Dr. Polidori was Lord Byron's personal physician. Upon accompanying Byron on holiday to Switzerland, he participated in a "ghost story" writing exercise.
His own story was met with scorn, but, inspired by the fragment that Byron wrote, Polidori used this base to write was would become the first modern vampire story in the English language.
His character, Lord Ruthven, an aristocratic bloodsucker based on Byron, would be used in English, French and German novels, operas and plays until the character was eclipsed by Stoker's Count Dracula.
Polidori became depressed and indebted due to gambling. His death at the age of 25 was officially classed as natural causes, but it was likely that Polidori committed suicide. There is strong evidence indicating poisoning with cyanide.
Through his sister, Polidori was the uncle to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
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John William Polidori
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Subjects
Fiction, horror, Fiction, Vampires, Description and travel, English Horror tales, Vampires, fiction, Biography, Diaries, English Poets, Friends and associates, Homes and haunts, Horror tales, Incest, Intellectual life, Poets, English, Short Stories, American Horror tales, American literature, Boys, Children's All Ages - Fiction - General, Children's Books/All Ages, Children's fiction, Classic Literature, Contes littéraires, DevilPlaces
Europe, Jefferson, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New England, Salem Village, Yoknapatawpha CountyPeople
George Gordon Byron Byron Baron (1788-1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), John William Polidori (1795-1821), Colonel Sartoris, Devil, Emily Grierson, Ethelred, Faith Brown, Goodman Brown, Goody Cloyse, Homer Barron, Madeline Usher, Mr. Grierson, Roderick Usher, Tobe
ID Numbers
- OLID: OL617722A
- ISNI: 0000000110237843
- VIAF: 32079702
- Wikidata: Q364264
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Alternative names
- John Polidori
- Dr. John William Polidori
| September 30, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | add ISNI |
| March 31, 2017 | Edited by MARC Bot | add VIAF and wikidata ID |
| January 30, 2016 | Edited by Tom Morris | Edited without comment. |
| April 25, 2014 | Edited by Xzigalia | Merged names. Added birth & death dates. Added photo. Wrote bio. |
| April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |