The Dairy of Dr. John William Polidori

by William Michael Rossetti

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Genres: Nonfiction, History, Romanticism, Classics, Biography, Research

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Peter Vicaire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I'd check this book out for some screenplay research on early nineteenth century dialogue as well as my interest in that June 1816 night in Switzerland when Frankenstein's Monster and "Dracula" (or at least a very early literary incarnation) were born. It was an interesting, quick read and illustrated the short, strained relationship Polidori had with Lord Byron - whom he had been hired by to be a travelling companion and physician. I had read elsewhere that he and Byron had been lovers but there's absolutely no indication of that here; rather, there are numerous reference by Polidori to the visual quality (or lack thereof...) of the women in their extensive travels. There's also some interesting foreshadowing of Polidori's impending suicide (e.g., he cried a great deal when alone) only a few years after his diary entries ended. Ultimately, the book is a good snapshop of a man who was one of the earliest in English literature to write about vampires (preceding Stoker by almost 80 years) and also who, for a brief time, flew with some literary giants and got his wings clipped in the process.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, if possibly unreliable, diary of Dr. John Polidori, who was for a short time Lord Byron's doctor and traveling companion. Polidori's sister transcribed the diary and admitted editing out some unsavory pieces. She then destroyed the original manuscript. His nephew then edited and published his aunt's transcript.

Having said that, it was fun to read his entries that coincided with Byron working on Childe Harold and Mary Wollstonecraft working on Frankenstein.

[Ellie]

Polidori can't catch a break even in the publication of his own diary. It's littered with his irritating nephew's asides, suppositions and defences of Byron's thoughts and actions, casting the poor man once again into Byron's shadow.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Interesting, fun to read!

[T. Strange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful turns of phrase and word usage (though some of them seem made up, which I enjoy). Very amusing; I laughed out loud several times. An interesting historical travel guide, very neat to read about somewhere I have been (Cologne) 200 years before I was there. Also interesting to read about Napoleon as recent history/current events.


(Note: This did not help my Gothic inspired shipping of Polidori/Byron)