Reflections at Sunset: A Lord Ruthven Novella

Acknowledgements

"A great writer always acknowledges his influences and inspirations." –William Harris, Writing and the Common Writer (1902), New World Press

Vampires have always been of interest to me ever since I was a little boy. My first encounter with the creatures of the night was Dracula, as played by Bela Lugosi with his campy tuxedo and slicked back hair. Corny as it seems now, the work was a classic piece of vampire cinema, from which most modern cinematic versions of the Dracula story derive. He seemed so cool, so sophisticated, and so mysterious. I mean, who would not want to be a vampire after seeing that movie? Ever since then I have gone through many books involving vampires, as well as many movies and television show as well. This current work of mine, no matter how unique, shows the influence of its various predecessors.

Obviously, the first work of influence is The Vampyre written by Dr. John Polidori in 1819. It is in that work that vampires become the seductive figures seen in popular vampire fiction with the introduction of Lord Ruthven to the reading public. Lord Ruthven is himself based on Polidori's own patient, Lord Byron, the seductive poet, the name itself taken from a character from the novel Glenarvon. Glenarvon was the work of Lady Caroline Lamb, who was a former lover of Lord Byron. She based Lord Ruthven and his romantic escapades on that of Lord Byron's. Lord Byron's contemporaries recognized the parallels between her Lord Ruthven and Lord Byron, and they recognized the parallels between Dr. Polidori's Lord Ruthven and Lord Byron, as well. Ruthven and Byron are both charming gentlemen with hedonistic lifestyles, known for their seduction and destruction of women and their reputations. In both figures you see that no matter what accusations are made against them, the pair escapes punishment for their misdeeds. Lord Byron was not held to blame for Lady Lamb's actions in public, as Lord Ruthven was not held to blame for Lady Mercer's actions in public. I see The Vampyre as a fictional criticism of Lord Byron by the doctor who he mistreated on a regular basis. Dr. Polidori made him immortal.

However, to understand that work one must understand its own predecessor, Lord Byron's own incomplete vampire novella, now known as Fragment of a Novel, whose genesis began that stormy evening which gave birth to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In "Fragment" Lord Byron introduced the prototype vampire, Augustus Darvell, who died under mysterious circumstances on a trip to Greece. According to Dr. Polidori, Lord Byron always meant to make Augustus Darvell live again as a young man. Dr. Polidori expanded upon the original fragment and revised it to suit his purpose, as I have expanded and revised both to suit my purpose.

Dracula by Bram Stoker is influenced by The Vampyre, through its use of the noble vampire, who seduces women for his own nefarious purposes. However, Dracula is defeated by his noble champions, while Ruthven escapes to fight another day, leaving his pursers dead behind him. Then again, Bram Stoker's Dracula is a tale of good triumphing over evil, while Dr. Polidori's The Vampyre is a warning against the influence of evil. All vampire works post-Dracula are influenced by Dracula, in some form or another, thus making them derivative indirectly from The Vampyre. This work is derived from both, standing on the shoulders of these literary masterpieces.

The identification of Lord Byron with Lord Ruthven and the antagonistic relationship between Byron and Polidori can be seen in Tom Holland's The Lord of the Dead, published in 1995. Tom Holland synthesized elements from both "Fragment" and "Vampire" to create his work. Lord Byron is the seductive vampire who woos and destroys women without qualms to the matter. He ruins Lady Lamb as Lord Ruthven did Lady Mercer. Hobhouse plays the role of the nameless companion from the "Fragment" while Byron fills the Darvell role. He even tells the story of "Fragment" on that day in 1816, basing it on incidents from his past adventure in Greece after his vampire rebirth. Dr. Polidori plays the Aubrey role, acting as traveling companion to Lord Byron on his latter journey to Greece. As with Aubrey, he fails to defeat the vampire and falls victim to him, as well.

The genesis of this project is Andy Warhol's Dracula by Kim Newman, 1999. I came upon it while researching Newman's series, having read the novel, Anno Dracula, written in 1992. I liked the basic idea of a youngish looking vampire enjoying life in New York, having to face off against enemies from his past. I began with nothing but that idea, and a title, Reflections at Sunset: The Day in the Life of a Common Vampyre. Using a Joycean style and influenced by Highlander, I decided to tell a story over a short period of time, heavily interpolated with flashbacks to events related to the present-day narrative. Further research led me to Lord Byron and Aubrey, which in turn lead me to their original works, thus expanding the possible avenues "Reflections" could take.

The idea of telling the story from the point of view of the vampire is nothing new. I picked that up from the film version of an Anne Rice novel and the preceding mentioned Tom Holland novel. This mode of storytelling can also be seen in Dracula, with its use of letters and memorandum to tell the story. It places you in the mind of the vampire, giving you both insights into the nature of the creature, as well as providing sympathy for a creature that many consider nothing more than a monster. Not a unique concept, but a phenomenally successful one indeed.

The idea of a vampire burning but not being killed by sunlight is taken from the "Anno Dracula" series, where newborn vampires suffer from sensitivity to the sun. Stoker has his Dracula weaken by sunlight, but not killed by it, which was a concept first introduced by Murnau in his Nosferatu. In The Vampyre there is no mentioning of Lord Ruthven being afflicted by sunlight in any manner. However, an artist is free to apply creative impulse to his or her interpretation of the subject matter.

I came upon the idea of Aubrey as the villain and Lord Ruthven as the hero from my research into Lord Ruthven. The 1828 German Opera, Der Vampyr, written by Peter Josef and Max Heigel, features Aubrey as the vampire villain. It was a basic idea that did not involve any research into the opera itself.

Werner Herzog expressed the idea of the loneliness of vampire life in 1979's Nosferatu: the Vampyre, whilst Nicholas Cage expressed the idea of a vampire's memory not being immortal in his Shadow of the Vampire in 2000.

The idea of a community of vampires mentioned in chapter six of this work derives from the 1987 film, A Return to Salem's Lot, 1964's The Last Man on Earth, and the 1954 novella, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. The concept of the vampire going by many different names over the centuries comes from Wes Craven's Dracula series set in modern time.

Lord Ruthven's opinions concerning Christopher Marlowe, as well as his admiration for the Elizabethan playwright, are based on my own. My inclusion of the 1831 "Collier Leaf" from The Massacre of Paris was done with the specific purpose of summarizing the complex relationship of Aubrey and Ruthven. If you follow the story and read the passage you can see it for yourself.

I could go on and on about the various inspirations for this work, but some are just minor influences, being too numerous to name here. See if you can spot them all. A lot of effort and thought went into this horror novella. I hope that you enjoyed it.

Chip Spice; Virginia; August 2016

 

A Reader's Guide