Review Tuesday: THE VAMPYRE, A Tale by John William Polidori

 

THE VAMPYRE

A Tale

by John William Polidori

Upon making friends with the odd Lord Ruthven, Aubrey (a wealthy young English gentleman) becomes aware of a series of misfortunes befalling those who make acquaintance with the curious nobleman.

I found this book for FREE in a listing of book deals recently. It was hailed as the first literary work based on the various European myths regarding vampires, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula by four score.

From Wikipedia: 

"The Vampyre" is a short work of prose fiction written in 1819 by John William Polidori. The work is often viewed as the progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction. The work is described by Christopher Frayling as "the first story successfully to fuse the disparate elements of vampirism into a coherent literary genre."

So I was intrigued! I needed to read this to compare Polidori's interpretation of vampire lore with modern conceptions. Additionally I planned to enjoy it as an anthropological view into that time in history.

Set in what seemed like current day at the time it was written, this adventure into horror began in England and included travels across Europe. This story made no reference to the modern day vampire myths about their inability to cross water on their own or even their mortal enemy, the sun. In fact, as in Dracula, Lord Ruthven was able to move about in daylight without issue whatsoever. The vampire was less about being blood-thirsty demon and more about being a charming seducer of the young, beautiful, and naive and then ruin their lives in assorted foul methods.

This short story paid wonderful dividends. The arrogance and pomposity of the British embodied in the character of Aubrey spoke volumes. In some ways the egotistical demeanor of Aubrey was nearly as calculatedly sinister as Lord Ruthven himself. 

While this is not some action-packed Hollywood horror story, it's cleverness keeps you turning the pages. I found the tale to be largely unexpected from what you would expect from this genre and enjoyed it thoroughly.  

You can find it for free in KINDLE format on AMAZON.