View source for John William Polidori

{{short description|English writer and physician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name =John Polidori
| image = John William Polidori by F.G. Gainsford.jpg
| caption = Portrait by F. G. Gainsford
| alma_mater = [[University of Edinburgh]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1795|9|7|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Westminster]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1821|8|24|1795|9|7|df=y}}
| death_place = [[St Pancras, London]], England
| occupation = {{Flatlist}}
* Writer
* Physician
{{Endflatlist}}
| genre = {{Flatlist}}
* [[Vampire literature|Vampire]]
* [[Horror fiction|horror]]
{{Endflatlist}}
| parents = [[Gaetano Polidori]]<br/>Anna Maria Pierce
| relatives = [[Frances Polidori]] (sister)
}}
'''John William Polidori''' (7 September 1795 – 24 August 1821) was an English writer and physician. He is known for his associations with the [[Romanticism|Romantic movement]] and credited by some as the creator of the [[vampire]] [[genre]] of [[fantasy]] fiction. 

His most successful work was the short story "[[The Vampyre]]" (1819), the first published [[Vampire literature|modern vampire story]]. Although the story was at first erroneously credited to [[Lord Byron]], both Byron and Polidori affirmed that the author was Polidori.<ref>{{Citation | last = Macdonald | first = DL | title = Poor Polidori | publisher = University of Toronto Press | place = Toronto | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-8020-2774-1 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/poorpolidoricrit0000macd }}</ref>

== Family ==
John William Polidori was born on 7 September 1795 in [[Westminster]], the eldest son of [[Gaetano Polidori]], an Italian political [[émigré]] scholar of [[Greeks|Greek]] descent,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zaturenska |first=Marya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r0JbAAAAMAAJ |title=Selected Poems of Christina Rossetti |date=1970 |publisher=Macmillan |pages=5 |language=en |quote=The Polidoris were Italians of Greek descent and were moderately prosperous. They, too, had fled to England during the revolutionary turmoils in Italy.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baum |first=Paull Franklin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L0pbAAAAMAAJ |title=Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Poems, Ballads and Sonnets: Selections from the Posthumous Poems and from His Translations; Hand and Soul |date=1937 |publisher=Doubleday, Doran, Incorporated |pages=xv |language=en |quote=...Frances Polidori, daughter of an Italian of Greek descent and an Englishwoman, Anna Maria Pierce}}</ref> and his wife Anna Maria Pierce, an English governess. He had three brothers and four sisters.<ref name="Polidori">{{Citation |title=The diary |first=John William |last=Polidori |editor-first=William Michael |editor-last=Rossetti |publisher= Cornell University Library |place=Cornell, [[New York (state)|NY]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4297-9503-6}}</ref>

His sister [[Frances Polidori]] married the exiled Italian scholar [[Gabriele Rossetti]], and thus Polidori, posthumously, became the uncle of [[Maria Francesca Rossetti]], [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], [[William Michael Rossetti]], and [[Christina Rossetti|Christina Georgina Rossetti]]. William Michael Rossetti published Polidori's journal in 1911.<ref name="Polidori" />

== Biography ==
John Polidori was one of the earliest pupils at the recently established [[Ampleforth College]] in [[North Yorkshire]] from 1804. In 1810 he went up to the [[University of Edinburgh]], where he wrote a thesis on [[sleepwalking]] and received his degree as a doctor of medicine on 1 August 1815, at the age of 19.<ref name="Polidori" />

In 1816, which became known as the [[Year Without a Summer]], Polidori entered [[Lord Byron]]'s service as his personal physician and accompanied him on a trip through Europe. Publisher [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] offered Polidori 500 English pounds to keep a diary of their travels, which Polidori's nephew William Michael Rossetti later edited. At the [[Villa Diodati]], a house Byron rented by [[Lake Geneva]] in Switzerland, the pair met with [[Mary Shelley|Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin]], her husband-to-be, [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]], and their companion (Mary's stepsister) [[Claire Clairmont]].

One night in June after the company had read aloud from ''[[Fantasmagoriana]]'', a French collection of German horror tales, Byron suggested they each write a ghost story. Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote "A Fragment of a Ghost Story" and wrote down five ghost stories recounted by [[Matthew Lewis (writer)|Matthew Gregory "Monk" Lewis]], published posthumously as the ''Journal at Geneva (including ghost stories) and on Return to England, 1816'', the journal entries beginning on 18 August 1816. Mary Shelley worked on a tale that would later evolve into ''[[Frankenstein]]''.<ref>[http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/rieger.html Rieger, James. "Dr. Polidori and the Genesis of ''Frankenstein''." ''Studies in English Literature 1500-1900'', 3 (Winter 1963), 461-72.]</ref> Byron wrote (and quickly abandoned) a fragment of a story, "[[Fragment of a Novel|A Fragment]]", featuring the main character Augustus Darvell, which Polidori used later as the basis for his own tale, "[[The Vampyre]]", the first published modern vampire story in English.<ref>{{Citation | title = Three Gothic Novels | editor-first = Mario | editor-last = Praz | publisher = Penguin | series = Classics | place = New York | year = 1968 | page = [https://archive.org/details/threegothicnovel00fair/page/ xxxix] | isbn = 0-14-043036-9 | url = https://archive.org/details/threegothicnovel00fair/page/ }}</ref>

Polidori's conversation with Percy Bysshe Shelley on 15 June 1816, as recounted in ''The Diary'', is regarded as the origin or genesis of ''Frankenstein''. They discussed "the nature of the principle of life": "June 15 - ... Shelley etc. came in the evening ... Afterwards, Shelley and I had a conversation about principles — whether man was to be thought merely an instrument."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kdEbDQAAQBAJ&dq=man+as+an+instrument+polidori&pg=PT26 Frayling, Christopher. ''Vampyres: Genesis and Resurrection: from Count Dracula to Vampirella.'' London: Thames and Hudson, 2016.]</ref><ref>Rieger 1963, pp. 461-72</ref>

Dismissed by Byron, Polidori travelled in Italy and then returned to England. His story, "The Vampyre", which featured the main character [[Lord Ruthven (vampire)|Lord Ruthven]], was published in the April 1819 issue of ''[[New Monthly Magazine]]'' without his permission. Whilst in London he lived on Great Pulteney Street in [[Soho]]. Much to both his and Byron's [[wikt:chagrin|chagrin]], "The Vampyre" was released as a new work by Byron. Byron's own vampire story "Fragment of a Novel" or "A Fragment" was published in 1819 in an attempt to clear up the confusion, but, for better or worse, "The Vampyre" continued to be attributed to him.<ref name="Polidori" />

Polidori's long, Byron-influenced theological poem ''[[The Fall of the Angels]]'' was published anonymously in 1821.<ref name="Polidori" />

== Death ==
John Polidori died at his father's London house on 24 August 1821, weighed down by depression and gambling debts. Despite conjecture from his family that he died by suicide by means of [[prussic acid]], the coroner gave a verdict of death by natural causes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Viets|first=Henry R.|date=1961|title="By The Visitation Of God": The Death Of John William Polidori, M.D., In 1821|journal=The British Medical Journal|volume=2|issue=5269|pages=1773–1775|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.5269.1773|jstor=20356143|pmid=14037964|pmc=1970869|issn=0007-1447}}</ref>

== Works ==
=== Plays ===
* ''Cajetan'', a play (1816)
* ''Boadicea'', a play (1816)

=== Poems ===
* ''Ximenes, the Wreath and Other Poems'' (1819)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ximenes|url=https://archive.org/details/b29343458/page/n3/mode/2up|access-date=4 August 2021|website=Internet Archive}}</ref>
*''[[The Fall of the Angels|The Fall of the Angels: A Sacred Poem]]'' (1821)<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Fall of Angels, a sacred poem|url=https://archive.org/details/fallofangelssacr00lond/page/n5/mode/2up|access-date=4 August 2021|website=Internet Archive}}</ref>

=== Novellas ===
[[File:Houghton EC8.P7598.819va (A) - Vampyre, 1819.jpg|thumb|''The Vampyre; A Tale'', 1819.]]
* ''[[The Vampyre]]: A Tale'' (1819) - a text that is "often even cited as almost folkloric sources on vampirism".<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283318599|title = Vampire Evolution|last = Jøn|first = A. Asbjørn|date = 2003|journal = METAphor|access-date = 25 November 2015|page = 21|issue = 3}}</ref>
* ''Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus: A Tale'' (1819)

=== Non-fiction ===
* ''A Medical Inaugural Dissertation which deals with the disease called Oneirodynia, for the degree of Medical Doctor'', Edinburgh (1815)
* ''The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori'' (1816, published posthumously in 1911)
* ''On the Punishment of Death'' (1816)
* ''An Essay Upon the Source of Positive Pleasure'' (1818)
* ''Sketches Illustrative of the Manners and Costumes of France, Switzerland and Italy'' (1821)

== Posthumous editions ==
His sister Charlotte transcribed Polidori's diaries, but censored "peccant passages" and destroyed the original. Based only on the transcription, ''The Diary of John Polidori'' was edited by [[William Michael Rossetti]] and first published in 1911 by [[Elkin Mathews]] (London). Reprints of this book, ''The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori, 1816, relating to Byron, Shelley, etc.'', was published by Folcroft Library Editions (Folcroft, [[Pennsylvania|PA]]) in 1975, and by Norwood Editions (Norwood, PA) in 1978. A new edition of ''The Diary of John William Polidori'' was reprinted by Cornell University in 2009.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=08SSCgAAQBAJ&dq=cornell+university+diary+of+polidori&pg=PA71 ''The Vampire in Folklore, History, Literature, Film and Television: A Comprehensive Bibliography.'']</ref>

== Legacy ==
=== Memorials ===
A memorial plaque on John Polidori's home at 38 Great Pulteney Street was unveiled on 15 July 1998 by the Italian Ambassador, Paolo Galli.<ref>{{Citation|publisher=Westminster |title=Green plaques |url=http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/leisureandculture/greenplaques/ |place=UK |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716210428/http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/leisureandculture/greenplaques/ |archive-date=16 July 2012 }}</ref>

=== Appearances in other media ===
==== Film ====
Multiple films have depicted John Polidori, and the genesis of the ''Frankenstein'' and "Vampyre" stories in 1816:
*''[[Gothic (movie)|Gothic]]'' (1986), directed by [[Ken Russell]], with [[Timothy Spall]] as Polidori 
*''[[Haunted Summer]]'' (1988), directed by [[Ivan Passer]], with [[Alex Winter]] as Polidori 
*''[[Remando al viento]]'' (1988; English title: ''Rowing with the Wind'') directed by [[Gonzalo Suárez (director)|Gonzalo Suárez]]
*''[[Mary Shelley (film)|Mary Shelley]]'' (2017), directed by [[Haifaa Al-Mansour]]

Additionally, Polidori's name was used for fictional characters in the following films:
*''[[Frankenstein: The True Story]]'' (1973), a television movie featuring a character named Dr. Polidori
*''[[Vampires vs. the Bronx]]'' (2020), a film featuring a character named Frank Polidori

==== Literature ====
*Polidori appears as one of several minor characters killed off by Frankenstein's creature in [[Peter Ackroyd]]'s novel ''The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein''.<ref>{{Citation | last = Ackroyd | first = Peter | title = The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein | publisher = Nan A. Talese/Doubleday | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-385-53084-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/casebookofvictor00ackr }}</ref>
*Polidori is a central character in [[Federico Andahazi]]'s novel ''The Merciful Women'' (''Las Piadosas'' in the original Argentine edition). In it, he receives ''The Vampyre'' written by the fictional character of Annette Legrand, in exchange for some "favours".<ref>{{Citation | first = Federeico | last = Andahazi | title = Las Piadosas | publisher = Editorial Sudamericana | year = 1998}}</ref>
*Polidori appears as a character in [[Howard Brenton]]'s play ''[[Bloody Poetry]]'' (though for some reason Brenton calls him William.)
*Polidori is a prominent character and the catalyst in events in Brooklyn Ann's historical paranormal romance novel, ''Bite Me, Your Grace''.
*Polidori is a central character in [[Emmanuel Carrère]]'s 1984 novel ''[[Gothic Romance (novel)|Gothic Romance]]'' (''Bravoure'' in the original French edition), which, amongst other things, presents a fictionalised account of the events of 1816.
*Polidori appears as a character in [[Susanna Clarke]]'s novel ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]''.
*Polidori appears as an enemy of Lord Byron (who is a vampire) in [[Tom Holland (author)|Tom Holland]]'s novel ''[[Lord of the Dead]]''.
*Polidori is also the 'hero' of the novel ''Imposture'' (2007) by [[Benjamin Markovits]].
*Polidori is also the central character in [[Derek Marlowe]]'s novel ''A Single Summer With L. B.'', which presents an account (fictionalised) of the summer of 1816.
*Polidori appears as a minor and unsympathetic character in the [[Tim Powers]]' horror novel ''[[The Stress of Her Regard]]'' (1989), in which Polidori does not write about vampires but becomes directly involved with them. In Powers' sequel (of sorts), ''Hide Me Among the Graves'' (2012), Polidori is a vampire and a central villain menacing the novel's protagonists, his nieces and nephews in the Rossetti family.
*Paul West's novel ''Lord Byron's Doctor'' (1989) is a recreation, and ribald fictionalization, of Polidori's diaries. West depicts him as a literary groupie whose attempts to emulate Byron eventually unhinge and destroy him.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}
*(2013): Polidori is a prominent character in P.J. Parker's internationally acclaimed historic fiction [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J8NBEKE  ''Fire on the Water: A Companion to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'']
*(2019): P.J. Parker's historic fiction [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0998685631 ''Origin of the Vampyre''] pulls back the shroud of mystery surrounding the publication of Polidori's novel.
*(2011): In [[Ben Aaronovitch]]'s ''[[Rivers of London (novel)|Rivers of London]]'' and the other [[Peter Grant (book series)|Peter Grant]] books, Polidori is often cited as a source of information about the supernatural.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aaronovitch |first1=Ben |title=Rivers of London |date=2011 |publisher=Gollancz |location=London |isbn=978-1-4072-4316-0 |page=209}}</ref>

==== Opera ====
*Polidori functions as narrator in John Mueter's one-act opera ''Everlasting Universe'' and has a speaking role in several scenes.

==== Musical Theatre ====
*In the musical [[Monsters of the Villa Diodati]], Polidori is a featured character, along with [[Mary Shelley]], [[Percy Shelley]], [[Lord Byron]], and [[Claire Claremont]]. The musical, written in 2014, was originally produced by Creative Cauldron at ArtSpace Falls Church in 2015. This atmospheric production reveals the origin story of two legendary Gothic monsters, John Polidori's The Vampyre and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, while exploring their creators' own inner monsters.

==== Television ====
*In the ''[[Highlander: The Series]]'' episode "[[Episodes of Highlander (season 5)#The Modern Prometheus|The Modern Prometheus]]", which featured [[Lord Byron]], one of the series regulars, [[Methos]], serves as a [[stand-in]] for Polidori. Methos, who was [[Immortal (Highlander)|immortal]], was Byron's mentor, friend, and physician, and experienced the same events as the real Polidori did on that (in)famous night.
*In the stop-motion animated series ''[[Mary Shelley's Frankenhole]]'', Polidori is a regular character portrayed as the immortal lab assistant of Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
*Polidori was mentioned in the ''Tales from the Crypt'' episode "Ritual".
*Dr. John Polidori (portrayed by [[John O'Hurley]]) was the antagonist of the fifth season ''[[The X-Files]]'' episode, "[[The Post-Modern Prometheus]]".
* Polidori was also portrayed by Noah McLaughlin in the 2016 web series ''A Ungenial Summer'', which fictionalized the events of the summer of 1816 in the modern day. In this version, Polidori serves as a personal assistant to [[Lord Byron]], rather than physician.
* In the episode of CBBC children's television show [[Horrible Histories (2015 TV series)|Horrible Histories]] entitled Staggering Storytellers, Polidori was portrayed by Jalaal Hartley in the sketch about the original of his story, ''[[The Vampyre]]'' and [[Mary Shelley]]'s (portrayed by [[Jessica Ransom]]) story ''[[Frankenstein]]'' while at [[Lord Byron]]'s [[Villa Diodati]] in Switzerland.
* Polidori is portrayed by [[Maxim Baldry]] in the 2020 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]", which depicts him as a [[Sleepwalking|sleepwalker]].

== Bibliography ==
* {{Citation | title = The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori, 1816, relating to Byron, Shelley, etc.  | first = John William | last = Polidori | editor-first = William Michael | editor-last = Rossetti | publisher = Cornell University Library | place = Cornell, [[New York (state)|NY]] | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-1-4297-9503-6}}.

== See also ==
* [[Media:Rossetti Polidori family tree.gif|Rossetti–Polidori family tree]]

== References ==
{{Reflist | 64em}}

== Sources ==
* Nigel Leask, "Polidori, John William (1795–1821)", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22466. Retrieved 30 April 2006.]
* Rieger, James. "Dr. Polidori and the Genesis of ''Frankenstein''." ''Studies in English Literature'' 3 (1963): 461–72. The origin of ''Frankenstein'' was in a conversation between John William Polidori and Percy Bysshe Shelley on 15 June 1816.
* Rossetti, William Michael, ''The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori'', Elkin Matthews, 1911 [https://archive.org/stream/diaryofdrjohnwil00polirich/diaryofdrjohnwil00polirich_djvu.txt. Retrieved 2 October 2015.]
*[https://publicdomainreview.org/2014/10/16/the-poet-the-physician-and-the-birth-of-the-modern-vampire/ Stott, Andrew McConnell. "The Poet, the Physician and the Birth of the Modern Vampire", ''The Public Domain Review''. Retrieved 7 August 2017.]
*Stott, Andrew McConnell. ''The Poet and the Vampyre: The Curse of Byron and the Birth of Literature's Greatest Monsters.'' New York: Canongate/Pegasus, 2013.

== Further reading ==
* {{Citation | author-link = Christopher Frayling | first = Christopher | last = Frayling | title = Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula | year = 1992 | publisher = Faber & Faber | isbn = 0-571-16792-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780571167920 }}.
* {{Citation | author-link = Emmanuel Carrère | first = Emmanuel | last = Carrère | trans-title = Gothic Romance | title = Bravoure | year = 1984 | publisher = Scribner | isbn = 0-684-19199-7 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/gothicromance00carr }}.

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|auto=yes|d=Q364264}}
*{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Polidori, John William}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-william-polidori}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1943| name=John William Polidori}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John William Polidori}}
* {{Librivox author |id=1400}}
* {{Citation | url = http://geocities.com/nights_of_thunder/dr_polidori.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091027063014/http://geocities.com/nights_of_thunder/dr_polidori.html | archive-date = 27 October 2009 | title = The Polidori Files}}.  The web's first link portal devoted entirely to John William Polidori, author of "The Vampyre".
* {{Citation | url = http://www.ampleforthcollege.york.sch.uk/academic_life/english/eng_polidori.htm | title = Polidori | publisher = Ampleforth College | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060621143612/http://www.ampleforthcollege.york.sch.uk/academic_life/english/eng_polidori.htm | archive-date = 21 June 2006 | df = dmy-all }}.
* {{Citation | place = [[Spain|ES]] | type = short movie | title = The Vampyre | first = John W | last = Polidori | url = http://peliculasdeterror.net/the-vampyre/ | access-date = 18 September 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171118222230/http://peliculasdeterror.net/the-vampyre/ | archive-date = 18 November 2017 | url-status = dead }}, starring Paul Naschy.
* [http://www.italiansrus.com/articles/vampyre.htm A Vampyre Tale]
* [http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/en/writers/writers-john-polidori John Polidori Life at Keats-Shelley House.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118223528/http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/en/writers/writers-john-polidori |date=18 November 2017 }}

{{The Vampyre}}
{{Byron}}
{{Romanticism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polidori, John William}}
[[Category:1795 births]]
[[Category:1821 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English medical doctors]]
[[Category:19th-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:19th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century English short story writers]]
[[Category:Writers from the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:English medical writers]]
[[Category:British people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Polidori–Rossetti family]]
[[Category:People educated at Ampleforth College]]
[[Category:Suicides by cyanide poisoning]]
[[Category:Suicides in Camden]]
[[Category:People with bipolar disorder]]
[[Category:Burials at St Pancras Old Church]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Writers of Gothic fiction]]
[[Category:1820s suicides]]
[[Category:19th-century British diarists]]
[[Category:English horror writers]]
[[Category:John Polidori|*]]
[[Category:English people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:English people of Greek descent]]
[[Category:English male novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century English novelists]]