Polidori's The Vampyre
In Our Time
BBC
4.6 • 9.9K Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2022
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential novella of John Polidori (1795-1821) published in 1819 and attributed first to Lord Byron (1788-1824) who had started a version of it in 1816 at the Villa Diodati in the Year Without A Summer. There Byron, his personal physician Polidori, Mary and Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont had whiled away the weeks of miserable weather by telling ghost stories, famously giving rise to Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. Emerging soon after, 'The Vampyre' thrilled readers with its aristocratic Lord Ruthven who glutted his thirst with the blood of his victims, his status an abrupt change from the stories of peasant vampires of eastern and central Europe that had spread in the 18th Century with the expansion of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The connection with Lord Byron gave the novella a boost, and soon 'The Vampyre' spawned West End plays, penny dreadfuls such as 'Varney the Vampire', Bram Stoker’s 'Dracula', F.W Murnau's film 'Nosferatu A Symphony of Horror', and countless others.
The image above is of Bela Lugosi (1882-1956) as Count Mora in Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer's 'Vampires of Prague' (1935)
With
Nick Groom Professor of Literature in English at the University of Macau
Samantha George Associate Professor of Research in Literature at the University of Hertfordshire
And
Martyn Rady Professor Emeritus of Central European History at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time. |
| 0:07.6 | There's a reading list to go with it on our website, and you can get news about our |
| 0:11.0 | programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time. |
| 0:14.9 | I hope you enjoyed the programs. |
| 0:16.7 | Hello, in 1819 John Polidori's novella The Bumpire thrilled readers with his aristocratic |
| 0:22.6 | Lord Ribbon who glutted his thirst with the blood of his victims. |
| 0:27.0 | Polidori's personal link with Lord Byron gave it a boost, and soon the Bumpire spawned |
| 0:31.7 | Western plays, penid Red Falls, Brahms Stoke as Dracula, Nosperatu and Ever Onwards. |
| 0:37.5 | And noble Lord Ribbon was in a abrupt change from stories of peasant vampires of Eastern |
| 0:41.8 | Europe, scrutinized by scientists, philosophers and doctors over the previous century to see |
| 0:46.8 | if they were true. |
| 0:48.8 | With me to discuss Polidori's of Bumpire and vampires are Nick Grume, professor of literature |
| 0:53.8 | in English at the University of Macau, some George, associate professor of research in |
| 0:58.7 | literature at the University of Hartperture, and Martin Raidee, professor emeritus of Central |
| 1:03.4 | Europe in history at the University College London. |
| 1:06.7 | Martin Raidee, can you tell us what the origins of the vampire story were in the Osirah |
| 1:11.8 | Hangerin Empire? |
| 1:14.8 | We can locate it almost precisely. |
| 1:17.8 | In 1718, the Austrians take possession of a slice of the former Ottoman Empire, and |
| 1:25.0 | they take possession of what is now Nourven Serbia and parts of southwestern Romania. |
| 1:33.3 | And they start encountering folk superstitions and practices that are of a vampiric origin. |
... |
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