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Walking with Vampires: Polidori and the Gothic Travel Narrative

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The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire

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Abstract

This chapter seeks to establish the significance of the relationship between gothic literature and travel writing, through Polidori’s early vampire narrative, The Vampyre. Written during a journey across Europe and featuring one also, this narrative indicates the importance of place and of travel to the genre of vampire literature. Both travel writing and the Gothic were extremely popular genres during the Romantic era and were mutually influential in terms of style and form.

Romantic-era travel writing explores outer adventures in relation to inner journeys; however, in the Gothic Romance, this frequently becomes a fracturing, traumatic experience rather than a fulfilling one. Literature and place are related through folklore and the narrative traditions of different nations, as well as processes of writing itself. The question of tourism is also central to this, as vampires may be read as paradigmatic tourist-figures through traveling and consumption, both figurative and literal. It is deeply significant that the first substantial vampire narrative in English focuses on a journey and features the vampire as a traveling companion; this sets the tone for vampires as travelers throughout the genre.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of English, Linguistics, and Philosophy, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Nicola Bowring

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  1. Nicola Bowring
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Correspondence to Nicola Bowring .

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  1. Independent Scholar, Poznań, Poland

    Simon Bacon

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Bowring, N. (2024). Walking with Vampires: Polidori and the Gothic Travel Narrative. In: Bacon, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36253-8_103

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