Weeks seven - eight
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).
When choosing which question to answer this one lept out at me in particular. I'm fascinated by the suggestion that everything happens for a reason. And in how minor details make up such an important part of why things take place. For instance everything from the co-incidence that the Shelley’s happened to be staying close by, to the weather, to the odds that they were all in the same place when the bad whether stuck. Without all these events taking place Mary Shelley may not have had the twisted ideas and influences needed to make Frankenstein such a powerful and intense read.
ReplyDeleteIn the summer of 1816 Lord Byron rented Villa Diodati, which was a mansion in Switzerland. He stayed there with John Polidori. At the time she was Mary Godwin (but would later go on to marry Percy and be known as Mary Shelley) and Percy Bysshe Shelley were frequent visitors throughout the holiday as they had also rented a place nearby (Maison Chapuis). Claire Clairmont who was Mary’s step sister also joined in at the Villa.
1816 was apparently known as the year of no summer which is how Byron, Polidori and the Shelley’s found themselves in the house for three days straight which was later to become famous as that was the time that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstien and Polidori wrote The Vampyre.
The weather was so bad that the four writers couldn’t leave and had to stay within Villa Diodati. It was throughout that duration that they came up with an activity to pass the time. Each person was to write a freakish tale and they each presented their stories to each other. It is speculated that Mary Shelley may not have been able to come up with the horrors of Frankenstien had she not been in such a situation. Key factors that would have influenced her would have been the scary weather, perhaps the spookiness of a dark house, and the competitiveness to scare the men she was sharing her time with.
Q. 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
ReplyDeleteA. The literatures written by Shelley, M. (1818) and Polidori, J. (1819) have greatly influenced many authors up to this day. There are many books, TV series, and movies that have adapted the characters or the concept found in “Frankenstein” and “The Vampyre”, such as “Twilight”, “True blood”, and “Vampire Diaries”, all very famous book-adapted films and TV series that are loved by many across the globe. However, the most noticeable literature that was influenced by “The Vampyre” was Stoker, B.’s “Dracula” (Buzwell, G., n.d.), which, along with Polidori, J.’s “The Vampyre”, eventually influenced the whole vampire genre. The Villa Diodati “brat-pack” has created a one of the most common genre, adapted by many literature, that will be loved by heaps and continue to develop even in the future.
Reference
Buzwell, G. (n.d). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and the Villa Diodati. Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians. Retrieved from http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/mary-shelley-frankenstein-and-the-villa-diodati
While browsing through the questions for this week’s readings I was a bit confused as to which I would research further. After reading the desiginated pieces for the week, I was a bit perplexed about what Villa Diodati was or is and the role it played in the literature I just read. Thus leading to the motive of wanting to know more of the Villa Diodati.
ReplyDeleteThe Villa Diodati is a mansion situated in the village of Cologny in Switzerland. However, it is the events that took place within the mansion as well as the circumstances that occured leading up to this specific point of time.
In the summer of 1816, Lord Byron along with his personal physician John William Polidori rented out Villa Diodati. IThis was seen as an attempt by Lord Byron to escape the scandals surrounding his recent seperation from his wife and rumours about his affair with his step sister. It is important to note that Lord Byron is widely regarded as England’s greatest ever poet (reference). They were later joined by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley (at the time known as Mary Goodwin) as well as Mary’s step-sister Clair Clairmont whom rented out a smaller house close by. Furthermore, Percy and Mary were understood to be very prominent English writers too.
During their fateful visit in 1816, the weather inexplicably took a turn for the worst and all five of the aformentioned individuals were trapped inside the Villa Diodati. To help get through this time, each individual started telling old German ghost stories in an attempt to scare each other. From this, Lord Byron announced that it would be appropriate for each individual to create their own original ‘scary’ tale. Thus leading to the creation of Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus story created by Mary Shelley. Futhermore, the Vampyre, which was the inspiration for the now famous tale of Dracula, was conjured by Polidori.