The rules are easy and you will get it without me explaining it :)
So, what if I had a time machine that I can only use once? I would travel in time, of course :) To be more specific I would travel 195 years back in time into the wonderful 1816. And I wouldn't just travel anywhere I would travel to the Lac Lerman, the lake Geneva.
Back than was the literature period of romanticism (I'm a huge fan of that time) and people stopped thinking with their heads and started acting like they felt. Desire, night, nature and love were expressed in all forms of art. A young English poet leaves his wife to abscond with a young girl. They travel to Geneva were one of the greatest gothic novels in history is written.
I'm talking about Percy Bysshe Shelley and his love Mary Godwin, later known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. They travel with Marys Half-sister Clara Clairmont, because she is searching for her lover George Gordon, who you all know as Lord Byron, one of the most famous english poets.
So the trio stays over the summer in Byrons mansion Diodati with Byron and his personal doctor Giovanni "John" Polidori.
On a stormy night the little circle decides to make a contest. They want to find out, who is able to write the best gothic tales. But the only ones finishing their stories are John and Mary.
In this night, inspired by the discussions about the "Prometheus spark" a few days ago, Mary W. Shelley creates one of the most misunderstood monsters ever and it's creator: Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his monster.
John Polidori writes The Vampyr, which is said to be one of Bram Stokers inspirations and the first story of modern-Vampires.
To finish this little story I want to say that I admire the work of those wonderful poets and writers and would love to spend one night with them in the Diodati mansion discussing Shakespeare, Voltaire, Goethe and how far a scientist can go...
Did you know that, based on the night when Mary Godwin gave birth to Frankenstein, a horror movie was created? It's called Gothic, but I haven't watched it yet, should I?
Have you read Frankenstein? And how did you like it?
Best wishes and weeks full of words
KJ
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