A Group Challenge to Write a Chilling Tale Produced Frankenstein and The Vampyre
In 1815 a volcanic eruption in Indonesia threw up a cloud of ash and particulates large enough to affect the weather around the world. The following year, 1816, became known as the Year Without a Summer, or Eighteen-Hundred-and-Froze-to-Death.
One evening, after the group had already read aloud eerie and violent narratives such as those in Fantasmagoriana, Lord Byron set them a challenge: write chilling tales of their own. That competition produced three significant works — Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, John Polidori's The Vampyre and Byron's own A Fragment.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The Vampyre is a natural vehicle for thinking about a predatory ruling class: a story about how power and privilege let those of higher station exploit the vulnerable.
The famous night's scorecard is thinner than the legend suggests. Byron quickly abandoned his entry, and the attempts by Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont did not yield anything comparable.