/whateverhappenedtobabyjane/
Soriano, H. R. (2010). Sweeney Todd Review: A Bloody Good Musical. Examiner. Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/article/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street-movie-review-a-bloody-good-musical
Brecheisen, B. (2008). 'Sweeney Todd' is Burton's Gothic Musical Masterpiece. Lumino. Retrieved from http://www.luminomagazine.com/mw/content/view/2411/4
Hi all, a lot of very interesting and informative answers being discussed here. I would have to agree mostly with Mary as I believe all the authors who were present at the summer of 1816 contributed to the creation of gothic genre. We see 'Vampyre' being created by John William Polidori as well as Mary Shelley crafting Frankenstein. Mary also says that the "Brat-Pack" truly was the birth of not only Gothic but all the modern genres of thriller/horror. This also is reinforced with the classic movies monsters set which includes frankenstein and Dracula. Simon's point regarding the relationship between Byron and his half sister Augusta Leigh, also manifests itself into the story with the themes of guilt and remorse being brought into the readers plain site. The lives the two siblings lived was not a common one as we know something not right was occurring between the two.
DeleteFor everything to exist now, it has to draw on something from the past. The modern gothic genre is drawing on the old, with many character types being based off the works of the brat pack. John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” is noted by Christopher Frayling (1992) as “the first story successfully to fuse the disparate elements of vampirism into a coherent literary genre.” If it wasn’t for him, works such as ‘Dracula’ or ‘Twilight’ may not exist. However, that could just be a generalisation.
ReplyDeleteThroughout time, stories such as ‘I, Frankenstein’ (2014) or ‘Frankenstein Unbound’ (1990) seem to have kept the theme of the monster originally mentioned in Mary Shelley’s original tale, yet given it a twist. In the 1990 movie, Victor Frankenstein did not create the monster. Instead, the monster killed Victor’s brother. What did stay the same was the monster’s desire for love. In the 2014 movie, the monster is dedicated to protecting humans. There is no mention of love.
Reference: Frayling, C. (1992). Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula. London, England: Faber & Faber.
Question 4
DeleteIn following on from my previous answer, ‘Manfred’ is another text that has influenced the modern gothic genre, although to my knowledge, it is less noticeable than ‘The Vampyre’ or ‘Frankenstein’. The idea behind ‘Manfred’ is that a man is overwhelmed with guilt over some offence, and then tries to commit suicide but finds that he can’t. Now, whether Stephenie Meyer was aware of this or not, the skeletal story of ‘Manfred’ was used in ‘Twilight’, as the back-story for the “vegetarian” vampire Carlisle Cullen.
DeleteFor those who don’t know or have never read Twilight (lucky you!), Carlisle was the son of a priest who was transformed into a vampire against his will, and then realising what he was, he tried to kill himself many, many times, but was thwarted each time.
Well pointed out! Curious how people dealt with these issues before the age of Freud and psychoanalysis. the real issue remains as a subtext but all the agony and passion are there. A therapeutic exercise?
DeleteSome signs of life here, guys, keep it rolling
ReplyDelete2. What really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816?
ReplyDeleteLooking online, I have found quite a few accounts that tell the events that took place at the Villa Diodati in the summer of 1816. I do not believe we will ever know exactly what happened, but we do know that it was the origin of the Gothic Genre. Olson (2011) says that the northern hemisphere was blanketed in a permanent winter. These weather discrepancies originated from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia in the previous year. The worst affected country was Switzerland, which had massive downpours, which eventually lead to a state of emergency being declared. The summer of 1816 has gained fame throughout history. This is because the house guests had very few activities to take part it, so they were reduced to reading excerpts to each other as well as to write because to go outside was not a good idea.
Lord Byron created a competition or challenge for his guests. The task was to see who could craft the scariest story and it took place on the evening of the 16th of June. Among the guests was Mary Shelley who had a nightmare that inspired her to write her story. This story eventually grew into a novel with the help of her fiancé Percy Shelley. The novel was named Frankenstein. At 18 years old, Shelley created a marvelous piece of fiction that used thrills and romance to grasp the reader’s attention. Two opposing genres that worked very well. In ‘Frankenstein,’ Dr Frankenstein creates a man from deceased body parts. When the monster is brought to life, the Dr is petrified at what he has created yet also feels compassion towards the beast. This Horror Story has since become a modern myth with many adaptations including Films, TV series as well as productions. I believe we can safely say that had the summer or anti-summer of 1816 never happened, we might not have ever been graced with the story of Frankenstein.
Creative shadows. (2013). And now for something completely diabolical–The year without a summer (1816) and its monsters. Retrieved from http://scholarship.rollins.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mls May, A. (2011). The Year Without a Summer.
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
DeleteIn 1816 Lord Byron invited multiple people including his doctor, John Polidori, along with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who was eighteen years of age at the time, and Percy Shelley to his manor house (named 'Villa Diodati') located near Lake Geneva for what was supposed to be a leisure-filled summer.
Unfortunately for Lord Byron, the year of 1816 would later be known as the 'year without summer'. This was because there had been a volcanic eruption in the Dutch East Indies, resulting in an a very large amount of ash cast into the atmosphere and essentially blocking out the sun. The cold and dark conditions caused a widespread of crop failures and famine across Northern Europe and North-East America. Along with this, there were groups of people rioting on the streets.
All of this was the inspiration behind 'Darkness', a poem Lord Byron had written about the year without a summer in which he expresses the dark mood and setting as;
'I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd'.
Due to this inconvenience, Lord Byron and his guests chose to stay indoors and tell each other stories for entertainment. Lord Byron then challenged his guests to come up with the best and most thrilling horror stories. Apparently this is when some particularly note-worthy stories were created, such as Polidori's 'The Vampyre' and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin's 'Frankenstein'. It was during this time in the Villa Diodati house that the Gothic genre was born.
Although it may never be known exactly what happened in the Villa Diodati house, Patrick is correct in pointing out that it is safe to say the stories told, written and inspired by that summer were so influential that they are still told today, especially 'Frankenstein'.
References:
McNamara, R. (2006). The Year Without a Summer Was a Bizarre Weather Disaster in 1816: 19th Century History. Retrieved from http://history1800s.about.com/od/crimesanddisasters/a/The-Year-Without-A-Summer.htm
Smedley, R. (2011). Villa Diadoti and Mary Shelley:. The Writing Spaces. Retrieved from http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/the-writing-spaces-villa-diodati-mary-shelley/
Chow, D. (2011). Under a 'Frankenstein' Moon: Astronomer Sleuths Solve Mary Shelley Mystery. Space. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/13112-frankenstein-moon-mary-shelley-mystery.html
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ReplyDeleteHow is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples.
ReplyDeleteThe Google dictionary definition of sublime is: of very great excellence or beauty or (of a person’s attitude or behavior) extreme or unparalleled. This definition of sublime can be located in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delicate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?” This quote reinforces the idea that Frankenstein builds on the sublime by his love, devotion and connection he has formed with the monster he has designed.
This connection that the Doctor has with his monster is shown as love and affection. I would compare it with that of a father and sons relationship, as there is confusion, anger and uncertainty within both. Doctor Frankenstein goes on to say that he has experienced “endless pain in order to create the monster, his monster. Sublime is shown here as he sees his monster as ‘sublimely perfect.’ The effort he put into his creation cannot be matched by anything else. We as readers may find it hard to believe because we know that the monster was created from body parts from deceased humans, but from reading the story we know that their was a true bond between the 2 characters. The idea of winter and the dark and gloomy setting gives off the idea of danger and isolation. When we are first introduced to autumn, it is personified and is shown to ‘breathe.’ The breathing comes from the wind and is also described as being sublime. He then goes on to say that the wind has the ability create ghosts which chases.
References: https://www.google.co.nz/#q=define:+sublime
Falmer Press Percy Bysshe Shelley, from The complete poetic Works of Shelley, Thomas Hutchinson, (ed) pp.550, 577-579 respectively
2. What really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816?
ReplyDeleteI have found various accounts that explained what happened at the Villa Diodati in the summer of 1816. It is still unsure exactly as to what happened but the origin of the Gothic Genre was established then. Olson (2011) says that the northern hemisphere was blanketed in a permanent winter. These weather discrepancies originated from a volcanic eruption in Indoneisa the year before. The summer gained its fame as the house guest had very few activities to partake in therefore subjecting themselves to reading as well as writing as weather conditions were not good outside.
A competition was created to see who could come up with the scariest story that took place on the 16th of June. Among the guests was Mary Shelley whom had a nightmare, inspired her to write a story. The story eventually went on to be a novel with the help of her fiancé Percy Shelley. The 18 year old, Shelley created a piece named Frankenstein that used aspects of thriller and romance to grasp attention of readers. Frankenstein revolved around a scientist, Dr Frankenstein that created a man from deceased body parts. The sheer excitement and compassion the Dr faces when he sees his creation comes to life also makes him petrified.
Creative shadows. (2013). And now for something completely diabolical–The year without a summer (1816) and its monsters. Retrieved from http://scholarship.rollins.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mls May, A. (2011). The Year Without a Summer.
How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples.
ReplyDeleteAccording to dictionary.com, the definition of sublime is : impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur or power ; inspiring awe, veneration, etc. In this case, this definition draws parallels with Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. A quote that would definitely reinforce the idea that Frankenstein is built on the sublime of love, devotion and connection formed with the monster is “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delicate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?”
The connection the doctor shares with the monster does display itself to be love and affection. It could definitely be a comparison of a father and son relationship as there is uncertainty of both of them as well as confusion and anger. The amount of effort that has been put into the scientist’s monster cannot be compared to anything else. We as readers are not able to comprehend how one would able to have so much affection and care towards a creature made from parts of a deceased human but we can definitely establish the idea that both these characters have a bond with one another. With the idea of winter and the dark gloomy setting gives off the idea of danger and isolation.
References : http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sublime
Falmer Press Percy Bysshe Shelley, from The complete poetic Works of Shelley, Thomas Hutchinson, (ed) pp.550, 577-579 respectively