Weeks seven - eight
Weeks 7-9
1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
How apparently simple ‘lyrics’ can conceal unsuspected complexity; is Blake the ‘greatest English poet’?
ReplyDeleteThe Little Boy lost by William Blake -
“Father, father, where are you going
O do not walk so fast.
Speak father, speak to your little boy
Or else I shall be lost,
The night was dark no father was there
The child was wet with dew.
The mire was deep, & the child did weep
And away the vapour flew.”
While deceivingly short and simple, it is fairly evident that Blake’s poetry has an agenda beyond entertaining a readership, for concealed within his rhythmic tales are blatantly unfavourable references to organised religion.
This 8 line poem was published within his works titled “Songs of Innocence” – and what is more innocent than a little boy? …Well, lots of things actually, because he was born a dirty sinner and needs to repent unto his Gracious God if he wants any chance of getting into Heaven! This warped ideology is further reinforced by the fact that the boy is wet and covered in mud (“the mire was deep”) while crying. What better way to symbolise a tainted innocence than to literally depict a little boy covered in swampy, muddy water?
It is not hard to conclude that Blake is using this depiction of a small, helpless child weeping in the mud to draw a parallel to the notion of “original sin” – which he has done in other works within his ‘Songs of Innocence’ (refer “Infant Joy”). The brutality of the poem (i.e. lack of happy ending) helps us to gauge Blake’s personal inclinations to the mentality that children are born wicked and must atone themselves in order to receive God’s love.
In ‘The Little Boy Lost’ the child is (arguably) representative of humankind (children of God), in desperate search of God’s guidance – like a lost child yearning for their father. However, there is no happy ending wherein the child finds enlightenment in God’s embrace and lives the rest of his days a humble servant to our Lord and Saviour; and instead the boy remains abandoned by his God.
Fills you with a warm, fuzzy feeling – doesn’t it?
The very notion that God would neglect a person in their most dire moment of need undermines his reputation for being forgiving – and, you know – a just God. It is no accident that Blake has depicted a version of God that no person in their right mind would actively choose to worship. It is theorised that his works can be seen as “a protest against dogmatic religion especially notable in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which the figure represented by the "Devil" is virtually a hero rebelling against an imposter authoritarian deity.”
William Blake. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
The first stanza of Blake’s ‘Holy Thursday’ reads:
ReplyDelete“Is this a holy thing to see,
In a rich and fruitful land,
Babes reduced to misery,
Fed with cold and usurious hand ?”
What we can deduce from this extract is that Blake is specifically targeting representatives of the Church, whom he believed to be representative of greed, repression, and oppression. This is made evident by use of the words “cold and usurious” when describing the hand of the rich, feeding the mouths of the poor. Furthermore he challenges whether the Church truly represent justice and divinity by posing the question “is this a holy thing to see?”
Blake, whom is believed to have been a ‘radical Christian’ hated the constitutionalised religion of his time, believing that the “…Anglican pulpit came to function as an important censor of public thought” (Rix, 2007 p.3). His works are seen as a rebellion against the Church – with the intent of “…freeing (of the) people from religious falsehood, something Blake sees as the root of all civil tyranny” (Rix, 2007, p.4).
Rix, R. (2007). Introduction. In William Blake and the cultures of radical Christianity (pp. 3-4). Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate.
On the summer of 1816 at the Villa Diodati, Lord Byron gathered some of his friends together (Percy Shelley, Percy's future wife Mary Shelley, Byron's physician John William Polidori and Clare Clairmont).
ReplyDeleteDue to some heavy and "incessant rain" (as described by Mary Shelly) keeping them trapped inside for three days in June. They turned to telling each other fantastical stories to entertain themselves.
There are stories of orgies, debauchery and satanic rituals and while we can't be one hundred percent sure of exactly what happened within those walls, we can be sure of the ramifications of those three days.
Mary Shelley published Frankenstein (or The Modern Prometheus) in 1818. The idea came from a ghost story she made up during her time at the villa and it went on to become one of the biggest gothic stories of all time.
Frankenstien has been retold and reinvented many times over the years, recent versions include the graphic novel and film I, Frankenstein and the upcoming Fox tv series The Frankenstein Code. Frankenstein's Monster has become one of the most famous and popular "monsters" of all time.
John Polidori was also inspired to write a story about a creature that would go on to become one of the most famous beings of all time, The Vampyre published in 1819. It is viewed as the progenitor to the romantic vampire genre and is possibly the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula and many other works that followed.
The summer of 1816 at the Villa Diodati was a time of great creativity and was directly responsible for two of the most famous and respected literary monsters of all time.
References:
ReplyDeleteTownshend, D. (2012). Vampire Fiction. Oxford. Retrieved May 18, 2015 from http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199846719/obo-9780199846719-0059.xml
Library Point. (2001). A History of Classic Monsters: Frankenstein's Creature. Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Retrieved 18 May, 2015 from http://www.librarypoint.org/history_of_classic_monsters_frankensteins_creature
1.Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
ReplyDeleteThe summer at the Villa Diodati in the summer of 1816 helped Mary Shelley to create the famous novel “Frankenstein” and the other ghost story. From the memoir of Mary Shelley we can find something about this mysterious place. In this summer Mary went with her husband Percy Shelly to Geneva. Her stepsister also went with them. In their way from France to Switzerland they have experienced a very wild and bleak landscape, which was also recorded in the later travel memoir in 1817. There were only large pines with snow and there was no river or grassland, which was a very wild scene. This desolated environment inspired Mary also in the beginning and end of her novel.
The couple met Lord Byron in Geneva, who just came back from the trip to Waterloo. It was the first time that Byron and Percy Shelly met and they chose the nearby places to live, one of which was the Villa Diodati. The Villa Diodati was once the property of famous artist John Milton. The weather was not fine in June in Switzerland and they gave up the plan of sailing, and these artists got together and discussed about the literature and they talked for a long time until the late night. It was raining outside accompanied with strong thunder and lightning. It was a horrible scene together with the lake and the mountain if you see from the inside of the villa. These great persons discussed also about the animation and medical aspects. This experience could be found in the Frankenstein of Mary Shelly in 1831, she wrote that there were long talks between Byron and Percy Shelly and they have talked even about the philosophical topics and about the ghost stories. The rainy and bleak environment and the atmosphere of the night have all inspired Mary Shelly of this novel.
2.Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
ReplyDeleteBased on the experienced in Villa Diodati, Mary Shelley wrote the famous novel ”Frankstein” , while another person John William Polidori also produced the famous “The Vampyre” as a vampire genre. The gothic genre was strongly influenced by these fictions. The people who stayed in the Villa Diodati made great contributions to the modern gothic genre. The “brat-pack” formed in the Villa Diodati has also strong impacts on the development of literature. A lot of movies and works have occurred after the Frankenstein, and the vampire genre is also very popular even until the current society (Alilunas, S. et al, 2009).
Without the Villa Diodati “brat-pack”, we would not know about the revolution of the gothic genre. It formed the most important part of this gothic genre and created it. Without them, the gothic style will be totally different from what it looks today. Many films and TV series have developed their ideas based on the original and preliminary works form Mary Shelley and also John William Polidori. Of course they have added a lot of new elements to fit in with the changing trend, the basic core and framework always remain the same. Besides Mary Shelley and John William Polidori, there are still some famous people in this gothic genre such as Robert Steveson. The basic element of Gothic have developed to a lot of figures such as the vampires or the werewolves, bleak houses or castles, nights with strong storm and other things, which are not included in the original Gothic genre at the beginning.
The modern horror novels and movies still show the consideration of typical sensibilities of Gothic genre. One representative is Stephen King (Katsu, A., 2012). And the obvious difference between the new Gothic novels and the traditional ones are that the modern works always add the romantic and funny things compared to the traditional Gothic genre.
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
ReplyDeleteIn April 1816, Lord Byron left England amid rumours of his infidelity to his wife, an incestuous affair with his half-sister and also mounting debt. He never returned to his homeland again. He and his companion John Polidori rented a house he referred to as the Villa Diodati, near Cologny, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The house's original owners had been the Diodati family. A plaque at the entrance had boasted that the poet John Milton (a friend of the Diodati family) had visited the house during 1639.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin (later on Mrs. Shelley) and her step sister Claire Claremont (whom Byron had had an affair with in London) stayed at a nearby house. It was during their three day shared stay at the Villa Diodati during the stormy and unusually cold rainy weather in June that Mary drew inspiration and conceived the idea for her book "Frankenstein" and also for Polidori's "The Vampyre". The group of friends spent that period of time entertaining each other with ghost stories, readings and creating ideas for stories during that bleak period referred to as the "Year without a summer." Mary Shelley had written an entry in her diary regarding their staying inside for several days due to the bad weather and having to use candles during the day. The weather was due to a heavy amount of volcanic ash from an eruption in Indonesia. Many people at the time believed they were on the verge of an apocalyptic event.
Speculation had been rife and encircled themes of debauchery, orgies and rituals. What really happened during that summer of 1816 forever remains a mystery. Mary had made reference to that fateful summer in the preface of her book and was said to have been written 15 years after the passing of the men. Polidori’s was published in 1911. Percy Bysshe Shelley had kept numerous note books of which he included verses, prose, sketches, drafts and musings and so on. The success of the books was probably aided by the atmosphere of having had to be cooped up within that huge old villa (Mary wrote they had to use candles during the day) telling each other ghost stories and coupled with the grey, cold and rainy weather (the villa was supposedly haunted by the ghost of Milton and then Polidori being a physician, his knowledge would have contributed to the medical aspects in the writing of Frankenstein.
Following Lord Byron's death, it was said the Villa Diodati became a place of pilgrimage to honour his memory and era of Romanticism
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Diodati
http://earthianhivemind.net/2014/05/21/villa-diodati-birthplace-of-sci-fi-and-modern-fantasy/#comments
http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/indexes/psbodleian/tokoo-contents.html
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc
ReplyDeleteThe Villa Diodati "brat-pack" were not only famous for their closeted time together during their three days in June in the summer of 1816 but also for what was later to emerge from their time together, (the whole affair seemed shrouded in mystery and the source for many scandalous rumours that followed their stay at the Villa Diodati).They used their confinement during the period of bad weather to read and tell ghost stories and challenged each other to see who could write a better gothic fiction. Two of their stories were exceptional and went on to become the landmark works that aided in elevating the status of the Gothic genre and they had also created two of the most celebrated monsters of all time. The popularity of Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" and Polidori's "The Vampyre" catapulted them to fame. Over the many years, the original stories have gone on to be the inspiration for numerous other books, films, animated films, songs and even cereal and stamps and so on. The two famous stories and/or their equally famous characters have been emulated, rewritten, recreated and reused in books, films like "Dracula" (1958) with Sir Christopher Lee (recently passed away) also several other versions "Bram Stoker's Dracula," (1992), stage productions like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975), earning over 150 million, then there were the popular television series such as "The Vampire Diaries," (2009), "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997 - 2003), sitcoms such as "The Munsters" (1960's) where the character of 'Herman' bore a striking resemblance to Frankenstein's monster and the characters of the mother 'Lily' and her father 'Grandpa' were vampires. There were songs like "The Monster Mash" (1960) a hit tune by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett, an animated film of the beetles song "The Yellow Submarine" (1966) which led to a short film with the same title shows John Lennon drinking from a potion and then transforming from Frankenstein's monster back to being himself (2.20).
http://www.bargaintraveleurope.com/08/Switzerland_Villa_Diodoti_Geneva.htm
http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-origins-of-the-gothic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker%27s_Dracula
http://mentalfloss.com/article/20028/38-facts-frankenstein-including-aerosmith-song-it-inspired-and-reason-munsters-neverhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laRyswIO_-g
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
ReplyDelete4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
In the summer of 1816 at Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva Lord Byron had Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Claire Clairmont and John Polidori over. As they weren't able to do much due to the awful weather (it was known as the year without summer) Lord Byron challenged the group to write the most frightening story they could imagine. This would give birth to one of the most well known stories of the Gothic genre, Frankenstein.
In Mary Shelleys account she was struggling for a story and then one night, when she was lying in bed, she closed her eyes and imagined a 'pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling
beside the thing he had put together. ... the
hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then,
on the working of some powerful engine, show signs
of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion.' (Shelley, M. (1985; 1818)
As she imagined the creature that would be created she began to scare herself and this was when she knew that it was the story she needed to get down on paper.
She relayed her story in only a few pages but was urged to develop it and make it longer to, what we know as, the story of Frankenstein and his monster. Challenging God as the Creator of Man was a daring move on Shelleys part and it inspired others so write in a similar way, therefore developing the Gothic genre.
In 1819 The Vampyre by John Polidori was published creating another very popular creature/monster. Many stories of Vampires have been created since then where they have been sexualised and, in present day especially, aren't necessarily portrayed as an entirely evil creature, the Twilight series for example. Frankenstein too has been transformed from this evil being that goes against nature to a modern 'saviour of man' figure, which we seen in the 2014 film I, Frankenstein. In this film he even gets given the name Adam (Adam and Eve) by the Gargoyle queen which I thought was quite interesting, seeing as he is not a creation of God but is the first of his kind.
Reference
Extract: Shelley, Mary. (1985; 1818). Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, London: Penguin. Retrieved from https://autonline.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-3175435-dt-content-rid-5192089_4/institution/Papers/166101/Publish/Desire_Critical%20Reader_2014.pdf
http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=6/19/1816