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).
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ReplyDelete3. From Romantic retrospective texts/extracts, we can find many fictional accounts. For example, "Frankenstein" is originally a novel, written by a female English novelist Mary Shelley, but it is adapted in many plays, comic books, films and television.
ReplyDeleteFrom‘Manfred, a Dramatic Poem’, in the first scene from , Manfred says “Good, or evil, life, Powers, passions, all I see in other beings, Have been to me as rain unto the sands, Since that all-nameless hour”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nj3SVvsCEM
DeleteThis is another form or remake of that summer at Villa Diodati. The song represents the unruly time they all had at the estate. Mary shelley was apparently only 18 at the time she had that rained out summer at Villa Diodati and thought up the story of Frankenstein. Ghost stories and fairie tales may have also helped bring the idea into creation.
I found your link interesting, Karina. Your YouTube link has a toatally different mood compare to my scary "Gothic" tralier.
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DeleteThere are many allusions to Villa Diodati in popular culture. Films which reinterpret what happened at Villa Diodati include 'Gothic' (1986), 'Haunted Summer' (1988) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQwwVThTuZM, and 'Rowing with the Wind' (1988) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093840/.
DeleteIt is also featured in Chuck Palahniuk's novel 'Haunted', as a modern version of the Villa Diodati. http://chuckpalahniuk.net/books/haunted
Tim Powers's novel 'The Stress of Her Regard' has various scenes featuring the villa and also Byron, Polidori and the Shelley's. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/417656.The_Stress_of_Her_Regard
In the DC comic book 'The Unwritten' the protagonist, a famous reclusive author, resides and was seen alive last at the Villa Diodati. His son was born there as well, much like Frankenstein. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unwritten
Interesting fact I found, Ada, Byron's daughter who turned out to be a mathematical genius, created 'Analytical Engine' considered world's first computer alongside Charles Babbage.
King, S. (nd.) Today in History. Retrieved 11/06/2014 from: http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=6/19/1816
ReplyDeleteIn the horror film ‘Gothic’ (1986), originally it was a fictionalized tale based on the Shelleys' visit with Lord Byron. For example, ‘Manfred, a Dramatic Poem’, it “began in late 1816,only months after the infamouz ghost-story sessions which helped inspire Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and John Polidori’s The Vampyre, Man fred is widely regarded as Byron’s most ‘Gothic’ work. “Ghost-story writing challenge presented to his guest at Villa Diodato (above) on the shores of Lake Geneva.
In his texts, there are voices of spirits. Those spirits are all related to nature and natural disasters.
First spirit says, “from my mansion in the cloud”
Then Second spirit says, “Mount Blanc is the monarch of mountains”
Then third spirit says, “In the blue depth of the waters,”
then fourth spirit says, “Where the slumbering earthquake”
then fifth spirit says, “I am the rider of the wind”
and then sixth spirit says, “My dwelling is the shadow of the night, Why doth thy magic torture me with light?”
Finally, seventh sprit says, “the star which rules thy destiny Was ruled, ere earth began, by me: It was a world as fresh and fair As e’er revolved round sun in air;”
All the seven sprits, “Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star,”
All of the spirits are referring to natural disasters and nature that human are surrounded. It shows how non-living things can have spirits. It illustrates aspects of spiritualism.
It has influenced in Ken Russel’s film, ‘Gothic’ (1986)
This extract is the trailer for ‘Gothic’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOcJwt8XB4M
In this extract, we can see the elements of horror films such as scared people, the devil scratching woman (Mary Shelley), and skeleton.
Linking to question three:
DeleteAlthough the stories created by those staying at the Villa Diodati in 1816 have influenced other literary works and films, especially in the case of Frankenstein and The Vampyre, the fact that the series of events leading up to the creation of these works was so unusual also led to varying artistic theories on what really happened at the Villa Diodati. Ken Russell’s film “Gothic” (1986) is a fictionalised tale based on the trip to the villa, but focuses on the origin of the idea for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where supposedly Mary Shelley and those at the villa experienced their own personal horrors due to drug-induced mind games. The film “Haunted Summer”, directed by Ivan Passer, is another fictional film account, released two years later in 1988. The idea that drugs were involved in the conception of the stories are not unfounded. According to Perrottet (n.d.), wine was frequently available to the companions staying at the villa, as was laudanum, described as a liquefied form of opium. Light references to the events at the Villa Diodati are also made in a few films, mostly those that are adapted from Frankenstein. For example, James Whale has a short opening scene in his film “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) that shows Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley talking about Mary’s success with writing Frankenstein (Cardin, 2013). The videos of the trailers for the films “Gothic”, “Haunted Summer” and the opening scene for “Bride of Frankenstein” are available at http://www.teemingbrain.com. Reference listed below.
Cardin, M. (2013). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, and the dark-mythic summer of 1816. Retrieved from http://www.teemingbrain.com/2013/09/05/mary-shelley-frankenstein-and-the-dark-mythic-summer-of-1816/
IMDb. (1990-2014). Haunted Summer (1988). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com
IMDb. (1990-2014). Gothic (1986). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com
Perrottet, T. (n.d.). Summer of Love: The Romantics at Lake Geneva. Retrieved from http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/outsiders/frankenstein/essay/essayperrottet
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Mary Shelley, I want to look at "Frankenstein".
There are many films based on ‘Frankenstein’. Recently, there are new versions of Frankenstein which was changed too much from original. But from “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein” (1994) is referring directly to the novel.
This trailer is also from “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein” (1994). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg17y6iz7Xs
The scientist Victor Frankenstein had a great grief on his mother’s death. So he tried to make a creature that has greater power than human and can live forever but when he actually saw the creature he got too scared and think he is evil and monster.
The link below is the extract from the film “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein” (1994). The extract is showing the moment of the creation of the creature.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2hl5Ee5_1E
In this extract, Victor looks very excited.
In the novel, has the same from the film’s extract, his mixture of emotions are well-described ,
“How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe,” (page 69, chapter 5)
Following on the next page, he confess himself that
“The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. I had worked hard nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.” For the creature, he even sacrificed himself, “for this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”(page70, chapter 5) It shows that he is having a fear of what he have created, although he has been desired it for two years. When he actually saw the creature, he felt ‘breathless horror and disgust filled my heart’.
Making an immortal creature was his forbidden mission to him. It was dangerous because life and death is God's privilege, human cannot do this. For Victor, the creature was "Adam's apple" to him.
DeleteSo, when he actually saw the creature, "Frankenstein", he thought the creature was a monster and an evil. Therefore, he left the creature alone in the harsh world. The creature decided to take on revenge. So, he killed Victor's family and a lover, Elizabeth. Victor thinks he is evil and try to run away from him. In the movie "Frankenstein", there is a scene where Victor talks to Elizabeth in front of the cross that he is afraid of what he has done and he need her help. It shows his fear in front of the God.
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ReplyDelete
DeleteReference:
Gothic (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_(film)
Ken Russell's Gothic Trailer. (2009. 2. 28.). Retrieved from April 21, 2014,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2hl5Ee5_1E
Frankenstein - The Creation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOcJwt8XB4M
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) trailer. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg17y6iz7Xs
Shelley, Mary. (1985; 1818). Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, London: Penguin
More, P.E. ed. (1905; 1817). The Poetical Works of Byron. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Let's get discussion going people!!
ReplyDeleteRegarding question two and what occurred at the Villa Diodati:
ReplyDeleteThe year 1816 is known as the “year without a summer”, due to a significant geological event, the eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia in 1815 (Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 2011). The ensuing volcanic ash cloud spread throughout the atmosphere, darkening the skies, and its effects were widespread, with famine due to crop failure and epidemics occurring in America, Britain and Europe as well as some Asian countries (Cardin, 2013) and wild weather that included constant rain and lightning storms (Perrottet, n.d.). Lord Byron may have been inspired by this event in the composition of his poem “Darkness” in July 1816 (Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 2011). Those companions who accompanied Lord Byron on his trip to Geneva were Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (who Percy Shelley later married in 1816), Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, and the physician John Polidori (Perrottet, n.d.)
Lord Byron and his companions gathered at the Villa Diodati, near Lake Geneva in Switzerland (Cardin, 2013). They were kept inside by the unusual weather, so they read horror stories and discussed “the latest scientific theories” (Perrottet, n.d.). As a result, supposedly after reading a translation of a French horror story named “Portraits de Famille” (or The Family Portraits), where a group of people trapped together tell each other ghost stories, Lord Byron suggests that the companions write their own horror stories (Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 2011). The story that Mary Shelley née Godwin wrote became Frankenstein (or The Modern Prometheus), with its setting influenced by the vistas of Geneva as well as the main character Victor Frankenstein being from Geneva (Perrottet, n.d.). Doctor John Polidori’s story The Vampyre: A Tale led to Bram Stoker writing Dracula decades later (Cardin, 2013).
Cardin, M. (2013). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, and the dark-mythic summer of 1816. Retrieved from http://www.teemingbrain.com/2013/09/05/
Perrottet, T. (n.d.). Summer of Love: The Romantics at Lake Geneva. Retrieved from http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/outsiders/frankenstein/essay/essayperrottet
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. (2011). Byron, Lord. Retrieved from http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com
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DeleteFrom your comment, are you suggesting that the character of Victor Frankenstein is based on Lord Byron? I only stated that Mary Shelley was influenced by the landscape of Geneva to create her character Victor Frankenstein as from Geneva.
DeleteJust correcting a fact, in Mary Shelley’s introduction to the 1831 edition, given in the course Critical Reader, the horror stories that they were reading at the Villa Diodati were originally German, but translated into French.
DeleteShelley, M. (1985,1818). Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. London: Penguin.
No, it was my mistake. It is Mary Shelley.
DeleteRoanna, I think you have well-analysed what has geographically influenced the authors such as Mary Shelley. Victor Frankenstein from Geneva was created because she lived near Lake Geneva.
From my understanding, Mary Shelley and her husband only spent a summer with Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati, they didn't live there, it was more of a holiday.
DeleteYes, and the holiday experience has influenced their writings such as "Gothic".
DeleteRegarding question 2.
DeleteAlso not only the actual accounts of what happened there at Villa Diodati were exceptional , but also the story itself of what happened there (as a mystery) became partially a story in itself. The fact she released the story anonymously at first could have been due to the fact that she was a female and would not be so highly regarded.
I am not suggesting the character of Victor Frankenstein is based on Lord Byron.
ReplyDeleteThe character Victor Frankenstein from 'Frankenstein' is based on Mary Shelley.
What I mean by "based on" is whether Mary Shelley was inspired by any way by Lord Byron's personality or beliefs for the character of Victor Frankenstein.
Delete1.
ReplyDeleteSublime origin was from the 18th century. One of the authours , Victor Hugo, touched on this subject in his poems. Sublime carries the reader into the ream of the writer and their description. Letting them experience what the writer is presenting. Rather than only inviting the reader forward to the idea. Sublime carries the concept that tragedy is a situation, that once overcome can lead to a true well being. Tragedy is part of one's experience of life, creating a fuller version , even if small. This carries on to acknowledge the idea that beauty is not just that which is classically thought of as beautiful , but also that beauty can be repulsive and grotesque. The sublime has a sense of beauty and terror. Burke suggested his own take , that there is a paradox. The paradox is that we as humans are drawn to that which causes us pain. That we find pleasure in an imagined encounter of pain. Although th pain can be metaphorical.
great point karina, however my definition of the sublime would be that it takes the reader out of himself into a wider more ecstatic form of themselves, or an expression of spirit.
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ReplyDeleteLord Byron stayed at the summer residence within the Villa Ciodaite. The group of writers who accompanied Lord Byron on his trip where Mary Shelly, John Polidori, and Percy Shelly (The Summer of 1816, n.d). The summer wasn’t an ordinary summer, it was an uncongenial wet summer. To avoid the weather outside, the group of writers occupied themselves by reading horror themed stories such as Tales of the dead and Fastamagoriana (The Summer of 1816 at Villa Diodoti, n.d). Reading horror themed stories, the set environment of the weather and the presence of the writers together must have fuelled Mary Shelly's creative juices. Within the Villa Diodoti in 1816, Mary shelly started writing the revolutionary Gothic novel, Frankenstein (Literature.org – The online Literature Library, n.d).
ReplyDeleteThe Summer of 1816. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/MShelley/summer16.html
The Summer of 1816 at Villa Diodoti. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://frankenstein.monstrous.com/the_summer_of_1816_at_villa_diodoti.htm
Literature.org - The Online Literature Library. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.literature.org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/chapter-01.html
That's my answer for question one. I didn't want to delete another post.
DeleteSublime to me takes the reader out of himself into a wider more ecstatic form of themselves, or an expression of spirit.
ReplyDeleteOthers argue that the Sublime is something that willingly inflicts ideas of pain or grief, or any other negative feeling.
This can be seen in Shelley’s text, Oxymandias, a poem I studied in high school..
"I MET a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . "
These lines start painting a wider picture, the adjectives 'antique' and 'vast' are trying to pull the reader out of his little box and look at it from a longer distance. It's Sublime because you're taking only a few lines to portray a larger image; in this case it's an image of a desert. It immediately feels barren and empty except for the two legs of stone that stand isolated and lonely.
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings :
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away. "
In this next section, it's shown that the world is decayed, and there is nothing left. Despite he, Ozymandias, a King of Kings stands alone, broken and dying. It's a image that makes us the beauty in our own world when beings like Ozymandias just stand there wasting away.
It is Sublime because it takes something so small, just an image of a broken statue and the words etched underneath it and makes it something more. It makes it an image of a broken tyranny.
Question 3 – “how many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that?” What is “that”? I’m assuming its Villa Diodati.
ReplyDeleteMy knowledge from that fateful summer in 1816 was interpreted through texts. Ken Russel’s “Gothic” was a film remake of the villa diodati which provided the text to come to reality. What I discovered through the film clip was the focus on the scenery. The rain and darkness defined the wet summer, and the fish sitting within the cement pot shows an unusual spooky feature. Also I found interest in the quotes that were used. In 8:52 Lord Byron states “imagination is my substance” which is referred to his technique of writing (Gothic, 1986). Also, in 9:05 Lord Byron states “It has been known, the grave has certain qualities” (Gothic, 1986). Lord Byron’s speech itself sets the spooky environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYFGjVKAaSM
According Pateman (2004, 1991) a true sublime is defined from a powerful emotion and thought which up lift our souls. Sublime is characterised by the level of amazement, leading the reader to wonder, the passion from the text, and the virtue of ambition (Pateman, 2004, 1991)
ReplyDeleteMary Shelly’s work From Frankenstein provides a level of sublime within her text. For example, “What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself” (The Online Literature Library, n.d). This is a pure of example wonder developed in text. What happens if there was an opposite sex of Frankenstein? Would they have kids? Would there be more joy in his life?
Another example, “It is true we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another” (The Online Literature Library, n.d). This is a sense need and passion coming from Frankenstein.
Also another example, "I swear," he cried, "by the sun, and by the blue sky of Heaven, and by the fire of love that burns my heart, that if you grant my prayer, while they exist you shall never behold me again” (The Online Literature Library, n.d). This extract from the text shows the level of ambition from Frankenstein as he’s in need of a companion from his opposite sex.
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.
Literature.org - The Online Literature Library. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.literature.org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/chapter-17.html
Question 1
Delete1. 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...
ReplyDeletePateman's (1991, 2004) definition of the 'sublime' as referred to artistic works, is anything which is ideologically "grand in conception" and provokes a "powerful and inspired emotions" from the audience, and as a linguistic construction it "reveals the power of the speaker".
The sublime is dichotic and it resides in dualistic qualities, it can reside in beauty and, in "greater degrees", terror. This evocation of terror, whether it be fear of pain, vastness, obscurity, powerful, infinite, magnitude, unfinishedness and difficulty as listed in the critical reader, are qualities frequently used in Romantic texts.
In Shelly's poem 'Ozymandias' the narrator introduces the poem by describing the vastness of the scenery "Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone, Stand in the desert" and at the end of the poem, "Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare". Shelly here hints not only to the physical vastness of the land, but also to the vastness of temporal space, "Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things...Nothing beside remains". In this short sonnet Shelly transports us to the distant past and back, showing us that man, even a king with all his authority and power, cannot stand immortal against the nature and test of time.
Hutchinson, T. (1947). The complete poetic Works of Shelley, pp.550, 577-579.
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.