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The Lord Byron / John Polidori Relationship and the Foundation of the Early Nineteenth-Century Literary Vampire

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The Lord Byron / John Polidori Relationship and the Foundation of the Early Nineteenth-Century Literary Vampire The Lord Byron / John Polidori relationship and the foundation of the early nineteenth-century literary vampire Matthew Beresford BA (hons), MA Submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2019 Abstract John William Polidori (1795-1821) was appointed as the personal physician to Lord George Noel Gordon, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824) in April 1816. Byron was not in the best of health, and Polidori was recommended to him by Sir William Knighton, who had previously treated him. Placing himself in self-imposed exile, Byron left England for good, taking Polidori with him and travelling in Europe. They settled in Switzerland, on Lake Geneva, where soon they were joined by the Shelleys and Claire Clairmont for the now infamous ‘Summer of Discontent’, spent largely at the Villa Diodati. At Diodati, Byron allegedly challenged the party to each write a ghost story, Mary Shelley writing what would become Frankenstein and Byron starting a tale of a vampire that he subsequently abandoned. After Polidori was dismissed, in September 1816, he was challenged on the request of ‘a lady’ to turn the fragment of the story started by Byron into a more complete piece – the result was The Vampyre, published in 1819 under Byron’s name. In this thesis I explore the relationship between Byron and Polidori during their time together, and seek to understand what led Polidori to cast Byron as his fictional vampire Lord Ruthven. I also analyse the controversy around the publication, which some believe contributed to Polidori’s death in 1821. In order to fully understand their relationship, I dedicate the first part of the thesis to an exploration of the lives, education and works of the two men, before finally reflecting on the legacy of The Vampyre, a legacy which changed the literary vampire from the folkloric Undead corpse into the Gothic figure so easily recognised today. 2 Acknowledgements Completing this thesis has been a long and winding journey, one which has taken many turns along the way. That journey has been supported at various points by a host of people that I am eternally grateful to. Firstly, my supervisory team – Dr. Sam George and Dr. Andrew Maunder – whose continued advice and support and many hours of reading and rereading the developing thesis helped to shape the finished piece. I equally wish to thank the wider University of Hertfordshire team and also those involved in the Open Graves, Open Minds project for believing in me and my work and supporting me in undertaking this doctorate. Special thanks goes to Dr. Bill Hughes at OGOM for his advice and support, and for keeping me entertained via the OGOM Facebook page! This thesis would not have been possible without the support of two people from the outset – they are Geoffrey Bond and the late Peter Cochran, both Byron scholars and enthusiasts in their own right. Geoffrey offered me lots of support and advice in the early days, and allowed me unprecedented access to his vast private Byron collection, even acquiring a first edition of the New Monthly Magazine as he knew it would interest me greatly – it did, and it helped me in my research immeasurably. I should also at this point thank his wife, Dianora, whom Geoffrey sent out in all weathers to bring back cake for our meetings! Peter also provided me with a wealth of knowledge and material, and sent me a huge chunk of his work, translations and annotated pieces on Byron and the period. I still recall the day, in late 2013, when a vast amount of his material arrived in my Inbox along with a little note saying “Please, DO ask questions!”. The news of his passing was a sad day, and I am sorry that it happened before he had chance to read my finished piece, so it seems only right that I dedicate it to Peter, alongside Geoffrey. Thank you both for your unwavering support, it means a lot. Balancing a PhD with work and family life was far from easy, so I must here thank my friends and family who understood when I needed to go off on research trips, spend hours locked in the study writing, or sit in the corner reading yet another vampire book with a maniacal look in my eye. Special thanks to my partner Helen, my parents and my daughter Holly, who inspire me to continually better myself. Final thanks go to the two men I think I know fairly intimately now, and who continue to intrigue and inspire me in equal measures – George Gordon, 6th Lord Byron, and John William Polidori, both of whom achieved so much in their short lives. It is a big and bold statement when I say there could be no Dracula without those two men, but I hope my work here shows this to be true. 3 Table of Contents Abstract Page 2 Acknowledgements Page 3 Table of Contents Page 4 List of Illustrations Page 5 Timeline of Events Page 6 Introduction: The Lord Byron / John Polidori Page 8 relationship: A Historiography Chapter One: Lord Byron, John Polidori and their Page 34 connections to vampirism Chapter Two: The ‘Summer of Discontent’: Byron Page 78 and Polidori in Geneva (April-October 1816) Chapter Three: John Polidori’s The Vampyre: Page 105 Conception, publication and accusations of plagiarism Chapter Four: Stage adaptations of The Vampyre Page 158 Conclusion Page 204 Bibliography Page 213 4 List of Illustrations Figure 1: Cover sheet for the book version of Polidori’s tale, printed in 1819 for Sherwood, Nealy and Jones. Figure 2: 18th century illustration of a suspected vampire. Figure 3: Lord Byron in 1813, by Thomas Phillips. Figure 4: G.H. Barlow’s sketch drawing of Byron in 1815. Figure 5: Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, Byron’s ancestral home. Figure 6: John William Polidori, by F.G. Gainsford. Date unknown. Figure 7: Cover sheet for Polidori’s Diary, edited by his nephew William Rossetti and published in 1911. Figure 8: Scene from Byron’s Manfred, showing the landscape of the Jungfrau. Illustration by W.H. Bartlett, 1836. Figure 9: The Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva, as it looked in 1816. Figure 10: Scene from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, by the artist Robert Staines, 1840. Figure 11: Henry Colburn, by the artist F. Marryat. Figure 12: The New Monthly Magazine of 1st April 1819, which contained Polidori’s The Vampyre. Figure 13: Byron’s letter to the publisher Jean Antoine Galignani. Figure 14: Byron’s uncompleted story Fragment. Figure 15: Illustration from Planche’s play The Vampire of 1820. Figure 16: Advertising poster for Marschner’s Der Vampyr. Figure 17: Frontispiece for Blink’s The Vampire Bride. 5 Timeline of events January 1788 – Lord Byron is born September 1795 – John Polidori is born 1813 – Publication of Byron’s vampiric poem ‘The Giaour’ April 1816 – Polidori is hired as Byron’s personal physician April – September 1816 – The Diodati Summer. The Shelley party arrived in May. May 1816 – Caroline Lamb’s Glenarvon is published September 1816 – Polidori is dismissed by Byron. Polidori subsequently writes The Vampyre at the request of a lady January 1818 – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is published April 1819 – The Vampyre is published, under Byron’s name, in the New Monthly Magazine June 1820 – Charles Nodier adapts The Vampyre for the stage in Paris. Shortly after, James Robinson Planché adapts it for an English audience in London August 1821 – Polidori dies after a jig accident in London July 1822 – Shelley drowns in a boat accident in Italy April 1824 – Byron dies of a fever in Greece March 1829 – Heinrich Marschner’s play ‘Der Vampyr’ is performed in London 6 March 1834 – George Blink’s play ‘The Vampire Bride’ is performed in London December 1851 – Alexandre Dumas’ play ‘Le Vampire’ opens in Paris July 1852 – Dion Boucicalt’s play ‘The Vampire’ opens in London May 1897 – Bram Stoker’s Dracula is published 7 INTRODUCTION The Lord Byron / John Polidori relationship – A Historiography The publication of the short story entitled The Vampyre (1819) by John William Polidori (originally credited to Lord Byron) was the first Gothic vampire narrative to use the now familiar guise of the aristocratic vampire, who preyed on young females and drank their blood to prolong his own life. This model, created by Polidori and based on Lord Byron, is now widely recognised through Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula (1897) and the many Hollywood cinematic versions. And yet Polidori’s novella is largely forgotten, and when it is referenced it is still largely credited to Byron in concept if not in authorship. The main strand of my thesis is to argue that Polidori’s text was crucial to the development of the modern vampire image, and that the time he spent with Lord Byron between April and September in 1816 – and public perceptions of Byron at this time - was crucial to the vampire model he helped create. The Vampyre follows the aristocratic, mysterious Lord Ruthven and his travelling companion Aubrey. Throughout the tale, events occur that lead Aubrey to realise that Ruthven is a vampire, but he is forced to swear an oath that he will not reveal the truth. The anxiety and mental disturbance this knowledge brings to Aubrey eventually kills him, but not before Ruthven preys on Aubrey’s own sister and escapes. Polidori, allegedly, composed the tale at the request of a lady whilst in Switzerland in 1816, having spent three months working as Byron’s personal physician before being sacked in September of that year. He used a concept that Byron had created during the now infamous ‘ghost story writing’ challenge at the Villa Diodati, where Byron and Polidori resided with the Shelley party over the summer of 1816.
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