Category Archives: Literature

Frankenstein: Creation of Darkness at the Bodmer Foundation

200 Year Anniversary in Geneva

frankenstein_illustrationEver since the publishing of the 1831 edition of Mary Shelley’s masterwork “Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus”, Geneva, Switzerland has been the touchstone of lore surround the creation of the most famous work of Gothic literature, with the story of the competition between the romantics gathered on a dark and stormy night when Mary Shelley had a nightmare, waking dream, where she got the idea for a creature brought to life by a student of science.

While a number of myths and suppositions about the summer of 1816 have arisen in the 200 years since that time, an exhibit at the Martin Bodmer Foundation Library, just a short walk from the Villa Diodati, rented by Lord Gordon Byron for that summer and the nearby house rented by the Shelleys on the shores of Lake Geneva, has opened to celebrate the creation of the monster of id, of Shelley’s novel.

bodmer_frontIn the lower exhibit floor of foundation library, a row of glass cases hold 15 hand-written note pages of the first from draft version of the classic story beginning “I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had created; he held up the curtain, and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me.”

The Villa Diodati is now converted to private residence apartments, the gardens of the villa over-looking the lake where then Mary Godwin (she wouldn’t marry Shelley until that December) and the pregnant Claire Clairmont might have strolled while Byron and Shelley were out exploring the lake, will be open for guided tours to the public during the length of the exhibit until October 9.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein novel was first published anonymously in 1818, and one of the editions found in the exhibit is inscribed to “To Lord Byron from the Author”.

Mary also wrote of the gloominess of the weather that summer and the exhibit features a weather report for June remarking on the late leafing of the trees. The weather has since been attributed to a volcanic eruption Mt. Tambora in Indonesia which created havoc with the climate across the globe that year.

While in Geneva other Shelley sites that can be visited including the statue of the “creature” named “Frankie” on the Plainpalais where the murder of the Frankenstein’s son took place in the novel, the Hotel d’Angleterre (not the actual one the Shelleys stayed at but a block from the spot, the birth house of Jean Jacques Rousseau whose writing ignited the romantic literature movement and drew the English romantics to Switzerland, and spots around the lake visited by Bryon and Shelley, from the Chateau Chillon  castle which inspired the Prisoner of Chillon for Byron, and the Hotel de l’Ancre in Lausanne where he began to write the work for which he abandoned his original idea of a vampire from legends he had heard in Turkey that he turned over to Polidori.

Creation of Darkness May 14-Oct 9 Martin Bodmer Foundation

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FRANKENSTEIN IS ALIVE AT GREAT FULFORD

frankenstein_fulfordFrankenstein will make a dramatic theatrical appearance at one of Devon’s most famous great stately homes, the Fulford Estate. Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece will appear in a stage incarnation with a focus on prosthetic make-up to go with the dramatic sturm and drang of the monster created from the dead. The Great Fulford estate, a Tudor manor near Dunsford in the Teign Valley of Devon, has risen itself to television fame in recent years as the setting for the antics of the The F***ing Fulfords aristocratic family on Britain’s Channel 4, and in the BBC3’s Life Is Toff series. This theatrical version hopes to take advantage of the locale’s “spooky appeal” for the appropriate atmosphere, having hosted more than its share of ghost hunters.

Conceived and produced by the Four of Swords theater company, which specializes in inventing immersive adaptations of classic stories in unusual locations, this production intends to push into new territory with ways to make the audience experience unique and unforgettable. Cast members will lead the audience through the rooms of the Great Fulford mansion as the tale progresses, standing in for the Frankenstein manse of Geneva from the novel, surrounding  with live music and multi-media elements, involving them so close to the action that they can experience every close-up emotion of the actors’ performances and more than a few scares before the night is through.

The Four of Swords Company was founded by Sarah White and Philip Kingslan John, educators in their non-theatrical incarnations and will be complimenting their version of the Frankenstein classic production with workshops at schools, libraries and museums.

The Four of Swords’ production of Frankenstein will be at The Great Fulford estate from February 16 to 27. Tickets, priced £13, are available from Four-of-Swords.com

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Frankenstein In Switzerland

Follow the travels of Mary Shelley, Percy Shelly and Lord Byron in Switzerland

Villa Diodati Plate Overlooking Lake Geneva

Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva

Most people casually familiar with Frankenstein who have not read the novel, usually seem to get the idea that the creator of the monster was German and the events happened there. This mostly comes from the movie and the name, with lots of Bavarian costumed villagers carrying pitchforks on a Hollywood backlot. Though for anyone truly familiar with Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel of “Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus” know that Victor Frankenstein was from Geneva, Switzerland, and many events of the story take place in and around the Lake Geneva region of southern Switzerland. And curiously, though the name is German in origin, Geneva is in French speaking Switzerland, so the added confusion.

Many fans of the story are familiar a bit with the story of the beginnings of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel of Frankenstein, related in a later edition introduction to the book, telling of the summer of 1816, when Mary Godwin, Percy Byssche Shelley, and Lord Byron, along with travelling companions John Polidori and Claire Clairmont gathered on the shores of Lake Geneva at a villa rented by Byron, and the contest to tell a scare story, but there is far more to discover in Switzerland than a single rental villa from long ago.

Those fascinated with the origins of the most famous monster story and the inspirations of the Romantics, the authors of the late 18th and early 19th Century who came to Switzerland to discover the still pristine wonders, might follow the clues left buried in the pages. Many of the passages in the Frankenstein novel are taken almost directly from the journals of the Shelleys’ travels.

Rousseau Plaque Geneva

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Birth House Geneva

A tour to follow the romantics might start in Geneva. The founders of the Romanticism movement in English literature were inspired by Genevan author Jean-Jacques Rousseau whose “Julie, or The New Heloise” based on a then “modern” retelling of the French legend of Abelard and Heloise, which Rousseau sets in scenes around Lake Geneva, attracted the likes of Byron and the Shelleys.

The Villa Diodati in the upscale Cologny suburb of Geneva where Byron stayed and the ghost story contest legend originated is not open to tourists, but is a private residence. But nearby, is the Bodmer Library, with a collection of rare books and manuscripts, which would have fascinated the Shelleys. While Mary and Claire stayed behind (Mary had brought her infant son and Claire was pregnant) Byron and Percy Shelley sailed a boat around the lake, visiting the castle of the Chateau Chillon and sites around Montreux (Clarens) and Vevey. Just as they did, you can visit the most famous castle in Switzerland and taste the wines of the 500 year old vineyards of the Lavaux Region.

Chateau Chillon Montreux

Chateau Chillon Lake Geneva

Byron and Shelley stopped at Ouchy in Lausanne where now the Lake Geneva Cruise boats depart for cruises of beautiful Lake Leman. Byron began his story of the Prisoner of Chillon while they stayed in the Hotel d’Angleterre in Ouchy, now commemorated with a plaque and a partner hotel of the neighboring Beau Rivage Palace Hotel. The Shelleys stayed at the Hotel d’Angleterre in Geneva (Secheron) before meeting up with Byron. The original of that one is gone, but an historic luxury hotel of the same name, for its English tourist visitors on the Grand Tour, remains about a block from where the original stood. Lord Byron also paid several visits to the literary salons of Madame de Stael, a nemesis of Napoleon and a renowned author herself, at her Chateau Coppet, which is open to the public.

Mary Shelley took many of the inspirations for the settings of her novel from the environs of Geneva. The murder of Victor Frankenstein’s son, William, by the monster he created she set on the Plaine de Plainpalais, where an art statue of the creature now stands, affectionately named “Frankie”. She chose this location because of its connection to Rousseau, when even then a monument to him was located there for its part in the uprising of the common man. The Frankenstein family house she set within the town of Belrive (Collogne-Bellerive), on the south shore of the lake, a short distance from where the Shelleys’ rented a house to be near Lord Byron’s rental at Villa Diodati in Cologny.

   “It was completely dark when I arrived in the environs of Geneva; the gates of the town were already shut; and I was obliged to pass the night at Secheron, a village at the distance of half a league from the city. The sky was serene; and, as I was unable to rest, I resolved to visit the spot where my poor William had been murdered. As I could not pass through the town, I was obliged to cross the lake in a boat to arrive at Plainpalais. During this short voyage I saw the lightning playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most beautiful figures… the thunder burst with a terrific crash over my head. It was echoed from Saleve, the Juras, and the Alps of Savoy…” Frankenstein

She wrote of the creature in the snowy mountains of the Mont Blanc range and Chamonix, where the creature hid with a local village farm family and Victor Frankenstein would search for his creation.

       “I passed the bridge of Pelissier, where the ravine, which the river forms, opened before me, and I began to ascend the mountain that overhangs it. Soon after, I entered the valley of Chamounix.” Frankenstein   

Geneva is only a possible beginning of a tour. Less known, is the journey Mary Godwin and Percy Shelley made in 1814 when they eloped from London, when Mary was only 16, and ran away to Paris with Mary’s step-sister Claire Clairmont, then traveled across France to Switzerland, then up the Rhine River. This journey of the romantic tour of Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley is told in “The Frankenstein Diaries: The Secret Memoirs of Mary Shelley“.

The threesome entered Switzerland from France and crossed the Jura mountains to Neuchatel (Neufchatel), where they stayed at a hotel in approximately the location of today’s Beau Rivage Neuchatel, with the same lake views the romantic travelers would have seen. Railways did not exist in 1814 and 1816, so rather than tour Switzerland by foot or horse coach, today it’s easy to visit these Switzerland sites by rail with a Swiss Pass Rail Pass. From Geneva, Neuchatel is a quick trip. Cruise the three lakes, and visit the watch-making district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura Mountains.

Lake Uri

Lake Uri at Brunnen

From Neuchatel, their path took them to Lucerne, passing through Solothurn, for a look at the cathedral. It was new at the time and they found the neo-classic formal architecture, with its crisp white marble, a bit unappealing. From Lucerne they took a boat to Brunnen where Lake Lucerne meets Lake Uri. They were fascinated by the story of William Tell and his part in the founding of Switzerland, and today you can take the Wilhelm Tell Express cruise and train route. One might pause to wonder, then, why Victor Frankenstein’s son was named William.

      “I have seen the most beautiful scenes of my own country; I have visited the lakes of Lucerne and Uri, where the snowy mountains descend almost perpendicularly to the water, casting black and impenetrable shades, which would cause a gloomy and mournful appearance were it not for the most verdant islands… I have seen this lake agitated by a tempest, when the wind tore up whirlwinds of water and gave you an idea of what the water-spout must be on the great ocean; and the waves dash with fury the base of the mountain, where the priest and his mistress were overwhelmed by an avalanche and where their dying voices are still said to be heard amid the pauses of the nightly wind; I have seen the mountains of La Valais, and the Pays de Vaud; but this country, Victor, pleases me more than all those wonders…” Frankenstein

The house where they stayed on Lake Lucerne is long gone, but Brunnen, or just down the shore, Vitznau or Weggis, offer a wonderful place to stop and explore the Lake Lucerne Riviera with the walking trails of the mountains Mary Shelley described, or the historic mountain train to Mt Rigi which would come later. When their money ran out, they took a boat back to Lucerne, admiring the chapel bridge and staying at a hotel, possibly the Wilden Mann which still exists. Then, by boat they followed the Reuss River to the Rhine, crossing the falls and on to Basel. Explore the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen, and explore the very historic city of Basel, before getting on a plane or train back to France or continue to Germany where they traveled the Rhine River past the Castle of Frankenstein.

        “We had agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from Strasbourg to Rotterdam, whence we might take shipping for London. During this voyage we passed many willowy islands and saw several beautiful towns. We stayed a day at Mannheim, and on the fifth from our departure from Strasbourg, arrived at Mainz. The course of the Rhine below Mainz becomes much more picturesque. The river descends rapidly and winds between hills, not high, but steep, and of beautiful forms. We saw many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices, surrounded by black woods, high and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine, indeed, presents a singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view rugged hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices, with the dark Rhine rushing beneath; and on the sudden turn of a promontory, flourishing vineyards with green sloping banks and a meandering river and populous towns occupy the scene…” Frankenstein

Secret Memoirs of Mary Shelley  – E-Book

Secret Memoirs of Mary Shelley – Paperback

Get Mary Shelley Memoirs Audiobook Free with Trail at Audible

Secret Memoirs of Mary Shelley Audiobook at Amazon

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The Missing Novels of Mary Shelley and Claire Clairmont

Hate and The Idiot – Competition of Two Sisters

Book Covers Hate and The Idiot Lost Novels of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Jane Clara ClairmontMary Shelley is certainly famous for her seminal novel of Frankenstein, and she wrote other books to follow, but her first attempt at a novel begun during her teenage elopement and journey across Europe during the summer of 1814 with Percy Shelley and her step-sister Claire née Jane Clairmont is long missing, with only a brief reference to it in letters and her journal. And it was from that journey as well, Claire also attempted a novel, long missing to literature’s judgment.

Mary Shelley, still then Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, began a book while traveling on route back to England after the adventures of France and Switzerland only known by its title “Hate”. Mary herself never publicly elaborated on its theme or content, except that it apparently brought some amusement to Shelley. She abandoned it before completion and one could imagine it might contain themes she would revisit in her later published book, and may have been inspired by the emotional reaction to experiences of her journey of six weeks together with her step-sister and her lover across the devastated lands of France ravaged by the recent Napoleonic War. The title is at the least, tantalizing.

Claire had also begun a novel at the age of 16, with a title no less curious and intriguing for its sharp brevity, “The Idiot”. It is also lost to time and mystery, and its fate may be evidenced in her later expression of some jealousy over her sister’s and her family’s literary success, writing after the death of her brother William in 1832, “In our family, if you cannot write an epic poem or novel that by its originality knocks all other novels on the head, you are a despicable creature, not worth acknowledging.” And wondering, “What would they have done or said had their children been fond of dress, fond of cards, drunken, profligate, as most people’s children are?” – a decided contrast between her Clairmont family character and the more serious Godwins.

In her diary of September of 1814 begun after her travels, Claire would write of wanting to create a character whose independence of mind would cause others to judge them as an “Ideot”. There is evidence that Claire sent this work, perhaps more work-in-progress than completed novel, to Lord George Byron, when she had insinuated an introduction to him in 1816. She noted in letters, using her then preferred name of Clara Clairmont, that it was “half a novel or a tale”, with the pretext of looking for career advice. She was undecided upon either a writing career or an entrance onto the stage through Byron’s connection to the Drury Lane Theater, though she was possibly most interested in a romance with the poet.

Bryon apparently did not respond to it at the time. In a rather desperate sounding and forward letter of a young acolyte who had not received a response, she wrote him, “If you said you were too busy to look at it, I should have understood …it may arise from your affairs and then I am tiresome; or it may be occasioned by negligence, which to me is at least as bad.” Apparently in her eagerness, she made the mistake of submitting a first incomplete draft to someone who didn’t know her. And one may imagine what someone of Byron’s place with many eager fans may have thought of the submission. “Will you make allowance for my years? I do not expect you to approve; all I wish to know is whether I have talents, which, if aided by severe study may render me fit to become an author. I had half resolved to correct and revise it; but afterword, thought if you saw it just as it was, written at intervals, and in scraps, you would be a better judge.”

As for what the story was, she did outline her theme. “My intention was to draw a character committing every violence against received opinion…who knew no other guide on the impulses arising from herself, than herself…whose sweetness and naiveté of character should draw upon her the pity rather than the contempt of her readers.” The story also dealt with themes of Atheism and Christianity and bore some evidence of the journey she had undertaken with her step-sister and Shelley as told in The  Secret Memoirs of Mary Shelley, the Frankenstein Diaries.

“It is at present in a very rude state; perhaps the whole of the first part should be rewritten,” she went on. “The tale is too abruptly begun; I am aware that the first sentence rather tempts one to throw the book down than to continue.” Not the most positive way to present a work for judgment. It is difficult to judge the book with no example remaining, but not hard to suggest that her writing as a teenager may not have been to the standard of her relatives, though her later letters evidenced her skill with words and her intelligence. And where Mary Shelley had resolved not to make herself the protagonist of her stories, Claire’s book seemed as if it was decidedly focused on herself, if in thin disguise. Mary would begin Frankenstein about the same time that Claire was presenting her draft to Byron, and would go though many revisions with the help of Shelley.

While Bryon showed no interest in the book by Miss Clairmont, she pursued him in person, resulting in a daughter between them.  Byron rejected Claire when she came to him pregnant with his child and had apparently  coldly rejected her as he did her writing. She would write to him in 1816 following the summer in Geneva in a letter full desperation at his indifference and longing for his attention, “Now, if I tell you my thoughts, dearest, you mustn’t bring them against me to make me look foolish as you did that hateful novel thing I wrote.”

Percy Shelley may have given Claire some assistance with her story and attempted to help her get it published in 1817, offering it to two publishers, Thomas Hookham, where at the same time he and Mary were publishing their travel journal “History of a Six Weeks Tour”, and to John Murray. Claire’s book was rejected, and never heard from again. She did have the last laugh though on her tragic family circle of romantics, by living to the age of 80.

Secret Memoirs of Mary Shelley  – E-Book

Secret Memoirs of Mary Shelley – Paperback

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Lord Byron in the Hand of Mary Shelley at Keats-Shelley House Rome

Lord Byron and Mary Shelley Exhibiit at Keats-Shelley HouseFrom June 29 until November 6, 2015, the Keats-Shelley House in Rome will be offering a special exhibition “Lord Byron in the Hand of Mary Shelley”. The exhibition presents a sequence of manuscripts on loan from the National Library of Scotland, alongside Byron treasures from the Keats-Shelley House’s own collection – which explores the fascinating relationship between these two important figures of Romantic Literature and the ways in which Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley edited Byron’s work in preparation for its publication.

Mary Shelley met Lord Byron in the fateful summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva, from where the legendary contest of literary lights reading ghost stories launched the 18 year old Mary’s own writing career with imagining of the student of science and his monster. Mary and the “mad, bad, and dangerous to know” Byron, were introduced through Mary’s step-sister’s machinations. Claire Clairmont was pregnant with Byron’s child that summer and Mary had recently given birth to her first son, William, in January of that year. Byron wanted nothing to do with Claire, and would later epically fight over their daughter, Allegra, but the poet and Mary, seemed to develop a friendship. Bryon would never return to England, and his beloved Newstead Abbey, but from these manuscripts it appears Mary acted as a publishing contact following her husband’s tragic death in Italy.

The Keats-Shelley House is the residence in Rome just next to the famous Spanish Steps, where the Romantic poets Keats, Percy Shelley and Lord Gordon Byron lived while Rome, now a museum, library and exhibition center dedicated to the works and lives of the poets. The library houses 8,000 volumes of books, periodicals of these second generation Romantics, with an especially extensive collection of editions of Byron related works, collected by the library’s originator Harry Nelson Gay, as well as many lifetime and nineteenth-century editions of the works of other Romantics and influential writers of the period including William Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, William Godwin and Thomas Lovell Beddoes, with a small collection of travel and history books celebrating the European ‘Grand Tour’.

Entrance to the exhibition is included in the price of the standard museum entrance ticket. Keats-Shelley House

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