{"product_id":"heritage-d-l-macdonald-9780802074652","title":"The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold; Or the Modern Oedipus","description":"In 1816, John William Polidori travelled to Geneva as Byron's personal physician; there he met Mary and Percy Shelley and took part in the most famous house party in literary history. To pass the time in 'a wet, ungenial summer, ' the travellers took to writing ghost stories. Byron wrote his Faustian drama \u003cem\u003eManfred\u003c\/em\u003e (1817); Mary Shelley wrote her masterpiece, \u003cem\u003eFrankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus\u003c\/em\u003e (1818). Polidori appropriated an unfished story by Byron and turned it into the \u003cem\u003eThe Vampyre\u003c\/em\u003e (1819). Polidori's tale, with its nightmarish atmosphere and seductive, aristocratic villain, was a scandalous success; the fact that it was originally published, without Polidori's knowledge, under Byron's name, didn't hurt. All the most famous vampires of popular culture, from Stoker's Dracular to Anne Rice's Lestat, descend from Polidori's Byronic prototype.\u003cbr\u003ePolidori also contributed an original novel to the ghost-story project: \u003cem\u003eErnestus Berchtold, or, The Modern Oedipus\u003c\/em\u003e (1819). Polidori's novel explores the incest theme common to such Romantic works as \u003cem\u003eManfred\u003c\/em\u003e, Percy Shelley's \u003cem\u003eAlastor\u003c\/em\u003e, and M.G. Lewis's \u003cem\u003eThe Monk\u003c\/em\u003e, and combines this Gothic material with a historical account of Napoleon's 1798 invasion of Switzerland, one of the key moments in the political evolution of Romanticism. \u003cbr\u003eThis edition includes the extensive revisions Polidori made for a projected second edition of \u003cem\u003eThe Vampyre, Ernestus Berchtold\u003c\/em\u003e is reprinted for the first time in the 174 years since its initial publication. The critical introductions and explanatory annotations place the two works in their biographical, historical, and literary contexts. Appendices include a new edition of the fragment by Byron on which The Vampyre was based, and a fragmentary tale by Polidori, never before published, which shows him exploring new literary direction after being fired by Byron and returning to England in disgrace.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e D. L. MacDonald\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0802074650\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780802074652\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Toronto Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/28\/1994\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.72lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.99h x 6.01w x 0.60d","brand":"D. L. MacDonald","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44159184371967,"sku":"9780802074652","price":35.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_65bad606-11f8-4bb1-a6ce-3a04653e1677.jpg?v=1689081110","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/heritage-d-l-macdonald-9780802074652","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}