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Book Review: The Vampyre by John William Polidori
Title: The Vampyre
Author: John William Polidori
Published: Project Gutenberg, 2012; London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 125,633
Text Number: 364
Read Because: personal enjoyment, e-book from Project Gutenberg
Review: The young Lord Aubrey meets the strange and compelling Lord Ruthven, who seems to spread moral and mortal suffering wherever he goes. The confusing history—the story was originally attributed to Lord Byron, but was written by his physician John Polidori—that surrounds The Vampyre threatens to overshadow the text itself (especially as the Gutenberg edition reprints the 1819 imprint containing an unconnected account of Lord Byron's residence in Greece) but ultimately only adds to The Vampyre's mystique. The story is a small gothic delight, not particularly complex by modern conception of the vampire trope but seminal and still interesting: Polidori was the first to introduce the vampire as a character, an individual instead of a myth, and Ruthven is as much a social as a spiritual and physical predator. Initially compelling but ominous, he eventually drives Aubrey to suffering, self-doubt, and social isolation; it's an effective, claustrophobic gothic nightmare, not undercut by the text's brevity, predictability, or unremarkable writing. The Vampyre is a product of its age, limited in retrospect but groundbreaking at the time—and still accessible, in part because of its length and in part because of its enjoyable gothic tendencies. I'm glad I finally had the chance to read it, and recommend it—particularly to fans of the gothic genre and/or vampire trope.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: John William Polidori
Published: Project Gutenberg, 2012; London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 125,633
Text Number: 364
Read Because: personal enjoyment, e-book from Project Gutenberg
Review: The young Lord Aubrey meets the strange and compelling Lord Ruthven, who seems to spread moral and mortal suffering wherever he goes. The confusing history—the story was originally attributed to Lord Byron, but was written by his physician John Polidori—that surrounds The Vampyre threatens to overshadow the text itself (especially as the Gutenberg edition reprints the 1819 imprint containing an unconnected account of Lord Byron's residence in Greece) but ultimately only adds to The Vampyre's mystique. The story is a small gothic delight, not particularly complex by modern conception of the vampire trope but seminal and still interesting: Polidori was the first to introduce the vampire as a character, an individual instead of a myth, and Ruthven is as much a social as a spiritual and physical predator. Initially compelling but ominous, he eventually drives Aubrey to suffering, self-doubt, and social isolation; it's an effective, claustrophobic gothic nightmare, not undercut by the text's brevity, predictability, or unremarkable writing. The Vampyre is a product of its age, limited in retrospect but groundbreaking at the time—and still accessible, in part because of its length and in part because of its enjoyable gothic tendencies. I'm glad I finally had the chance to read it, and recommend it—particularly to fans of the gothic genre and/or vampire trope.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.