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Romanticism An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.
This genre also included the English Romantics; Robert Burns (Scottish) William Wordsworth, John Coleridge, Lord Byron, John Keats, and Percy Bythe Shelly, to name a few.
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Their origins can be traced to the famous literary gathering on the shores of Lake Geneva. The story is well known. In the summer of 1816, Lord Byron and his doctor, John Polidori, were residing at the Villa Diodati where they were visited by Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin (who would soon become Mary Shelley) and Claire Claremont. One evening, after a collective reading of ghost stories, Byron suggested that each member of the party write a story of their own. Two tales that changed the face of Gothic fiction were inspired by this challenge. Mary Shelley began Frankenstein, while Byron wrote a fragment about a nobleman named Augustus Darvell who contrives to return from the dead. Later that year, Polidori used his employer’s unfinished work as the basis of a novella: Lord Ruthven -- who bears an intentional resemblance to the notorious Lord Byron -- is a jaded, charismatic nobleman who must feed upon the blood of the living in order to continue his unnatural existence. Polidori’s creation became the prototype for most subsequent literary vampires, ranging from Count Dracula to Lestat.
Both Frankenstein and “The Vampyre” were initially ascribed to different authors. The fact that the first edition of Frankenstein was published anonymously led many readers to assume that it had been written by Percy Shelley. The story of the debut of “The Vampyre” is more dramatic. When it appeared in The New Monthly Magazine on 1 April 1819, it carried the by-line “A Tale by Lord Byron.” Polidori was outraged and Byron tried, unsuccessfully, to disassociate himself from it. “The Vampyre” was an immediate and phenomenal success. Five more editions were published in London, and it was translated into French and Italian. There is little doubt that the success of Polidori’s story was due to the fact that most people believed it had been written by his employer; even Goethe considered it Byron’s best work.
Literature: Dracula and Frankenstein[/url]