John Polidori

Cette nouvelle popularisa le th me du vampire dans le monde. Un riche orphelin anglais, Aubrey, rencontre l' nigmatique Lord Ruthven, homme la beaut froide. Voyageant ses c t s Rome, li d couvre son vice contagieux, son caract re profond ment d prav et ses talents pour la s duction le rendant dangereux pour la soci t . Un jour, bless par des brigands et l'article de la mort, Lord Ruthven d cide de r v ler Aubrey tous ses secrets, la condition que ce dernier ne fasse conna tre aucun tre vivant ses] crimes et sa] mort . Revenu Londres, il d couvre, abasourdi, que Ruthven est toujours vivant et qu'il s'appr te m me pouser sa propre soeur... En dition bilingue anglais/fran ais, avec lecture audio int gr e: non seulement vous pouvez lire Le Vampire en fran ais et en anglais, mais vous pouvez aussi couter la lecture de cet ouvrage soit dans sa version originale anglophone, soit dans sa traduction fran aise. Comment ? Tout simplement gr ce votre t l phone, tablette ou webcam. L'id al pour am liorer votre ma trise de la langue de Lord Byron... et de Moli re

L'incontro tra Aubrey, un giovane e ricco gentiluomo inglese, impregnato di ideali di purezza e onore, e Lord Ruthven, unaristocratico dallo sguardo magnetico e dal carisma indiscusso, sembrasancire l'inizio di una reciproca amicizia. I due intraprendono cos unviaggio che doveva avere la Grecia come meta finale. Ma gi a Roma, ilcomportamento dissoluto del compagno, induce Aubrey a proseguire insolitudine. Ad Atene, si innamora di Ianthe, una bella ragazza del luogoche gli racconta la leggenda, famosa in tutta la Grecia, dei vampiri. Quando la giovane muore in circostanze misteriose, tutti si mostranocerti che il colpevole sia proprio un vampiro. A seguire, un'escalation dimisteri e macabre scoperte su Lord Ruthven, che si riveler capace dicrimini atroci e riprovevoli bassezze. Un capolavoro, nato da unacollaborazione fra la genialit di Lord Byron e l'invettiva di John WilliamPolidori, che far restare il lettore con il fiato sospeso

The Vampire is a short work of vampire 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. Aubrey, a young Englishman, meets Lord Ruthven, a man of mysterious origins who has entered London society. Aubrey accompanies Ruthven to Rome, but leaves him after Ruthven seduces the daughter of a mutual acquaintance. Aubrey travels to Greece, where he becomes attracted to Ianthe, an innkeeper's daughter. Ianthe tells Aubrey about the legends of the vampire. Ruthven arrives at the scene and shortly thereafter Ianthe is killed by a vampire. Aubrey does not connect Ruthven with the murder and rejoins him in his travels. The pair is attacked by bandits and Ruthven is mortally wounded. Before he dies, Ruthven makes Aubrey swear an oath that he will not mention his death or anything else he knows about Ruthven for a year and a day. Looking back, Aubrey realizes that everyone whom Ruthven met ended up suffering. Aubrey returns to London and is amazed when Ruthven appears shortly thereafter, alive and well. Ruthven reminds Aubrey of his oath to keep his death a secret. Ruthven then begins to seduce Aubrey's sister while Aubrey, helpless to protect his sister, has a nervous breakdown. Ruthven and Aubrey's sister are engaged to marry on the day the oath ends. Just before he dies, Aubrey writes a letter to his sister revealing Ruthven's history, but it does not arrive in time. Ruthven marries Aubrey's sister. On the wedding night, she is discovered dead, drained of her blood-and Ruthven has vanished. Polidori's work had an immense impact on contemporary sensibilities and ran through numerous editions and translations. That influence has extended into the current era as the text is "often even cited as an] almost folkloric sources on vampirism". 1] An adaptation appeared in 1820 with Cyprien B rard's novel Lord Ruthwen ou les Vampires, falsely attributed to Charles Nodier, who himself then wrote his own version, Le Vampire, a play which had enormous success and sparked a "vampire craze" in the vampire genre across Europe. This includes operatic adaptations by Heinrich Marschner (see Der Vampyr) and Peter Josef von Lindpaintner (see Der Vampyr), both published in the same year and called "The Vampire". Nikolai Gogol, Alexandre Dumas and Aleksey Tolstoy all produced vampire tales, and themes in Polidori's tale would continue to influence Bram Stoker's Dracula and eventually the whole vampire genre. Dumas makes explicit reference to Lord Ruthven in The Count of Monte Cristo, going so far as to state that his character "The Comtesse G..." had been personally acquainted with Lord Ruthven. In Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, the character of Lord Ruthven is a prominent character. In the Anno Dracula universe he becomes a prominent figure in British politics following the ascent of Dracula to power. He is Conservative Prime Minister in the period of the first novel and continues to hold power throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries. Described as the "Great Political Survivor" as of 1991 he succeeds Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister (opposed to John Major).

"The Vampyre" was first published on 1 April 1819 by Henry Colburn in the New Monthly Magazine with the false attribution "A Tale by Lord Byron". The name of the work's protagonist, "Lord Ruthven", added to this assumption, for that name was originally used in Lady Caroline Lamb's novel Glenarvon (from the same publisher), in which a thinly-disguised Byron figure was also named Lord Ruthven. Despite repeated denials by Byron and Polidori, the authorship often went unclarified. The tale was first published in book form by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones in London, Paternoster-Row, in 1819 in octavo as The Vampyre; A Tale in 84 pages. The notation on the cover noted that it was: "Entered at Stationers' Hall, March 27, 1819". Initially, the author was given as Lord Byron. Later printings removed Byron's name and added Polidori's name to the title page. The story was an immediate popular success, partly because of the Byron attribution and partly because it exploited the gothic horror predilections of the public. Polidori transformed the vampire from a character in folklore into the form that is recognized today-an aristocratic fiend who preys among high society

In this 19th-century medley of the macabre, seven blood-chilling tales feature a cast of demons, doppelgangers, werewolves, and other beastly creatures, sure to haunt your dreams. The lead story, "The Vampyre," has influenced generations of fantasy fiction writers. One of the first tales ever written in the romantic vampire genre, it was the result of a friendly writing competition that also yielded Mary Shelley's classic, Frankenstein. The story begins as a gentleman traveling in Greece falls in love with a local beauty. When she warns him about vampires, he scoffs at her fears -- until he's caught in the forest one night and finds someone at his throat. This fiendishly good collection continues with Clemence Housman's "The Werewolf," in which a white-robed maiden with a thirst for blood encounters twin brothers -- and executes a diabolical plan. In Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "Monos and Daimonos," a reclusive young man goes to great lengths to rid himself of the odd character pursuing him...with horrifying results. Plus, there are four more equally thrilling tales, including the anonymous stories, "The Curse" and "The Victim." Must-have reading for college students and fans of the supernatural.

`Upon her neck and breast was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth having opened the vein: - to this the men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with horror, "a Vampyre, a Vampyre!"' John Polidori's classic tale of the vampyre was a product of the same ghost-story competition that produced Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Set in Italy, Greece, and London, Polidori's tales is a reaction to the dominating presence of his employer Lord Byron, and transformed the figure of the vampire from the bestial ghoul of earlier mythologies into the glamorous aristocrat whose violence and sexual allure make him literally a 'lady-killer'. Polidori's tale introduced the vampire into English fiction, and launched a vampire craze that has never subsided. `The Vampyre' was first published in 1819 in the London New Monthly Magazine. The present volume selects thirteen other tales of the macabre first published in the leading London and Dublin magazines between 1819 and 1838, including Edward Bulwer's chilling account of the doppelganger, Letitia Landon's elegant reworking of the Gothic romance, William Carleton's terrifying description of an actual lynching, and James Hogg's ghoulish exploitation of the cholera epidemic of 1831-2. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

In the early 1800s, young British aristocrat Aubrey travels through Italy and Greece with the mercurial and fantastic Lord Ruthven. Later, when Ruthven returns from the dead to prey on his sister, Aubrey realizes that the enigmatic stranger is a vampire.