Monster of the Month: The Vampyre
With the blockbuster success of the vampire in text and film over the past few years, it seems only fitting that January’s Monster of the Month should be the vampire. But the quirky spelling of the “vampyre” here points to this article's focus on the very beginning of the vampire in John Polidori's "The Vampyre," a story that introduces the vampire as we know him today despite his many modern permutations. It was a dark and stormy night in June 1816 at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, Switzerland when a singular meeting of minds spawned the twin nightmares of Frankenstein and the literary vampire. Gathered around the villa’s hearth were the libertine George Gordon Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley the poet, and his wife Mary Godwin Shelly, the daughter of William Godwin and an accomplished author in her own right. Hanging back in the shadows were Claire Clairmont, Mary’s flighty stepsister and John Polidori, Byron’s physician who harbored literary aspirations of his ow...