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September 2001 Newsletter Mary and the Monster Like most horror stories, this one began on a dark and stormy night. Confined indoors by a violent summer storm, the Shelleys, Lord Byron and his personal physician, Polidori, passed the night reading horror stories until Lord Byron proposed what was to become the most famous contest in literary history: Each of them, writers and non-writers alike, would write a ghost story. Mary Shelley, the lover of poet Percy Shelley, took up the challenge and, finally, after several fruitless days and nights, lying in bed one night in that semi-conscious state between sleeping and waking, she gave birth to Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. That tale of the gruesome beast patched together from the remains of corpses and brought to life by a jolt of electricity has become the quintessential creation-myth-as-horror-story. Translated into countless languages and dramatized in scores of plays and films, sincere and spoofs alike, Frankenstein has inspired other artists virtually since its inception. In Bloody Poetry, Howard Brenton bypasses the moment when
Mary is challenged to write a ghost story and instead lets us see
how her experiences during that magnificent summer in Switzerland
helped shape her creation. We watch as Lord Byron's callousness
inspires Mary to create a monster without affection. Talk of shadows
and electricity inspires her visions of a creature composed of parts
from the grave and suddenly brought to life. The result is the thrilling
sensation that we are witnessing the birth of a monster, an icon,
and an artist. |
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