After Polidori\u2019s version of the vampire, it became apparent that an audience for such work existed.\u00a0 James Malcolm Rymer decided to enter as an author of this genre for just that reason.\u00a0 Rymer was born in Scotland in the year 1804, and prior to his career as an author, he pursued various means of employment.\u00a0 He had been a civil engineer, a surveyor, and a mechanical draftsman.\u00a0 He pierced the writing scene when he dropped all of these jobs to write for the Queen\u2019s Magazine (Melton 529).\u00a0 He wrote an article in which he heaped ridicule and disgust upon an avenue of the era called \u201cpenny dreadfuls.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cPenny dreadfuls\u201d were serial novels that sold for a penny for each chapter or installment (Guiley 247).\u00a0 They were sorted into two basic kinds.\u00a0 One kind consisted of magazines that contained serialized popular novels while the other were novels published in small sections (Melton 529).\u00a0 These published works provided cheap entertainment for the working class, and Rymer preyed on that audience with remarks such as:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the privilege of the ignorant and the weak to love superstition.\u00a0 The only strong mental sensation they are capable of is fear.\u201d When Rymer ventured into the career as a writer, he began with the \u201cpenny dreadfuls,\u201d and he had instant success with Varney<\/em> and Ada the Betrayed<\/em> when they were printed in Lloyd\u2019s Penny Weekly Miscellany<\/em>.\u00a0 In fact, they remained bestsellers for 15 years after publication.\u00a0 He wrote for other various magazines such as Reynolds\u2019 Miscellany<\/em> and London Miscellany<\/em>.\u00a0 He also wrote a novel called The Black Monk<\/em> under a pseudonym (Guiley 247).\u00a0 Because of his anonymity, Varney <\/em>was originally credited to Thomas P. Prest, who was the author of Sweeney Todd.\u00a0 In 1963, conclusive evidence was found in some of Rymer\u2019s old scrapbooks to give him the credit for Varney <\/em>that he so rightfully deserved (Melton 530).<\/p>\n The character of Varney can be illustrated as a fusion between a Shakespearian individual and Polidori\u2019s vampire, Lord Ruthven.\u00a0 Sir Francis Varney is an aristocrat who is definitely not charming.\u00a0 Just like Lord Ruthven, he preys upon people not just for their blood but for whatever they hold dear as well.\u00a0 For Varney, his lust for money causes him to act in this manner.\u00a0 In regards to appearance, he is revolting.\u00a0 With long fangs, long nails, and a pale face, he is probably as stereotypical as a comical vampire could be.\u00a0 He attacks women and turns some of them into vampires.\u00a0 Each time he begins to regret his actions, he tries to commit suicide, but he is revived again with the light of the moon.\u00a0 Finally, the repetitiveness of rebirth and suicide makes him succumb, and as a result, he throws himself into the crater of Mount Vesuvius (Guiley 305).\u00a0 One may note that there does not seem to be much of a plot or even much to say for Varney himself.\u00a0 Most critics complain that the work was poorly written, and that effect was worsened by the novel originally being split into each \u201cpenny dreadful.\u201d\u00a0 One has to piece together how Varney was once called Mortimer and how he once had supported the British Crown.\u00a0 He had been alive at the timing of the beheading of Charles I and had assisted members of the royal court in escaping to Holland.\u00a0 In the midst of it all, Varney manages to accidently kill his son, and he is cursed to be Varney the Vampyre due to the action (Melton 654).<\/p>\n Next month\u2026enter Carmilla.<\/p>\n Melton, J. Gordon.\u00a0 The Vampire Book.\u00a0 Detroit:\u00a0 Visible Ink Press, 1994.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After Polidori\u2019s version of the vampire, it became apparent that an audience for such work existed.\u00a0 James Malcolm Rymer decided to enter as an author of this genre for just that reason.\u00a0 Rymer was born in Scotland in the year 1804, and prior to his career as an author, he pursued various means of employment.\u00a0 He had been a civil engineer, a surveyor, and a mechanical draftsman.\u00a0 He pierced the writing scene when he dropped all of these jobs to write for the Queen\u2019s Magazine (Melton 529).\u00a0 He wrote an article in which he heaped ridicule and disgust upon an avenue of the era called \u201cpenny dreadfuls.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cPenny dreadfuls\u201d were serial novels that sold for a penny for each chapter or installment (Guiley 247).\u00a0 They were sorted into two basic kinds.\u00a0 One kind consisted of magazines that contained serialized popular novels while the other were novels published in small sections (Melton 529).\u00a0 These published works provided cheap entertainment for the working class, and Rymer preyed on that audience with remarks such as: \u201cIt is the privilege of the ignorant and the weak to love superstition.\u00a0 The only strong mental sensation they are capable of is fear.\u201d After such remarks, one would be quite surprised to learn that Rymer wrote such supposed atrocities himself.\u00a0 However, he did write them anonymously for some time.\u00a0 Just like any good businessman, Rymer decided to expand into areas in which he had talent and that paid well (Guiley 247). When Rymer ventured into the career as a writer, he began with the \u201cpenny dreadfuls,\u201d and he had instant success with Varney and Ada the Betrayed when they were printed in Lloyd\u2019s Penny Weekly Miscellany.\u00a0 In fact, they remained bestsellers for 15 years after publication.\u00a0 He wrote for other various magazines such as Reynolds\u2019 Miscellany and London Miscellany.\u00a0 He also wrote a novel called The Black Monk under a pseudonym (Guiley 247).\u00a0 Because of his anonymity, Varney was originally credited to Thomas P. Prest, who was the author of Sweeney Todd.\u00a0 In 1963, conclusive evidence was found in some of Rymer\u2019s old scrapbooks to give him the credit for Varney that he so rightfully deserved (Melton 530). The character of Varney can be illustrated as a fusion between a Shakespearian individual and Polidori\u2019s vampire, Lord Ruthven.\u00a0 Sir Francis Varney is an aristocrat who is definitely not charming.\u00a0 Just like Lord Ruthven, he preys upon people not just for their blood but for whatever they hold dear as well.\u00a0 For Varney, his lust for money causes him to act in this manner.\u00a0 In regards to appearance, he is revolting.\u00a0 With long fangs, long nails, and a pale face, he is probably as stereotypical as a comical vampire could be.\u00a0 He attacks women and turns some of them into vampires.\u00a0 Each time he begins to regret his actions, he tries to commit suicide, but he is revived again with the light of the moon.\u00a0 Finally, the repetitiveness of rebirth and suicide makes him succumb, and as a result, he throws himself into the crater of Mount Vesuvius (Guiley 305).\u00a0 One may note that there does not seem to be much of a plot or even much to say for Varney himself.\u00a0 Most critics complain that the work was poorly written, and that effect was worsened by the novel originally being split into each \u201cpenny dreadful.\u201d\u00a0 One has to piece together how Varney was once called Mortimer and how he once had supported the British Crown.\u00a0 He had been alive at the timing of the beheading of Charles I and had assisted members of the royal court in escaping to Holland.\u00a0 In the midst of it all, Varney manages to accidently kill his son, and he is cursed to be Varney the Vampyre due to the action (Melton 654). Next month\u2026enter Carmilla. Works Cited Guiley, Rosemary Ellen.\u00a0 The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters.\u00a0 New York:\u00a0 Checkmark Books, 2005. Melton, J. Gordon.\u00a0 The Vampire Book.\u00a0 Detroit:\u00a0 Visible Ink Press, 1994.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2353,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2374\/revisions\/2353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em>
\nAfter such remarks, one would be quite surprised to learn that Rymer wrote such supposed atrocities himself.\u00a0 However, he did write them anonymously for some time.\u00a0 Just like any good businessman, Rymer decided to expand into areas in which he had talent and that paid well (Guiley 247).<\/p>\n
\nWorks Cited <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nGuiley, Rosemary Ellen.\u00a0 The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters.\u00a0 New York:\u00a0 Checkmark Books, 2005.<\/p>\n