On a stormy summer in 1816, a group of pioneering writers gathered in a mansion on Lake Geneva and wrote some of English literature's most influential Gothic Horror stories, including Frankenstein and The Vampyre. This is a collection of their work.
A volcanic eruption in Indonesia caused global climatic disruption and 1816 became known as the 'Year Without a Summer'. This uncertain, subliminal time became a pivotal moment in the emergence of modern horror literature. Trapped indoors by weeks of relentless storms, a group of brilliant literary minds, including Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (then Mary Godwin), and John Polidori, were challenged by Lord Byron to each write a tale of the supernatural. The resulting works, produced in a spirit of intellectual rivalry and imaginative experimentation, would exert a lasting influence on Gothic fiction.
This collection features the complete literary output of that legendary gathering at the Villa Diodati:
- Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
- The Vampyre by John Polidori
- A Fragment of a Novel by Lord Byron
- Fragment of a Ghost Story by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Together, these works mark a decisive moment in literary history that continues to shape critical understandings of horror and the supernatural. This collection is the ideal read for those interested in how a single cultural moment crystallised the modern Gothic genre.