Memorial University DAI: "Congeries of pleasing horrors" : Fantasmagoriana and the writings of the Diodati Group

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Title	"Congeries of pleasing horrors" : Fantasmagoriana and the writings of the Diodati Group
Author	Lewis, Stephanie E., 1969-
Description	Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1996. English
Date	1995
Pagination	139 leaves
Subject	Byron, George Gordon, Baron, 1788-1824; Polidori, John William, 1795-1821; Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851; Fantasmagoriana; Gothic literature--Criticism and interpretation
Degree	M.A.
Degree Grantor	Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of English
Discipline	English
Language	Eng
Temporal Coverage	19th Century
Notes	Bibliography: leaves 136-139.
Abstract	Umberto Eco's statement in his introduction to The Name of the Rose (1983) that "all books speak of other books" is a clear recognition of the fact that numerous discourses find their way into a given text. The fictional works that emanated from the gathering at Diodati during the early summer of 1816 are no exception. While each of them shows patterns and motifs from earlier Gothic fiction, the primary objective here will be to demonstrate the central influence on the fiction of Lord Byron, John Polidori and Mary Shelley of one common text: Fantasmagoriana. The reading of the ghost stories in this collection (several of which are now readily available in the English translation entitled Tales of the Dead ) provided the Diodati group with not only the inspiration to write their own tales but also several narrative patterns and thematic motifs. -- Four pieces of fiction resulted either directly or indirectly from Lord Byron's challenge that " 'We will each write a ghost story' " {Frankenstein, 1831, ix). The most prominent figure of the group, Lord Byron himself, wrote "A Fragment of a Novel" which he soon discarded. It was left to his physician, John Polidori, to recast it into "The Vampyre, " the first literary representation of the vampire in English fiction. Polidori's immediate response to the contest, however, was Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus, a work that until quite recently has been virtually ignored. The best known and most impressive of the Diodati writing was, of course, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. -- Much attention has been given (especially in biographical accounts) to Byron's ghost story contest; however, very little has been written about either the collection of tales that initiated the challenge, or the impact that these tales had on the texts that resulted. While there have been brief comments made about the references to Fantasmagoriana and to the tales to which Mary Shelley alludes in her Introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein, there has been no systematic attempt to examine together the tales of Fantasmagoriana and the stories they inspired. This present study undertakes that task.
Type	Text
Resource Type	Electronic thesis or dissertation
Format	Image/jpeg; Application/pdf
Source	Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries
Local Identifier	a1137968
Rights	The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission.
Collection	Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Scanning Status	Completed
PDF File	(12.35 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/StephanieELewis.pdf
CONTENTdm file name	30013.cpd