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).
The Villa Diodati is a manor house on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. In the summer of 1816, Lord Byron, Mary and Percy Shelley and John Polidori stayed there for what was to be a summer retreat. However, as Mary Shelley stated in her diary, “…it proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house." (1)
ReplyDeleteThe reason for this particularly bad summer is now know to be directly related to the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia on April 10, 1815. (2) The eruption created such a large ash cloud that it created a stratospheric veil that reflected sunlight, causing widespread drought and famine due to the wild swings in temperature brought about by disrupted weather systems.
Thus the group was confined indoors with, ‘some volumes of ghost stories, translated from the German into French.” To stay the boredom, Lord Byron suggested a writing contest, to see who could create the greatest horror story.
Apparently, it was during this contest that the idea for Frankenstein came to Mary Shelley in a waking dream, where she saw, ”a 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. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous Creator of the world." (3)
It was also as a result of this contest that Polidori came up with the idea of “Vampyre,” the first Vampire novel written in English.
References
1. Beaumont, A., Bechtel, D. (2006). Creating Frankenstein, the Lake Geneva monster. Retrieved, May 5 from
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/extraordinary_exiles/The_creation_of_the_Lake_Geneva_monster.html?cid=12808
2. Boulton, T. (2013). 1816 - The year that had no summer. Retrieved May 5, from http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/05/1816-the-year-that-had-no-summer/
3. Shelley, Mary. (1985; 1818). Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, London: Penguin.
Good summary Kale,
DeleteI also found that these competition would lead supernatural, horrifying stories with monsters like Vampire and Frankenstein.
After they hold a contest to see who could write the scariest story, some intriguing literature came out ; Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, A Fragment of a Ghost story by Percy Shelly, Fragment of a Novel by Byron and The Vampyre by Polidori, This visit inspired Darkness by Lord Byron as well.
Additionally, the beginning of the literary genre based on romantic vampires such as The Vampire diaries, True Blood and Twilight could be The Vampyre.
References
Lord Byron & Villa Diodati - Lake Geneva - Byron, the Shelleys and the Switzerland Gothic Summer of 1816. (n.d.). Retrieved May 7, 2014, from http://www.bargaintraveleurope.com/08/Switzerland_Villa_Diodoti_Geneva.htm
The father of the vampire genre of fiction - Supernatural & Paranormal. (n.d.). Darkness Forums. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from http://forum.darkness.com/topic/108897-the-father-of-the-vampire-genre-of-fiction/
The father of the vampire genre of fiction - Supernatural & Paranormal. (n.d.). Darkness Forums. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from http://forum.darkness.com/topic/108897-the-father-of-the-vampire-genre-of-fiction/
Comments a little scattered, Elena. What did the monster in Frankenstein represent?
DeleteFrankenstein is a horror and science fiction novel published in 1818 by Mary Shelley. (Shelley, 1984) Most people know Frankenstein, which is the name of a book and a movie; where there is a monster called Frankenstein whose body is pieced together from body parts stolen from a graveyard. (Frankenstein Summary, n.d.)
DeleteThis monster can be described as a creature that was as progressively generated from a successful scientific experiment. Actually Shelley probably wanted to warn of the danger of science.We achieved an enormous advancement in scientific technology. This progress in science has changed nature. The doctor, in the movie, believes he can control monster because it was his creation. However, he soon realizes that he simply cannot do it. The monster thinks and acts like a human. In my opinion, the strongest message in this story is that we should never try to go against nature. If we try to control nature by science, the outcome may be adverse to our expectations. (“In the book Frankenstein, what is the monster supposed to represent?,” n.d.)
This is a strong message, which warns humans that if they try to control or play with nature, the results may be catastrophic.
The image of this monster could be a metaphor which represents lower class people who are often socially excluded and event teased. Furthermore, it could be described by women such as the bird with broken wings in a cage. In my opinion, the writer did not mention the gender of the monster as well. Therefore, I assume that his claim is that the reason why the monster wants to interact with a woman is because he wants a friend with whom he can share thoughts or worries.
She also shows that creature and creator in Frankenstein is in reality one self-reflecting different sides of human personality.
References
Frankenstein Summary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bookrags.com/notes/frk/
In the book Frankenstein, what is the monster supposed to represent? - Homework Help - eNotes.com. (n.d.). eNotes. Retrieved May 17, 2014, from http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/book-frankenstein-what-monster-surposed-represent-14757
Shelley, M. (1984). Frankenstein (Reissue edition.). New York: Bantam Classics.
Good comment. Well observed. Note that such nightmares only became possible with rise of mechanisation and industrialism.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete3.
ReplyDeleteThere are countless fiction films and narrative media. Fiction or narrative film is that tells a fictionalized story. With this film style, it could be described that not narratives but characters help convince the audience to the unfolding fiction real. (“Fictional film,” 2014) Here are some best fictional film.
Related with Vampires :
Dracula (1931) by Bela Lugosi,
Fright Night (1985) by William Ragsdale,
Dawn of the dead (1978) ,
Nosferatu the vampyre (1979),
The lost boys (1987) by Joel Schumacher,
Near Dark (1987) by Kathryn Bigelow,
Bram Stoker’s Dracula(1992),
Inerview with the Vampire (1994),
Cronos (1994) by Guillermo del Toro,
Shadow of the vampire (2000) by E. Elias Merhige,
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001) by Jack Fletcher,
Horror of Dracula (2002) by Terence Fisher
Dracula : Pages from a Virgin’s Diary(2003) by Guy Maddin,
Underworld (2006) by Len Wiseman,
I am Legend (2007) by Francis Lawrence,
Let the right one in (2008) by Tomas Alfredson,
Twilight (2008) by Catherine Hardwicke, and Twilight saga (series)
Thirst (2009) by Chan-wook Park,
There are some Drama as well, Blade, Moonlight, True blood, The Vampire diaries, Buffy the vampire slayer, The originals and so on.
References
Fictional film. In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 10, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fictional_film&oldid=598549292
Ranked: The Best and Worst Vampire Movies of the Past 30 Years. (n.d.). Metacritic. Retrieved May 10, 2014, from http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-and-worst-vampire-movies-since-1980
1.Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816.
ReplyDeleteInitially called the Villa Belle Rive, Byron named it Diodati after the family who were distant relatives of an Italian translator Giovanni Diodati.
There are many online articles, blogs and webpages that elaborate on what happened at the Villa Diodati in the summer of 1816. It is said that during that particular summer “the most scandalous group descended from England in the wake of a devilishly handsome 28 year old poet Lord Byron.” That year was the known as the year without summer. Those present were The Shelleys (Percy and May Wollstonecraft Godwin whom later changed her lastname), Lord Byron and his mistress Claire Calirmont (Mary’s step-sister who was pregnant with his child) and Byron’s personal physician John Polidori. The year they gathered at Lake Geneva was the summer known as “the year without summer.”
It is believed that one fateful night during a storm Byron and his friends were trapped indoors by “an almost perpetual rain” and wild lightning storms. It was here that Byron proposed the idea that each member of the group retell ghost tales and compose a horror story. This inspired the legendary Frankenstein by Mary Shelley’s and The Vampyre by Polidori making it the first vampire story in English which also influenced Bram Stoker’s Dracula many years later.
References:
Biblion: FRANKENSTEIN | ESSAY_Perrottet. (n.d.). Biblion: FRANKENSTEIN | ESSAY_Perrottet. Retrieved May 12, 2014, from http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/outsiders/frankenstein/essay/essayperrottet
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron - Frankenstein, Milton & the Computer. (n.d.). Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron - Frankenstein, Milton & the Computer. Retrieved May 12, 2014, from http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=6/19/1816
Villa Diodati. (2014, April 18). Wikipedia. Retrieved May 12, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Diodati
A good start made here by all. In what way is the book Frankenstein part of the Romantic movement?
ReplyDeleteRomanticism was an era that opposed against the age of Enlightenment, and because Frankenstein is a romantic novel, it does too. Along with being a work of romanticism, Frankenstein is also a gothic novel. This is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. It is seen as the epitome of romanticism. Frankenstein highlights instinct and feeling over understanding, as opposed to the Enlightenment’s ethics of logic and reason.
DeleteVictor creates the monster with logic and reason (everyone’s favourite thing called science), but cannot undo his actions using either of them. The purpose of the monster’s storyline, is to earn Victor’s love and approval, but Victor is so overwhelmed with the monster’s violent behaviour towards his loved ones he can neither look at nor feel any sympathy for what he had created.
Also, this idea of Victor as a Romantic may lead one to ask the question, "Why, then, did things turn out so sour for the Romantic dreamer in this novel?" And the answer is: Victor broke a main rule in romanticism. He tested nature and created a monster for the sake of everlasting immorality. Not only that, he attempted to disrupt the holy cycle of life and death.
The monster he created was with hopes that one day he would "Renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption." (p. 48), and this would glorify his name and gain the immorality and fame he craved. “I am practically industrious – painstaking; - a workman to execute with perseverance and labour…” (Pg. 15). His determination for greatness to have his name through generations as the man who could create life from the dead led to his biggest downfall. He creates the monster for the idea of being able to grant life upon himself. Should he be successful in learning how life worked, he would be able to apply his studies to himself and live for eternity. However, in the eyes of a serious Romantic, this would be an insult to God with respect for all things natural, including death. And the outcome for his actions were a gruesome monster and the deaths of his loved ones.
REFERENCES:
FRANKENSTEIN. (n.d.). : Characteristics that make Frankenstein a Romantic Novel. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from http://frankensteinlupica.blogspot.co.nz/2007/04/characteristics-that-make-frankenstein_20.html
Romantic thinking over enlightenment thinking in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? - Yahoo Answers. (n.d.). Romantic Thinking Over Enlightenment Thinking In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from https://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080227102458AAFlIPg
Specific Frankenstein quotes? - Yahoo Answers. (n.d.). Specific Frankenstein quotes?. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from https://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20140116205033AAmXcMc
Hey Luseane, you have some really good points in this post. I have also tried to answer the question of how Frankenstein related to the Romanticism movement.
DeleteThe Romanticism movement aimed to break away from the rigid structure and rationality of past works, and create work, which captured people’s raw emotion. Romantic literature aimed to express ‘a new and visionary relationship to the imagination.’(Anderson, 2011).
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein played an essential part in the field of Romanticism. The novel focuses on many of the central issues that still affect people today; what does it mean to be human? Are we merely mechanical beings or do our bodies have a consciousness attached to them? It seems Mary Shelley believed humans are more than just an assortment of body parts; we also have a sense of being, as some would call it, a soul. One of the main themes among Romantic works is the fear that science, the age of enlightenment, will take away the magic and mystery of life. Shelley wasn’t religious, however she believed in the sacredness of human life, and nature’s role as the creator.
Shelley’s protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, is a highly skilled scientist who decides to take life into his hands and create a living creature out of the body parts of dead people. At the time Shelley came up with the idea for Frankenstein, there were a number of scientists who were experimenting with galvanism. This was when an electric current was used to stimulate the muscles of dead organisms. Some people believed that through this process it would be possible to stimulate dead people’s brains, thus allowing humans to have control over life and death. Mary Shelley found this idea both exciting and scary, and through Frankenstein’s monster she imagines how one of these human-created people would operate within a society. In the novel, the townspeople are disgusted and terrified by the monster and he is treated like an outcast. I believed Shelley felt that science had overtaken societies beliefs and values, and people were not ready to accept such an unnatural creature into their world.
The concerns Mary Shelley expressed in this novel are still highly relevant in today’s world. Artists and writers are still exploring the relationship between science and human nature. Patricia Piccinini is one modern day artist who creates sculptures of man-made creatures, and questions whether they will be accepted into society or if they are considered horrific and unnatural. Personally, I believe it will be many years in the future, if ever, that people will come to accept this as normal. I think that most humans still consider life too sacred to be altered for our own desires.
References:
Anderson, N. (2011). Analysis of “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley: Morality without God. Retrieved from http://www.articlemyriad.com/analysis-frankenstein-mary-shelley/.
Anderson, N. (2011). Elements of Romanticism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Retrieved from http://www.articlemyriad.com/elements-romanticism-frankenstein/.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley features many of the characteristics typically associated with Romantic literature, however one of the most pertinent is the apparent reverence Victor Frankenstein has for nature. Many poets and authors of the era spent time meditating on nature, and their observations are often reflected in their writing, depicting nature in great detail and featuring nature as a setting quite prominently. (1)
DeleteThis is so in Frankenstein, which is for the most part set in Switzerland, positioning the story amongst the picturesque Swiss Alps. Throughout the text there are many detailed depictions of the surroundings, which make them an integral part of the story as much as they reflect the mood of the characters.
For example, this passage occurs at the start of Chapter 10, when Victor is attempting to meet the monster:
“The path, as you ascend higher, is intersected by ravines of snow...the pines are not tall or luxuriant, but they are sombre, and add an air of severity to the scene…vast mists were rising from the rivers which ran through it, and curling in thick wreaths around the opposite mountains, whose summits were hid in the uniform clouds, while rain poured from the dark sky…” (Shelley, 2009, p.115)
It is a dark, sublime setting, which reflects Victor’s somber anticipation of facing the monster he has created.
The Romantic Movement also challenged many earlier ideologies of humans being removed from nature, rather than a part of it. This is seemingly paradoxical in that the Romantic Movement coexisted with the era of industrialization, where vast tracts of land and forest were being destroyed and nature was growing increasing removed from the everyday life of those living in urban areas. Nature began to be seen as a kind of refuge from the constructs of this industrialized world. (2)
For example, one of Captain Walton’s letters states of Victor that,
“Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does (of) the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea…have the power of elevating his soul from earth.”
In this we see just how strongly Victor feels about nature, to the point where it becomes a sort of healing force.
In response to the scene quoted in the first example, Victor says this:
“These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving. They elevated me from all littleness of feeling; and although they did not remove my grief, they subdued and tranquillised it.”
Again, nature is a kind of refuge for Victor, which serves to take his mind off of the plight he is facing in the ‘real’ world.
I feel these examples show one aspect of how Frankenstein can begin to be defined as work of Romantic literature.
References:
Shelley, M. (2009). Frankenstein. Victoria, Australia: Penguin group.
1. Smith, N. (2011). Elements of Romanticism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Retrieved May 20, 2014, from
http://www.articlemyriad.com/elements romanticism-frankenstein.
2. Brians, P. (1998). Romanticism. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from
http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html
I agree with you all in that Frankenstein is linked with romantic literature , the monster is a romantic hero because of the rejection that he must bear from normal society. He is chased away constantly because of his hideous appearance, he would never be accepted into mainstream society. Shelley tries to show the readers how many people in society reject the less than average people who live on the borders of society.
DeleteMary Shelley is ties her novel to one of the most authentic romantic works, Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, aligning her monster with Coleridge's ancient mariner.
Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt (2013)
DeleteRetrieved 03/06/2014 from: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/f/frankenstein/critical-essays/the-romantic-movement
Links between the Villa Diodati “Brat Pack” and the birth of Gothic as a modern Genre?
ReplyDeleteGothic originated in the second half of the 18th century in England but it wasn’t until the 19th century that it was recognised and saw great success, much like Frankenstein, which was written by Mary Shelley. (Gothic Fiction)
Gothic refers to the particular design and structure of the buildings and landscapes that the stories of the period were set in. In regards to the genre itself, it is sometimes referred to as Gothic Fiction and Gothic Horror as it is a mode of literature that incorporates fiction, romanticism and horror. (Gothic Fiction)
Originally, my first impressions were that Gothic spawned from such literary texts such as Vampyre by John Polidori and Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Both texts were written in 1818 and 1819, just few years after the summer spent in the Villa Diodati where the ideas and foundations were laid. And because Gothic had yet to take off, it made sense that it come to life with influence from these texts.
However, looking a little further into other authors around this time period, I discovered that Horace Walpole published the first Gothic text in 1764. It was called “The castle of Otranto”. Walpole is believed to have been the one to influenced many great writers that during the 18th century would become recognised for their works. In particular Bram Stokes with his famous Dracula. (The Castle of Otranto)
Perhaps it is fair to say that the genre of Gothic literature was present and prominent before the “Brat Pack” began writing their featured work. Gothic is a genre made up of multiple modes and the 18th century saw people take these modes and develop works from a single approach whether it is horror, fiction or romanticism alone.
References
Wikipedia. Retrieved 12th May 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker's_Dracula
Wikipedia. Retrieved 12th May 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_of_Otranto
Wikipedia. Retrieved 12th May 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction
ReplyDelete1. The sublime is a theme which was prevalent in Romantic literature and artwork. It is believed to date back to the Greek philosophers of the 1st century AD and there were elements of it in William Wordsworth's work. However, the sublime didn't gain widespread recognition until the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and William Blake all explored the notion of the sublime in their work. While previous works focused on the aesthetic quality and peacefulness of nature, the sublime was concerned with the terrifying and awe-inspiring side of it. They saw nature as a powerful force which could leave humans feeling tiny and insignificant, in comparison.The sublime can also be seen as the fear and thrill of what is unknown. 'It is the idea of the thing (as opposed to the thing itself) that has the quality of the sublime – it’s a mood or an approach rather than a scary thing.' (Trott,1998).
Percy Shelley's work contained many aspects of the sublime. Shelley believed in the power of nature, and saw it as a force which was responsible for the joy and goodness in life, but also had a dark side and was capable of being cruel and destructive. This can be seen in his poem 'Ode to the west wind' in which the wind is used to represent the power of nature, as the wind has the ability to destroy and also to rebuild and recreate. Shelley wrote this poem on a day when the wind was particularly violent, and was collecting the vapours from the rain. Shelley asks the wind to sweep him up 'Lift me as a wave,a leaf, a cloud!'. He is using the wind as a metaphor for his own poetic spirit and inspiration. In the last stanza, he speaks
of the coming of spring, and his thoughts being scattered around the world, 'like wither,d leaves, to quicken a new birth'. His old thoughts are being cast aside, to make way for a new 'spring' of human creativity. In other words, the upcoming spring is likened to Shelley's poetic inspiration and creative spirit. The idea of nature as a force for inspiring thoughts and creativity, is a common notion of the sublime artists and writers.
References
Pateman, T. (2004, 1991). 'The Sublime' in Key Concepts: A guide to Aesthetics, Criticism and the Arts in Education. London: Falmer Press, pp 169-171.
Shelley's Poetry. (2014). Retrieved May 14, from http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/shelley/section4.rhtml.
Trott, N. 1998. The picturesque, the beautiful, and the sublime. A companion to Romanticism. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishers. Retrieved May 13, from http://www.u.arizona.edu/~atinkham/Sublime.html.
Zunjic, B. (N.D). Analytic of the Sublime- An outline. Retrieved May 14, from
http://www.uri.edu/personal/szunjic/philos/subl.htm.
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips.
ReplyDeleteGothic is a 1986 British horror film directed by Ken Russell. It is a fictionalised tale based on the Shelley's visit with Lord Byron in Villa Diodati, by Lake Geneva.
It concerns the famous challenge to write a horror story, which then led to Mary Shelley's writing Frankenstein and John Polidori's writing The Vampyre.
This same event has been portrayed in the films Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Haunted Summer (1988)
References-
http://www.gypsyartshow.com/2011/09/ken-russells-gothic-movie-review-by.html
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHaunted Summer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG-rJuyfvxM
ReplyDeleteBride of Frankenstein- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYD3-pIF9jQ
ReplyDeleteAnother British TV miniseries, The Romantics (2006) looks at the lives of a group of writers including Shelley and his wife along with such literary luminaries as Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.
ReplyDeleteByron the movie (2003) follows the sexual escapades, literary triumphs and shady dealings of Lord Byron.
There have been many poems, songs, movies, books and operas about the Romantic Sublime. Rosa Ponselle recorded a soprano version of Shelley's poem "Love's Sorrow" in the 1920s.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Loves Philosophy, a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley is often performed to music.
Vaughan Williams was an English composer of the early twentieth century. He was inspired by the English Romantic poets, including Percy Bysshe Shelley. He wrote a symphony movement inspired by Shelley's poem "Prometheus Unbound."
Percy Florence Shelley was the only one of Percy and Mary Shelley's four children to outlive his parents. He dabbled in music and composed the song "Hymn of Pan" in 1864, when he was 45 years old.
Composer Allan Jaffe created this opera, The Mary Shelley Opera, based on the life of Percy Shelley's wife Mary. The first act looks at her life from the time she meets Shelley to the writing of Frankenstein. The second covers the dramatic, tragic twists in her personal life following Shelley's death.
References- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley
ReplyDelete