Title: A Single Summer With Lord B
Author: Derek Marlowe
Date of First Publication: 1969
Place of Publication: Viking
Type: Novel
Characters: Mary Shelley; Lord Byron; Percy Shelley; John Polidori; Claire Clairmont
Themes: BYRONIC HERO; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS
Critical Summary: In this novel, Derek Marlowe tells us of the summer that unites Lord Byron, John Polidori, Mary Godwin (Shelley), and Percy Shelley. Lord Bryon has hired Polidori as his doctor for his journey around Europe. The Shelley’s, their son William, and Mary’s half-sister Claire have left England and are heading for Geneva. The Shelleys have left England to escape prejudice that is imposed on them due to their affair that led to the birth of their child. Claire has joined them in hopes of reuniting with Byron; she is in the early stages of a pregnancy with his child. Eventually, the Shelley’s and Byron become friends, leaving Polidori feeling like an outsider and resentful of his employer, who he had seen as a close friend before the Shelley’s arrival. The friendship blossoms to them becoming neighbors in Geneva when both the Shelley’s and Lord Byron rent residences across the lake from the hotel that they all resided at initially. The Shelley’s residence, Maison Chappuis, and Byron’s residence, Villa Diodati, are only two hundred yards away from each other. Villa Diodati becomes the refuge that Byron needs to escape the tourists that pester him constantly, but also sparks his affair with Claire to start up again despite his efforts of avoiding her prior. It also becomes the setting for many nights that the group spends together in the salon. The novel goes on to follow Byron and Shelley as they tour the settings of Rousseau’s novel Julie, Ou La Nouvelle Héloïse, which Byron read several times, but ends with both men melancholy and disappointed. Polidori is inspired by his employer and his employer’s publisher to become a writer, but is embarrassed when his first attempt becomes a laughing stock. Eventually, he does write a successful horror story, borrowing from Byron’s fragmentary vampire story. Unfortunately, Polidori sent the story in to publishers anonymously leading everyone to believe it was Byron’s work despite him denying it and Polidori, eventually, claiming it. Polidori is relieved of his duties by Byron and they part ways as friends. The Shelley’s, William, and Claire all return to England at the end of the summer. Unbeknownst to Claire, that was the last time that she would ever see Lord Byron as he vows to avoid her forever. The Shelley’s eventually marry and move in together to raise their children. The novel closes by recounting how each person in the novel came to meet the end of their life
It was an evening in Villa Diodati that sparked Mary Shelley to create Frankenstein. On a rainy night, everyone was in the salon when Lord Byron decided to read horror stories. This sparked him to challenge everyone to write their own horror story. Mary Shelley became very frustrated over her lack of inspiration and could not come up with a story. It wasn’t until a couple of nights later when a discussion in the salon turned to the topic of reanimation of the dead that she found her inspiration. Mary did not realize that this would be her calling at first, but that night the idea of the dead coming back to life continued to agitate her. She had a nightmare where she saw a dead body with a cloth draped over it and a thin doctor standing nearby and upon awakening knew that she had discovered her horror story. She refrained for much of the following activities to write the novel that would immortalize her in the literary world forever.
Administrative Notes: Madison Rodriguez, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner, CSUF (editing)