Citizendia
Your Ad Here

John William Polidori

Born 7 July 1795(1795-07-07)
London, England
Died 24 August 1821 (aged 26)
London, England
Occupation Physician, Writer
Influences
Influenced

John William Polidori (7 September 1795 – 24 August 1821) was an Italian English physician and writer, known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction. Events 1456 - A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death Year 1795 ( MDCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar 's General Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River Year 1821 ( MDCCCXXI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912 was an Irish writer of novels and short stories who is best known today for his 1897 horror Events 1251 BC - A Solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes Greece. Year 1795 ( MDCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar 's General Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River Year 1821 ( MDCCCXXI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes.

Contents

Family

Polidori was the oldest son of Gaetano Polidori, an Italian political émigré scholar, and Anna Maria Pierce, a governess. Gaetano Polidori (1764-1853 was an Italian writer and scholar living in London. The' Italian people' are a Southern European Ethnic group located primarily in Italy, Switzerland, France and by virtue of a wide-ranging Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out" but often carries a connotation of politico-social self- Exile. He had three brothers and four sisters.

His sister Frances Polidori married exiled Italian scholar Gabriele Rossetti, and so John is the uncle of Maria Francesca Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti and Christina Rossetti, though they were born after his death. Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti ( 28 February 1783 – 24 April 1854) was an Italian Poet and scholar who emigrated Maria Francesca Rossetti ( 17 February, 1827 - 24 November, 1876) was an English author Dante Gabriel Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882 was an English poet Illustrator, painter and Translator. William Michael Rossetti ( 25 September 1829 &ndash 5 February 1919) was an English writer and critic Christina Georgina Rossetti ( December 5, 1830 &ndash December 29, 1894) was an English Poet, who wrote a variety of romantic devotional

Biography

Polidori was one of the earliest pupils at recently established Ampleforth College from 1804, and in 1810 went up to the University of Edinburgh, where he wrote a thesis on sleepwalking and received his degree as a doctor of medicine on 1 August 1815 at the age of 19. Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest private Catholic mixed boarding school in the United Kingdom, and it is occasionally referred Year 1804 ( MDCCCIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Year 1810 ( MDCCCX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The University of Edinburgh (Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann founded in 1582 is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Events 30 BC - Octavian (later known as Augustus enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Year 1815 ( MDCCCXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year

In 1816 Dr. Year 1816 ( MDCCCXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Polidori entered Lord Byron's service as his personal physician, and accompanied Byron on a trip through Europe. At the Villa Diodati, a house Byron rented by Lake Geneva in Switzerland, the pair met with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, and her husband-to-be, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their companion (Mary's stepsister) Claire Clairmont. The Villa Diodati is a manor in Cologny close to Lake Geneva. Lake Geneva or Lake Léman (Lac Léman Léman Lac de Genève is the second largest freshwater Lake in Central Europe in terms of surface area (after Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Mary Shelley ( Née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4 1792 – July 8 1822 ˈpɝːsɪ ˈbɪʃ ˈʃɛlɪ was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among Clara Mary Jane Clairmont ( 27 April, 1798 – 19 March, 1879) or Claire Clairmont as she was commonly known was a stepsister

One night in June, after the company had read aloud from the Tales of the Dead, a collection of horror tales, Byron suggested that they each write a ghost story. Tales of the Dead was an English Anthology of Horror fiction, published in 1813 by the Publishing house Mary Shelley worked on a tale that would later evolve into Frankenstein. Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a Novel written by the British author Mary Shelley Byron wrote (and quickly abandoned) a fragment of a story, which Polidori used later as the basis for his own tale, The Vampyre, the first vampire story published in English.

Dismissed by Byron, Polidori travelled in Italy and then returned to England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland His story, "The Vampyre", was published in the April 1819 issue of New Monthly Magazine without his permission. " The Vampyre " is a short story written by John William Polidori and is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of Fantasy The New Monthly Magazine was a British monthly magazine published by Henry Colburn between 1814 and 1884. Whilst in London he lived and died in Great Pulteney Street (Soho). Much to both his and Byron's chagrin, "The Vampyre" was released as a new work by Byron. Byron even released his own Fragment of a Novel in an attempt to clear up the mess, but, for better or worse, "The Vampyre" continued to be attributed to him.

His long, Byron-influenced theological poem The Fall of the Angels, was published anonymously in 1821. The Fall of the Angels is a Miltonesque epic poem by John William Polidori concerned with the creation of the world

He died in August 1821, weighed down by depression and gambling debts. Despite strong evidence that he committed suicide by means of prussic acid, the coroner gave a verdict of death by natural causes. Hydrogen cyanide is a Chemical compound with Chemical formula HCN

Post mortem

His sister Charlotte made a transcription of his Diaries, but censored "peccant passages" and destroyed the original. Based only on the transcription, The Diary of John Polidori was edited by William Michael Rossetti and first published in 1911 by Elkin Mathews (London). William Michael Rossetti ( 25 September 1829 &ndash 5 February 1919) was an English writer and critic Charles Elkin Mathews ( 1851 - 10 November 1921 was a Publisher and Bookseller who played an important role in the literary life of A reprint of this book, The diary of Dr. John William Polidori, 1816, relating to Byron, Shelley, etc was published by Folcroft Library Editions (Folcroft, Pa. ) in 1975. Another reprint by the same title was printed by Norwood Editions (Norwood, Pa. ) in 1978.

A number of films have depicted John Polidori and the genesis of the Frankenstein and "Vampyre" stories in 1816: Gothic directed by Ken Russell (1986), Haunted Summer directed by Ivan Passer (1988) and Remando al viento (English title: Rowing with the Wind) directed by Gonzalo Suárez (1988). Gothic is a 1986 Film directed by Ken Russell. It starred Gabriel Byrne as Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell, known as Ken Russell (born 3 July 1927 is an English Film director. Ivan Passer, (b July 10, 1933) Czech-born film director & screenwriter Gonzalo Suárez Morilla ( July 30, 1934, Oviedo) is a Spanish Writer, Screenwriter and Film director. He also appears as a minor and unsympathetic character in the Tim Powers horror novel The Stress of Her Regard (1989), in which Polidori does not write about vampires but becomes directly involved with them. Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American Science fiction and fantasy author The Stress of Her Regard is a 1989 horror / Fantasy novel by Tim Powers. His name was also used for a character in a television movie adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel: Frankenstein: The True Story directed by Jack Smight (1973). Frankenstein The True Story is a 1973 British made-for-television Horror film based on the book Frankenstein Jack Smight ( March 9, 1925 - September 1, 2003) was an American Film director. Dr. John Polidori was the protagonist of "The Post-Modern Prometheus," an X-Files episode from the fifth season; he was portrayed by John O'Hurley.

Paul West's novel "Lord Byron's Doctor" (1989) is a recreation, and ribald fictionalization, of Polidori's diaries. West memorably depicts him as a literary groupie whose attempts to emulate Byron eventually unhinge and destroy him.

Polidori is a central character in the novel Gothic Romance (or Bravoure in the original French edition) by Emmanuel Carrère which, amongst other things, presents a fictionalised account of the events of 1816. Emmanuel Carrère (born in Paris on December 9, 1957) is a French author screenwriter and director Polidori is also the 'hero' of the novel Imposture (2007) by Benjamin Markovits.

Sources

Further reading

External links

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic