| The Diary of Dr John William Polidori, 1816: Relating to Byron, Shelley, Etc. Contributor(s): Polidori, John William (Author), Rossetti, William Michael (Editor) |
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ISBN: 1108072283 ISBN-13: 9781108072281 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $37.04 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: July 2014 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History - Biography & Autobiography - Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
| Dewey: B |
| Series: Cambridge Library Collection - Literary Studies |
| Physical Information: 0.55" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.68 lbs) 240 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - British Isles |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: John William Polidori (1795-1821) was, for a brief period, the personal physician to Lord Byron. Half Italian, he was the uncle of the Rossetti siblings, and it was William Michael Rossetti, in his role as family recorder, who published Polidori's manuscript diary after nearly a century, in 1911. This account of his time with Byron (which ended two months later when they quarrelled and parted company) is the only contemporary account of the few weeks, crucial to the development of the Romantic movement, during which Mary Shelley's Frankenstein arose from a storytelling competition at the Villa Diodati. Polidori's later career as a physician and writer was hampered by a severe accident in 1817 which left him with brain damage. His most famous work, The Vampyre, was published in 1819, but attributed to Byron, leading both men to threaten the publisher with lawsuits. Polidori died (probably a suicide) two years later. |