1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:11,840 Speaker 1: and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised. Hi, 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: this is Danish Wartz. Just a quick message if you 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: want to support Noble Blood. We have a Patreon. It's 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 1: at patreon dot com slash Noble Blood Tales, where I 6 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: post episode scripts and bonus contents like I'm currently watching 7 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: through the CW series Rain. We also have Noble Blood 8 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: merch at d F t b A dot com, and 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,479 Speaker 1: I have a book that's out that is all linked 10 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,599 Speaker 1: in the episode description. But of course the best possible 11 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: support is just listening to the podcast, and you don't 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: need to do any of that. In April eighteen fifteen, 13 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: the word world bore witness to one of the most 14 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:07,840 Speaker 1: powerful volcanic eruptions in human history when Mount Tambora, centered 15 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:12,960 Speaker 1: on the Indonesian island Sumbawa, erupted. It's sent debris, gas 16 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: and lava to decimate the surrounding area, cloaking the island 17 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: inhabitants in a two day long darkness. Tsunamis were triggered 18 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: across the Java Sea and oceans of ash tore through 19 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: forest and grassland. An estimated ten thousand people were killed instantly. 20 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: Tambora's impact was felt far and wide. By the next year, 21 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,199 Speaker 1: a massive dust cloud had formed in the atmosphere, which 22 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: climate scientists now believe was partially responsible for a great 23 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: chill that swept across the northern Hemisphere. It led to 24 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: crop failure and famine, unrest, and migration. The period became 25 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: known as the Year without a Summer, with Europe covered 26 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: in fog and frost even through the typically warmer months. 27 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: Take a description of the weather in Geneva, Switzerland, on 28 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:17,679 Speaker 1: May seventeen. Quote. The spring, as the inhabitants informed us, 29 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: was unusually late, and indeed the cold was excessive. As 30 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: we ascended the mountains, the same clouds which rained on 31 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: us in the valleys poured forth large flakes of snow, 32 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: thick and fast. The sun occasionally shone through these showers 33 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: and illuminated the magnificent ravines of the mountains, whose gigantic 34 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: pines were some laden with snow, some wreathed round by 35 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: the lines of scattered and lingering vapor. Others darted their 36 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: dark spires into the sunny sky, brilliantly clear and azure. 37 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: These are the words of the young Merry woolstone Craft 38 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: Odwin as she documented her journey to Geneva alongside her 39 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: soon to be husband, the poet Percy Shelley, their four 40 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: month old son William, and Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont. Also 41 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,919 Speaker 1: finding his way to Geneva was Claire's former flame, Lord Byron, 42 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: England's most scandalous celebrity of the moment, whose trip to 43 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: the country was less a vacation and more of an 44 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: escape from the increasingly scornful public eye. Traveling with Byron 45 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: was his personal physician, John Polidori, who had literary aspirations 46 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: of his own. Shelley and Byron were already fans of 47 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: each other's work, so when the two parties crossed paths 48 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: at the hands of a still love sick Claire, who 49 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: was the one who casually suggested Geneva in the first place, 50 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: it seemed only natural that they would rent accommodations near 51 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: each other. The Shelley crew, not particularly well off, n 52 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: did a modest house called the Maison Chapuis, located just 53 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: below a rather lavish mansion rented by Byron Villa Diodati. 54 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: For days on end, the unseasonable reign was relentless, and 55 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: the entire group was forced to spend much of their 56 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: time together inside the villa. Their nights were spent discussing 57 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: literary projects and debating philosophy. One of their favorite topics 58 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: was whether or not human corpses could be reanimated. Mary 59 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: later described herself as a devout but nearly silent listener 60 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: of those debates between the men. At some point, Byron 61 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: proposed a competition to pass the time. Everyone was to 62 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: try to come up with their own ghost story. From 63 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,159 Speaker 1: a contest among a reigned in a group of romantics, 64 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: two new Gothic horror genres were born from the ashes 65 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: of Tambora Row Monsters. I'm Dani Schwartz and this is 66 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: Noble Blood. First things first, let's establish the players at 67 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: Villa Diodati that summer. Let's start with George Byron. Where 68 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: we meet George Gordon Byron, the sixth Baron. Byron in 69 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: our story, is not a particularly high point in his life. 70 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: Close friends would say that he was leaving England of 71 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: his own volition. According to the Baron John Kim Hobhouse quote, 72 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: there was not the slightest necessity, even in appearance for 73 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: his going abroad. Those who weren't close friends would tell 74 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: a very different tale. The eighteen twelve publication of his 75 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: poem Child Harald's Pilgrimage made Byron a nearly instant literary celebrity. 76 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: He was the darling of London society, a fixture at 77 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: their parties and in the hearts and minds of women. 78 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: He was incredibly vain, likely fueled by his insecurities about 79 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: his clubbed right foot, and he acted as incredibly vain 80 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: men do. Despite his fame and title, Byron was not 81 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: born well off. His father, the former British officer nicknamed 82 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: mad Jack. Byron, had only married his mother for her money, 83 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: and he squandered it all away quite quickly. Mad Jack 84 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: then abandoned his wife and young son to fend for themselves. 85 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: After his uncle died without an air, Byron inherited his 86 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,719 Speaker 1: minor title of baron and all that came with it. 87 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: But it was Byron's poetry that truly allowed him to 88 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 1: gain access to society. A reputation came with his status mad, 89 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: bad and dangerous to know. In the words of Caroline Lamb, 90 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: noble Blood alumnus and one of Byron's most famous ex lovers, 91 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: or take the words of writer Amelia Opie, another one 92 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: of the women that Byron charmed, quote such a voice 93 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: as the devil tempted Eve with you feared its fascination 94 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: the moment you heard it. At this point, however, the 95 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: gossip surrounding Byron went beyond hedonism and womanizing. Byron's January 96 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: of eighteen fifteen marriage to Caroline Lamb's cousin Annabella was 97 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: doomed from the start. Feeling trapped in monogamy, he began 98 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: to act out as Caroline predicted Byron quote would never 99 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: be able to pull with a woman who went to church, punctually, 100 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: understood statistics, and had a bad figure within his circle. 101 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 1: He became less secretive of past homosexual affairs and spoken 102 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: innuendoes as to the nature of his relationship with his 103 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: half sister Augusta. Just a year after they were wed, 104 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: Annabella took the couple's infant daughter, Ada to her parents 105 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: home in Leicestershire. A few short weeks later, Annabella's father, 106 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: Sir Ralph Milbank, wrote to Byron to formally request a separation. 107 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: After that, rumors that have been contained within the In 108 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: the Know literary circle began to spread across the city. 109 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: The flames of these wildfires were in some part fueled 110 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: by Caroline herself, who famously wanted to see her ex 111 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: lover burn marital violence, adultery, incest, sodomy. Byron's public image 112 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:52,559 Speaker 1: was becoming truly dangerous to know. Writing from London to Leicestershire, 113 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: Augusta rather awkwardly informed her half sister in law of 114 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: quote reports abroad of a nature too horrible to repeat. 115 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: Every other sinks into nothing besides this most horrid one. 116 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: In the same letter, Augusta quotes Byron's response to the rumors, 117 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: or rather one of the rumors, quote even to have 118 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 1: such a thing said is utter destruction and ruined to 119 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:24,199 Speaker 1: a man from which he can never recover. So which 120 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 1: rumor was Byron referencing. It's worth noting at this point 121 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: that many historians believe the incest rumors to be true, 122 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: and that Elizabeth Madura Lee, Augusta's third daughter is still 123 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: likely thought to be Byron's. Despite its taboo, incest was 124 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: not a criminal offense in England at this point, so 125 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: it's actually more likely that it was the sodomy accusations 126 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,560 Speaker 1: that ultimately dissuaded Byron from protesting his role in the 127 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:58,679 Speaker 1: divorce proceedings in court. Whether you believe Hobhouse that Byron 128 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 1: was simply heading out for vacation, or whether you're more 129 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: inclined to believe the considerable evidence pointing to the contrary, 130 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: the fact is that in April Byron left England, never 131 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: to return. He ordered a carriage modeled after Napoleon's, which 132 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: had been famously captured as the general fled Waterloo just 133 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 1: the year before Byron's exile. It's not hard to imagine 134 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 1: why Byron identified with Napoleon's indulgence and tragedy. As Byron 135 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 1: once told a friend, quote with me, there is, as 136 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: Napoleon said, but one step between the sublime and the ridiculous. 137 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: Byron's traveling companion was his newly certified physician, twenty year 138 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: old John Polidori. It's unknown why exactly Byron invited Polidori, 139 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,200 Speaker 1: despite protests from Hobhouse, but there are several good guesses 140 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: as to why the doctor accepted, one being the offer 141 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:00,560 Speaker 1: of quote no less than a sum of five pounds 142 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: for an account of Byron's forthcoming tour from Byron's publisher, 143 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: John Murray. Also on their way to Geneva, of course, 144 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: were Mary and Percy Shelley. Mary wasn't technically a Shelley 145 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: at this point. While the couple had eloped nearly two 146 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: years earlier, they wouldn't wed until December eighteen sixteen, after 147 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:29,679 Speaker 1: Percy's first wife ultimately committed suicide. Yes, when the famous 148 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: lovers met, the twenty one year old Percy was already 149 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:38,079 Speaker 1: married to another sixteen year old girl, Harriet, with whom 150 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: he had fathered a child. Percy was a great fan 151 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: of Mary's father, William Godwin, and he would join the 152 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: family for dinner, eventually visiting nearly every day. Percy's anti 153 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 1: Christian and pro free love views had drawn him to 154 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 1: Godwin's famously antarctic works. At this point, young Percy had 155 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,359 Speaker 1: been kicked out of Oxford for his atheism and disowned 156 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: by his wealthy father. He was living up to his 157 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,839 Speaker 1: childhood nickname Mad Shelley, given to him by bullies at 158 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: Eton College for his head in the clouds attitude, his 159 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: refusal to adhere to hazing traditions, and his sometimes violent 160 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: bouts of anger. Shelley even claims his own father once 161 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: tried to have him admitted to a madhouse in Godwin, 162 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: Percy sought both a mentor and a surrogate parent. Though 163 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: Percy and Mary had actually met once before, uneventfully in 164 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: eighteen twelves. When Percy came around again two years later, 165 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: Mary was immediately smitten with his poems, his politics, and 166 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: his quote wild intellectual, unearthly looks, as Percy's friend Thomas 167 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:58,760 Speaker 1: Jefferson Hogg had described them. Neither Godwin nor Mary's stepmother 168 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: approved of the Omans, so Percy and Mary would often 169 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: sneak off together, namely to a local churchyard, St. Pancras 170 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:13,199 Speaker 1: Old Church. The churchyard was Mary's favorite spot, her retreat, 171 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: where she spent an obsessive amount of time seeking peace 172 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: and a connection with one woman buried there, her mother, 173 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:26,679 Speaker 1: the famous writer Mary Wollstonecraft. The Elder. Mary was one 174 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: of the most prominent writers of her time and one 175 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: of the most radical. Her seventeen two treatise A Vindication 176 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: of the Rights of Women is often considered the first 177 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: English language feminist text. By the time Mary Wollstonecraft met Godwin, 178 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: a fellow radical, she already had a daughter, Fanny, born 179 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: from an affair with an American businessman. When Mary and 180 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: Godwin got together and Mary became pregnant for the second time, 181 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: they agreed that marriage would be best for the children, 182 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 1: despite neither of them believing in the practice. Baby Mary 183 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: was born healthy, but her mother suffered complications. It was 184 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: ultimately the result of unhygienic medical practices that Mary Wolstoncraft 185 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: would not live to raise her daughter. She died of 186 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: a bacterial infection just eleven days after giving birth. Though 187 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: Godwin did not resent the baby Mary for the death 188 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: of his wife, she grew up knowing that she was 189 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: somehow responsible for her mother's absence. Still, Godwin kept his 190 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: late wife's presence in Mary's life. A portrait of her 191 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: was hung above the stairs, where young Mary saw it 192 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: every day, and her father would frequently take her to 193 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 1: visit her mother's grave site at the same church where 194 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: the late Mary and Godwin had been married not too 195 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: long before. It's said that young Mary learned how to 196 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: write her own name from tracing the engraving on her 197 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: mother's headstone. In the words of literary critic Sandra M. Gilbert, 198 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: Mary's only real mother was a tombstone. As young Mary 199 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: grew up, the grave became her place of solace, increasingly 200 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 1: so after her father remarried. She would carry piles of 201 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: books from her home and spend the day reading with 202 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: her mother. Mary frequently reread her mother's own work, absorbing 203 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: her knowledge, searching for it. In herself quote, I conceived 204 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: it to be the duty of every rational creature to 205 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: attend to its offspring, Wollstonecraft had written in Thoughts on 206 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: the Education of Daughters in While wolf Stonecraft was not 207 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: able to attend to her own daughter, Mary would recreate 208 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: her presence as best she could. Bringing Percy to the grave, then, 209 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: was the ultimate vulnerability, the ultimate invitation into her prior 210 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 1: of it world. On Sunday, June fourteen, Mary brought Percy 211 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: to the grave and declared her love. He reciprocated, and 212 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: it's notoriously believed that they consummated the relationship then and 213 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: there in the graveyard, an inspiration to future Goths everywhere. 214 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: While the story seems almost too Gothic to be true, 215 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: we can assume that they did in fact sleep together 216 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: for the first time that day in the graveyard or elsewhere, 217 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 1: as Percy refers to the day in his journal entries 218 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: as his true birthday. The couple eloped later that summer, 219 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: to the disapproval of Godwin. He still opposed marriage despite 220 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: his own and was concerned with Percy's increasing debt. Though 221 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,440 Speaker 1: he didn't outright disown Mary, the relationship between father and 222 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:00,680 Speaker 1: daughter became distant and cold after Mary love for France 223 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,640 Speaker 1: with her new quote unquote husband. When the couple ran 224 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,160 Speaker 1: out of money, a then pregnant Mary asked her father 225 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: for assistance, he denied her. In February of eighteen fifteen, 226 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: Mary gave birth prematurely to a daughter, who would die 227 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 1: within a month. Mary was plunged into a deep depression 228 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: and would consider herself haunted by the baby for years. Nonetheless, 229 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: in January of the next year, she gave birth to 230 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,679 Speaker 1: a son and named him William, after her father. That summer, 231 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,640 Speaker 1: at the urging of her step sister Claire, the Shelleys 232 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:45,200 Speaker 1: decided to follow Lord Byron on a trip to Geneva. 233 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,399 Speaker 1: Of note is the fact that Claire was pregnant with 234 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,280 Speaker 1: a child rumored at the time to actually be Percy's. 235 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:58,520 Speaker 1: There's no actual evidence of an affair between Claire and Percy, 236 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: and we now know that the child in fact belonged 237 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: to another free loving poet Lord Byron Lake Geneva was 238 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 1: an ideal spot for a romantic poet. It was surrounded 239 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 1: by vineyards and hugged by the silhouettes of the Alps 240 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: snowy peaks in the distance. The crescent moon shaped body 241 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,360 Speaker 1: of water is the largest and deepest in Central Europe. 242 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: Mary described it lavishly in her travel journal as quote 243 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 1: blue as the heavens, which it reflects. During summers when 244 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:35,440 Speaker 1: there hasn't been recent volcanic activity, the lake is warm 245 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: enough to swim in. Situated on top of a hill, 246 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: overlooking those heavenly depths and the stretching vineyards is the 247 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:49,880 Speaker 1: stately salmon pink Villa Diodati. The villa still stands today, 248 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 1: its exterior largely unchanged from the time of the group's day, 249 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:59,480 Speaker 1: from its teel shuttered windows to its expansive balcony. The 250 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: privately owned it's still a habit for literary tourists to 251 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: try to catch a glimpse of the mansion from nearby 252 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: walking ways. This is a tradition that began in eighteen sixteen, 253 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: when hotels started to charge English tourists to spy on 254 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: the villa from telescopes across the lake. That's how famous 255 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: Byron and his friends were at the time. It said 256 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: that people would sail by in boats hoping to peek 257 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: at the women's underwear on the washing lines, or see 258 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: anything to confirm that the villa was as debaucherous as 259 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: it was in their imaginations. It was even deemed a 260 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: quote league of incest at the time. Those words often 261 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: attributed to the prominent poet Robert Southey. There's no actual 262 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:53,520 Speaker 1: evidence for the nightly orgies that were rumored to be 263 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:57,160 Speaker 1: happening there, and there was even an outright denial from Byron. 264 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:02,639 Speaker 1: Quote so much for scoundrels southeast story of incest. Neither 265 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: was there any promiscuous intercourse whatever. Both are an invention 266 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,199 Speaker 1: of the execrable villain Southey, whom I will term so 267 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 1: publicly as he deserves end quote. Still, the group's entangled 268 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: web of romantic and platonic connections to one another, combined 269 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,920 Speaker 1: with the presence of the eager voyeurs across the lake, 270 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:29,360 Speaker 1: would soon contribute to an environment of claustrophobia. Lest we forget, 271 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 1: thanks to the weather, they were quite literally confined to 272 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 1: the house. It proved a wet ungenial summer and incessant 273 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: rain often confined us for days to the house Mary 274 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: would later describe. She recounted that during these periods, various 275 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:51,159 Speaker 1: philosophical doctrines were discussed, and among others, the nature of 276 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: the principle of life and whether there was any probability 277 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: of its ever being discovered and communicated to ground Byron 278 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 1: and Percy's wild imaginations was the medical knowledge of Polidori, 279 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: who's due for a proper introduction in our story. Now. 280 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:12,679 Speaker 1: John Polidori had never intended to study medicine, but his 281 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: father forced him to follow the track he envisioned for 282 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: his son, and he had enrolled him in the University 283 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: of Edinburgh to study the science. Though John never stood 284 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 1: up to his father, he resented his rigidity, which likely 285 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:30,920 Speaker 1: played a part in his hatred for both medicine and school. 286 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: Over the course of his reluctant education, Polidori discovered a 287 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: passion for literature. Still, he dutifully finished his schooling and 288 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: became a doctor at age twenty. At the time, however, 289 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 1: in order to practice in London, a doctor had to 290 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 1: be at least twenty six. It was during this waiting 291 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: period that Polidori took the job of Byron's physician, which 292 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: was offered thanks to a connection of his father. Their 293 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:05,440 Speaker 1: relationship was doomed from the start, each man self obsessed 294 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: in his own way, but only one with the prestige 295 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: to back it up and the current need for an 296 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:15,119 Speaker 1: emotional punching bag. At one of Byron's last dinners with 297 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: friends in England, Polidori had asked his new employer if 298 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:21,679 Speaker 1: he could read a bit of a play he had written. 299 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:26,200 Speaker 1: Byron agreed, if only to have the opportunity to play 300 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:30,159 Speaker 1: the role of mean girl and skewer Polidori's efforts for 301 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:34,879 Speaker 1: the laughter of the table. In another exchange, the doctor 302 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 1: had asked the poet, what is there accepting writing poetry 303 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:43,639 Speaker 1: that I cannot do better than you? Byron Calmlier replied, first, 304 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: I can hit with a pistol the keyhole of that door. Secondly, 305 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,359 Speaker 1: I can swim across that river to yonder point, and 306 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 1: thirdly I can give you a damned good thrashing. If 307 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,400 Speaker 1: you're feeling for Polidori right now, keep in mind that 308 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,360 Speaker 1: at least all of that would probably provide him good 309 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 1: material later on, back to the villa, during one of 310 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:10,679 Speaker 1: those indoor stretches, the group began to read pieces from Phantasmagoriana, 311 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: a French anthology of German ghost stories. It was this 312 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:19,520 Speaker 1: collection that gave Byron his famous idea. We will each 313 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 1: write a ghost story, he said, as Mary later recounted, 314 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: Namely excluded from each was Claire, who cared less about 315 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: writing and more about a certain writer. While the contest 316 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: was a fun way to pass the time, it was 317 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: also a desperately needed distraction from the growing tensions mounting 318 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,680 Speaker 1: in the house. Claire was determined to make the trip 319 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: worthwhile to resume her affair with Byron. Despite his initial resistance, 320 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 1: Claire got what she came for. I never loved her, 321 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: nor pretended to love her, Byron wrote, But a man 322 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 1: is a man, and if a girl of eighteen comes 323 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: prancing to you at all hours, there is but what way? 324 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: Classic Byron. Some sources report that Polydori became infatuated with Mary, 325 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: who remained devoted to Percy and rejected his advances. As 326 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: the doctor would recount, Mary instead saw Polidori as a brother. Percy, meanwhile, 327 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 1: was described as falling into a depression. He struggled with 328 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: mental illness from a young age, and the claustrophobic environment 329 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,240 Speaker 1: was beginning to weigh on his psyche. For example, one 330 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: dark and stormy evening, Byron read verses from Samuel Taylor 331 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: Coleridge's poem Christo Bel, in which a supernatural creature is 332 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:45,119 Speaker 1: disguising itself as a woman named Geraldine in order to 333 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: trick the titular character. One particularly relevant section reads, behold 334 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,719 Speaker 1: her bosom and half her side, hideous, deformed, and pale 335 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,880 Speaker 1: of hu A site to dream of, not to tell, 336 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:03,919 Speaker 1: and she is to sleep by Christo Bell. Percy fled 337 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: from the room screaming in a fit of fantasy. As 338 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,160 Speaker 1: Byron described it, it was only when Pola Doory threw 339 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,879 Speaker 1: water in Percy's face and gave him ether, the anesthetic 340 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:18,880 Speaker 1: of the time, that he calmed down. They say Percy 341 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 1: had been haunted by visions of a monstrous woman whom 342 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 1: some accounts describe as Mary with eyes instead of nipples 343 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:33,639 Speaker 1: on her breasts. Clearly inspired enough, the guests began to 344 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:38,959 Speaker 1: write and share their ghost stories. Byron and Percy went first, 345 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,359 Speaker 1: both presenting the beginnings of works that they would never finish. 346 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,080 Speaker 1: Percy story, which Mary remembered to have been inspired by 347 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: his childhood is now completely lost Byron's story. The fragment 348 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,639 Speaker 1: of a novel, however, can still be read in full. 349 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: His story centered on a young man traveling in Turkey 350 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:04,600 Speaker 1: with an old her companion, the wealthy aristocratic Augustus Darville. 351 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 1: The elder's health declines rapidly, and while the to rest 352 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:13,520 Speaker 1: in a Turkish cemetery, Darville asks his companion to tell 353 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,359 Speaker 1: no One of his impending death. The old man gives 354 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: the younger a ring and asks him to perform a 355 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: ceremony with it, before turning black and instantly disintegrating. The end, 356 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,640 Speaker 1: the doctor hadn't managed to come up with anything worthwhile. 357 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:37,080 Speaker 1: Yet Mary, later recalled poor Polodori, had some terrible idea 358 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,439 Speaker 1: about a skull headed lady who was so punished for 359 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: peeping through a keyhole. Mary, for her part, early on, 360 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:50,919 Speaker 1: was struck with a serious case of writer's block. I 361 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 1: was asked each morning and each evening, I was forced 362 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: to reply with a mortifying negative. She wrote. Her devout 363 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:02,399 Speaker 1: but nearly silent listening to the scientific debates of the 364 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: men would soon pay off, though, having made its way 365 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: into her subconscious. One conversation in particular had the greatest impact. 366 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,320 Speaker 1: They talked of the experiment of Dr Darwin, who preserved 367 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:19,680 Speaker 1: a piece of Vermicelli in a glass case till by 368 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,719 Speaker 1: some extraordinary means, it began to move with voluntary motion. 369 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 1: Perhaps a corpse would be reanimated. Galvanism had given token 370 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: of such things. Perhaps the component parts of a creature 371 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 1: might be manufactured, brought together, and endowed with vital warmth. 372 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:42,680 Speaker 1: These images and ideas embedded themselves in her mind and 373 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:47,880 Speaker 1: birthed perhaps the most famous dream of all time. As 374 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 1: Mary wrote, night waned upon this talk. When I placed 375 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:56,240 Speaker 1: my head upon my pillow, I did not sleep, nor 376 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: could I be said to think. I saw, with shut 377 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,360 Speaker 1: eyes but acute mental vision. I saw the pale student 378 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:08,640 Speaker 1: of unhallowed arts, kneeling beside the thing he had put together. 379 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,200 Speaker 1: I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, 380 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,800 Speaker 1: and then, on the working of some powerful engine, showed 381 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:22,440 Speaker 1: signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. 382 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: By her account, it was right then and there, after 383 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: opening her eyes in terror, that Mary Shelley began to 384 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: draft Frankenstein. She recounts, I returned to my ghost story, 385 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: my tiresome, unlucky ghost story, I have found it. What 386 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: terrified me will terrify others. And I need only describe 387 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: the specter which is haunted my midnight pillow on the 388 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,520 Speaker 1: morrow I announced that I had thought of a story. 389 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: I began that day with the words. That night, Mary 390 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: Shelley read a passage to the group that began. It 391 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: was on a dreary night of November. As Frankenstein developed 392 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: from ghost story to novel, Villa Diodotti remained in its 393 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 1: DNA even beyond Victor Frankenstein's Geneva family origins and the 394 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 1: number of scenes that take place at Lake Geneva itself. 395 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,760 Speaker 1: The year without a summer feels present in her descriptions 396 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: of the natural world that Victor and his creature experience. 397 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: One of the very first sentences of the novel reads, 398 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,680 Speaker 1: this breeze, which has traveled from the regions towards which 399 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,840 Speaker 1: I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. 400 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: Inspired by this wind of promise, my day dreams become 401 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: more fervent and vivid. I try, in vain to be 402 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: persuaded that the poll is the seat of frost and desolation. 403 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:52,680 Speaker 1: It ever presents itself to my imagination as the region 404 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:58,160 Speaker 1: of beauty and delight the novel's protagonist, Victor Frankenstein's own 405 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: scientific interest from watching a storm as a child. In Frankenstein, 406 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: the natural world is as fear inspiring as it is 407 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:12,719 Speaker 1: awe inspiring. It's a perspective that feels timely given Mary 408 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:17,880 Speaker 1: writing in the wake of a catastrophic natural disaster. While 409 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,959 Speaker 1: many have come to the conclusion that Mary identifies with 410 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: Victor the scientist, the circumstances surrounding that summer way heavily 411 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:30,200 Speaker 1: in favor of Mary actually identifying more with the monster. 412 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: Remember the words of Mary's mother. I conceive it to 413 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 1: be the duty of every rational creature to attend to 414 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: its offspring. Mary's mother had died just days after she 415 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: was born, and Mary had been all but abandoned by 416 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 1: her beloved father because of her relationship with Percy. Like 417 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: Frankenstein's Monster, Mary had become a lonely, wandering child, abandoned 418 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:03,400 Speaker 1: by her creator, Mary, her husband Byron Polidori. All of 419 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: them were aching for the attention of their fathers. Perhaps 420 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: it came up in conversation one night, and Mary had 421 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 1: silently agreed to herself. When it came to the conversations 422 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: that we know took place. Mary's devout listening likely gave 423 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: her not only source material but character inspiration. Each night, 424 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 1: three men, all remembered in part for their egos, discussed 425 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: reanimation of human life. Mary's character, Victor Frankenstein, who's torn 426 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 1: down by his own hubris, is remembered for thinking that 427 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: he could play god. Speaking of those men, the second 428 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: but most famous work to stem from Villa Dia Dotti 429 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 1: was written not by Shelley, not by Byron, but by 430 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 1: poor Polidori. He was intrigued by that unfinished piece of Byron's, 431 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,440 Speaker 1: and after the trip finished, he began to flush it 432 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 1: out into a short story. Polidori story begins to about 433 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: the same as Byron's two gentlemen traveling Europe, one dying 434 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: of a series death and making the other swear not 435 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: to speak of it. In this version, however, we see 436 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 1: the consequences of that deal, as our protagonist is shocked 437 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: to find his dead friend alive and well in London 438 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: and attempting to seduce his sister. There are some changes. 439 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 1: Right off the bat, locals tell legends of vampires, and 440 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: while our protagonist Aubrey doesn't make the connection. Mysterious, seemingly 441 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 1: vampire induced deaths take place when his companion, the wealthy, 442 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:44,239 Speaker 1: charming and suave Lord Ruthven, arrives. If you remember the 443 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 1: Caroline Lamb episode we did on this podcast, the name 444 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: Ruthven might ring a bell. Maybe not. It was a 445 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: very long time ago, you see. It's the same pseudonym 446 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 1: Caroline Lamb used for the Heartbreaker mail lead in her 447 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: novel Glenn Arvin, which was a fictional account of her 448 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: affair with Byron. At an early point in Polodori's novel, 449 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:13,040 Speaker 1: the vampire Ruthven abandons Aubrey during their travels after seducing 450 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 1: an acquaintance's daughter, Polodori often found himself abandoned by Byron 451 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: in favor of Byron's new preferred companion, Percy Shelley. Ruthven 452 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: is described as being deadly, pale, and dark haired. He 453 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: has a compelling voice and is attractive to women whom 454 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:35,360 Speaker 1: he sees as prey. It's not hard to imagine why 455 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:40,040 Speaker 1: Polidori saw Byron as a vampire plagued by scandal that 456 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 1: was destroying the lives of those around him, treating the 457 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 1: woman pregnant with his child as a tempting annoyance and 458 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 1: channeling his distress into mocking Polidori. Byron was figuratively sucking 459 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 1: the lives out of his friends. The Vampire did not 460 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,120 Speaker 1: end up being the revenge Polidori had hoped it would be. 461 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,600 Speaker 1: It wasn't originally meant to be published at all, merely 462 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,279 Speaker 1: circulated among peers, but the manuscript ended up in the 463 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: hands of New Monthly Magazine, where the editor rather presumptuously 464 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,840 Speaker 1: assumed that it was written by Lord Byron. It was 465 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 1: published under the name The Vampire, A Tale by Lord Byron, 466 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:27,759 Speaker 1: and while it was eventually amended after Polydori's demand, the 467 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:32,120 Speaker 1: resounding success of the publication would mean the story would 468 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:37,440 Speaker 1: forever be connected to Byron. Well. Polidori explained that it 469 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,359 Speaker 1: was Byron's initial idea to continue his fragment, with the 470 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:45,960 Speaker 1: protagonist finding his companion alive upon his return and making 471 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 1: love to his sister. Everything else was of his Polydori's 472 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 1: own imagination. Still, well into the eighteen nineties, the Vampire 473 00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:01,000 Speaker 1: was included in collections of Byron's work. Still, it's polar 474 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,760 Speaker 1: Dory who we have to thank for making the vampire 475 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:08,800 Speaker 1: genre what it is today. Vampire fiction existed before Polar DOORI, 476 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:14,400 Speaker 1: but they were grotesque creatures. The byronic Lord Ruthven was 477 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: dark and seductive, like the vampires we know and love today. 478 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:23,680 Speaker 1: There may not have been the Vampire without Byron's fragment, 479 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: but without the vampire, we wouldn't have Dracula, or Carmela 480 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: or Twilight. So who won the ghost story contest? No 481 00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,719 Speaker 1: winner was formally declared, but we have to hand the 482 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:41,560 Speaker 1: title to the two underdogs who not only created the 483 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:50,400 Speaker 1: scariest monsters, but pioneered two literary genres. That's the story 484 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 1: of Villadia Datti. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break, 485 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,000 Speaker 1: to hear more about very important work that was also 486 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:13,320 Speaker 1: created during the Year Without a Summer. In eighteen sixteen, 487 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 1: the nineteen year old composer Franz Schubert was hard at work. 488 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:22,200 Speaker 1: In that year alone. He produced two symphonies, choral music 489 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: and chamber works that dark and rainy summer when our 490 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,280 Speaker 1: romantic poets were writing their ghost stories. Schubert had also 491 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 1: been inspired by the weather in a bed in. The 492 00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:38,279 Speaker 1: Guardian argues that quote, almost all of his songs reflected 493 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:43,280 Speaker 1: not only the wandering, wondering and passionate romanticism of the age, 494 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:47,960 Speaker 1: but also the coldness and darkness of this mysterious period. 495 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:53,320 Speaker 1: I personally recommended Symphony Number four in C. Minor, dubbed 496 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:58,800 Speaker 1: the Tragic by Schubert. The composer would soon write Prometheus, 497 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:01,400 Speaker 1: of course, by eased down the myth of the titan 498 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:04,640 Speaker 1: who stole fire from the gods to give to humanity. 499 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: Prometheus had been a prominent figure in art since the 500 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 1: early days, but he happened to be of particular importance 501 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:15,760 Speaker 1: to the Villa Dear Dotti crew Byron published his epic 502 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:20,920 Speaker 1: poem Prometheus in eighteen sixteen. In eighteen twenty, Percy would 503 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 1: publish one of his major works, Prometheus Unbound and Lest 504 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:31,040 Speaker 1: We Forget Mary. Shelley had actually given Frankenstein a longer title. 505 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:36,880 Speaker 1: The full title of the novel was Frankenstein or the 506 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:48,839 Speaker 1: Modern Prometheus. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart 507 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,200 Speaker 1: Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. The show 508 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:56,280 Speaker 1: was written and hosted by Danis Schwartz. Executive producers include 509 00:37:56,280 --> 00:38:00,759 Speaker 1: Aaron Minky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is 510 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:04,800 Speaker 1: produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Noble Blood 511 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 1: is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, and you 512 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:09,920 Speaker 1: can learn more about the show over at Noble blood 513 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,960 Speaker 1: Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 514 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,680 Speaker 1: visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 515 00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:19,680 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. M