THE VAMPYRE AND OTHER TALES OF THE MACABRE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK John Polidori,Robert Morrison,Chris Baldick | 320 pages | 01 Nov 2008 | Oxford University Press | 9780199552412 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom [PDF] the vampyre and other tales of the macabre eBook Original Title. Other Editions 4. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Apr 13, Bill Kerwin rated it really liked it Shelves: ghost-stories , 19th-c-brit , short-stories , weird-fiction. This is a companion volume to Tales from Blackwood's Magazine , containing early 19th century stories of grisly happenings and extreme psychological states culled from British magazines other than Blackwood's. The most influential piece here, of course, is "The Vampyre," originally thought to be Byron's but actually written by Byron's personal physician and cast-off middle-class toady Dr. John Polidori, a tale that turned the vampire into a 19th craze by transforming the rather shabby peasant Eas This is a companion volume to Tales from Blackwood's Magazine , containing early 19th century stories of grisly happenings and extreme psychological states culled from British magazines other than Blackwood's. John Polidori, a tale that turned the vampire into a 19th craze by transforming the rather shabby peasant Eastern European folkloric figure into the libertine image of Lord B. It was Polidori who added sex, class and elegance to the vampire, forever putting his mark upon the legend. The anthology also includes Henry Colborn's original introduction from the "New Monthly Magazine," the anonymous letter accompanying the manuscript on its first publication, a note by Polidori on authorship, and Byron's original fragmentary tale. Most of the other stories are worth at least one reading and will give you a very good idea of the dark sensational fiction characteristic of the Regency. Edward Bulwer's "Monos and Daimonos" is distinguished by a narrative voice that inevitably reminds one of Poe and surely must have influenced him. Even Letitia Landon's "The Bride of Lindorf" , a poorly-written piece stuffed with adjectives and sentimental commonplaces, is instructive in demonstrating how the cliches of the degenerate gothic would soon fill the most sensational productions of Victorian woman's fiction. View all 7 comments. I enjoyed all three but my favorite is Polidori's short story. There is a sadness to all but to me, The Vampyre is the most devastating of the three. This short story was one of many written in the famous ghost story competition at Villa Diodati, the famous Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was included. Polidori was Lord Byron's personal physician and had Byron in mind for his main character. Byron wrote Augustus Darvell but it was not completed, it was thought that The Vampyre was Bryon's but that was proved to be Polidori's story. In this collection the unfinished Augustus Darnell is included which has many similarities which is eery. If you are looking for gothic, vampire, horrifying and grave robbing stories then the stories listed her will fit the bill. There are three anonymous stories which all are wonderfully written. Willis My Hobby - Rather - strange story regarding a corpse. Jun 14, Danielle The Book Huntress Back to the Books added it Shelves: classic-horror , owned-copy , anthology , gothic-fiction , started-but-put-down. This is a partial review. I read The Vampyre out of this collection, but I will read the other stories when I have the opportunity. Polidori was the personal physician of the infamous Lord Byron, and this work of fiction was conceived on that famous holiday event in which Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin who would later This is a partial review. Polidori was the personal physician of the infamous Lord Byron, and this work of fiction was conceived on that famous holiday event in which Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin who would later become Mary Shelley issued a challenge to each other to write Gothic stories. This was Mr. Polidori's result. Polidori's feelings towards his debauched past employer are quite clear. In this case, Lord Ruthven has a supernatural ability to ruin, damage, and destroy anything he lays his hands on, and enjoys doing so in the process. This does not speak well of Lord Byron, and based of what I have read of him, I can see some echoes of him in this character. Lord Caroline Lamb, the incredibly outrageous for her times, cast-off mistress of Byron is immortalized in a character who appears briefly in the beginning of the story, at least in my opinion. As far as the writing, I didn't feel that it was particularly inspired or brilliant. This short story is all telling and little showing. This created a distance between the characters in this story and myself. It was hard to feel much sympathy for Aubrey, his sister Miss Aubrey, Ianthe, or anyone else because the narrative was too much like a bland newspaper article, with little connection to the intense emotions of the persons involved. I had a distant feeling of dislike and disgust for Lord Ruthven, which with more active, vivid writing could have been outright disgust. That is a sadly wasted opportunity for a writer, in my opinion. It's hard to say much overall about this story. It wasn't bad. I can't say I was disappointed, because I didn't have high expectations. Regardless of the issues as far as the writing, Mr. Polidori has earned his place in the vampire fiction canon. Sadly, he lived a short, disappointing to himself life. Although he could not be aware of the famous status of this story, it is some comfort to me that he has created something that endured two hundred years later. For that I will respect and appreciate The Vampyre. And also for its commentary of Lord Byron, a man whose antics pretty much created its own character archetype in literature, the Byronic hero. Admittedly in this case, there is nothing at all to recommend Lord Ruthven. Lord Byron himself, I cannot say yay or nay to that question. End verdict: Any vampire fiction aficionado should take the opportunity to read this story at least for its historical value. View all 4 comments. Okay, I really loved the title story 'The Vampyre' and would probably give that one 4 stars. It was really beautifully written, gripping and page-turning. I also enjoyed the introduction to the story - and that is something which the Oxford editions always do really well. Unfortunately, the title story was about 30 pages long and the other stories couldn't really grab my interest. I am starting to feel t Okay, I really loved the title story 'The Vampyre' and would probably give that one 4 stars. I am starting to feel that this is more due to a problem I have with short story anthologies. There are just always more stories that I dislike than like in an anthology and that makes it hard to be positive about the whole thing. Wow, this is a good book! The main reason why I liked it is because instead of getting beat over the head with the usual same-old, same-old, frequently anthologized horror stories "Dracula's Guest", "The Jolly Corner", "Good Lady Ducayne" and so on , this book brings out some rarities that definitely deserve more attention. Admittedly, a couple of the stories are rather boring - N. Willis' "My Hobby - Rather" what the hell does that mean?!? However, it is a small price to pay for how many good stories are in this book. Catherine Gore's "The Red Man" is terrifying and heartbreaking. I also like that the appendices of this book include Byron's original cut of "The Vampyre", as well as the verses from his "Giaour" that involve vampirism: Thy corse corpse shall from its tomb be rent; Then ghastly haunt thy native place, And suck the blood of all thy race; Above all, I feel the real prize of this book is Letitia E. Landon's "The Bride of Lindorf". Yes, it is obvious this tale is from the age of sentimentality. But the prose is stunning, the imagery is gorgeous, and it makes for a nice romantic escape. Landon L. L walked - even though no one knows about her now - so I'd say there must have been something there! Bodysnatchers, cholera, curses and ghosts This is a collection of fourteen stories that were first published in magazines between and This was a time when magazines were flourishing, providing information and sensation to a readership hungry for entertainment. The foreword tells me that this book deliberately omits the famous Edinburgh-based Blackwood magazine, because Oxford World Bodysnatchers, cholera, curses and ghosts I found this an intriguing collection, different in tone to the usual horror anthology. More than one of the stories has been influenced by the true-life story of Burke and Hare, who robbed graves and murdered people to supply bodies for anatomy students. Macabre is undoubtedly the right word for the collection — some of the stories are fairly gruesome, with a proliferation of corpses and anatomists popping up more than once, and the ones based on real events have an added grimness for knowing that. Madness, when it appears, is not always of the Poe-esque high Gothic variety, but more of the realistic murderer type, and is therefore more chilling than scary, perhaps. A couple of them were too macabre for my squeamish taste, but they were more than compensated for by touches of humour or genuine spookiness in other stories.