Frankenstein and the Year Without a Summer

The Year
Without
a Summer
T. Holst after W. Chevalier. Frontispiece to Frankenstein. London. 1831.
816Jason M. Kelly, PhD
Director, IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute
Associate Professor of History, IUPUI
jaskelly@iupui.edu 
@jason_m_kelly

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, , The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814-1844, Vol. 1: 1814-1822. Feldman, Paula R. and Scott-Kilvert, Diana,
eds., (Oxford, The Clarendon Press, Oxford, England, 1987), 74.
Monday 10th
Read Voltaire before breakfast - after breakfast g work -
Shelley passes the morning with Harriet who is in a
surprisingly good humour. Mary reads the third fable of ovid.
S & Clare read Pastor Fido. S˙ reads Saturday Gibbon — (To
recollect the life of Rienzi — Fortifiocca)
*Giovanni Battista Guarini, Il pastor ﬁdo [The
Faithfull Shepherd] (Venice, 1590).

French Revolutionary
1792-1815
and Napoleonic Wars
Francisco de Goya. The Third of May [El Tres de Mayo]. 1814. Oil on canvas. 2.66 × 3.451 m. Prado Museum. P00749.

Waterloo18 June 1815
William Sadler. The Battle of Waterloo. Oil on canvas. H: 81cm, W: 177 cm. Pyms Gallery, London.

“The ashes now began to fall in showers, and the
appearance altogether was truly awful and alarming . . . .
The darkness was so profound throughout the remainder
of the day . . . . that I never saw any thing equal to it in
the darkest night; it was impossible to see your hand
when held up close to the eye.”
— Thomas Stamford Raffles, Captain of the Benares

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/1815_tambora_explosion_B.png

We have had one of the most tremendous eruptions of the Mountain
Tomboro, that ever perhaps took place in any part of the world; this
mountain is situation on the island of Subawa, and is distant from Batavia
not less than 350 miles. We heard the explosions here distinctly, and had
some of the ashes. It was totally dark at Macassar long after the sun was up;
and at noon, at Sourabaya, the sun succeeded in enlightening the good
folks so as to allow them to see some yards around; the ashes lay at
Macassar, which is 250 miles from Sambawa, 1 1/2 inches deep. Captain
Feen, of the Dispatch, and Captain Eatwell, of the Benares, who have
visited the island since the eruptions, both declare, that the anchorage is
much changed, and that they found the sea, for many miles around the
island, so completely covered with trunks of trees, pumice stone &c. as he
was told, that a village was inundated, and had three fathoms of water over
it. Great numbers of the miserable inhabitants have perished, and others
die daily. The crops of paddy (rice) have been utterly destroyed over a
great part of the island; so that the situation of the unfortunate survivors
will be really pitiable.”
“Eruption of Mount Tomboro. Extract of a Letter, dated the 29th of May, 1815, from Batavia, from a Merchant of that Place.

Aerial view of the caldera of Mt Tambora at the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:Caldera_Mt_Tambora_Sumbawa_Indonesia.jpg, accessed 6 March 2016

1812, La Soufrière on Saint Vincent in the Caribbean, VEI 4
1812, Awu in the Sangihe Islands, Indonesia, VEI 4
1813, Suwanosejima in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, VEI 4
1814, Mayon in the Philippines, VEI 4
1815, Tambora, on Sumbawa, Indonesia, VEI 7

Death Toll from Explosion: 71,000

Villa Diodati and Lake Geneva Postcard. ca. 1900. New York Public Library

“In the summer of 1816, we visited Switzerland,
and became the neighbours of Lord Byron. At
first we spent our pleasant hours on the lake, or
wandering on its shores; and Lord Byron, who
was writing the third canto of Childe Harold,
was the only one among us who put his
thoughts upon paper. These, as he brought
them successively to us, clothed in all the light
and harmony of poetry, seemed to stamp as
divine the glories of heaven and earth, whose
influences we partook with him.”
Mary Shelley, “Preface,” Frankenstein (London,
1831)
Villa Diodati, Geneva Switzerland. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Villa_diodati_2008.07.27_rg_5.JPG, accessed 6 March 2016.

F.G. Gainsford. John William Polidori. ca. 1816.
oil on canvas, circa 1816. 58.4 cm x 48. cm.
National Portrait Gallery, London
Richard Westall. George Gordon Byron, 6th
Baron Byron. 1813. oil on canvas. 91.4 cm x
71.1 cm. National Portrait Gallery, London
Amelia Curran. Claire Clairmont. 1819. oil on
canvas. 47 x 35 cm. Newstead Abbey, Notts,
UK
Amelia Curran. Percy Bysshe Shelley. 1819. oil
on canvas. 59.7 cm x 47.6 cm. National Portrait
Gallery, London
Richard Rothwell. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
exhibited 1840. oil on canvas. 73.7 cm x 61
cm. National Portrait Gallery, London

Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati, Lausanne (ca. 1820). The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach
Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection. New York Public Library.

“But it proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often
confined us for days to the house.”
Mary Shelley, “Preface,” Frankenstein (London, 1831)

“Many and long were the conversations between
Lord Byron and Shelley, to which I was a devout but
nearly silent listener. During one of these, various
philosophical doctrines were discussed, and
among others the nature of the principle of life, and
whether there was any probability of its ever being
discovered and communicated. They talked of the
experiments of Dr. Darwin, (I speak not of what the
Doctor really did, or said that he did, but, as more to
my purpose, of what was then spoken of as having
been done by him,) who preserved a piece of
vermicelli in a glass case, till by some extraordinary
means it began to move with voluntary motion. Not
thus, after all, would life be given. Perhaps a corpse
would be re-animated; galvanism had given token
of such things: perhaps the component parts of a
creature might be manufactured, brought together,
and endued with vital warmth.”
1831)
Shelley, M. W. "Frankenstein, Volume I", in The Shelley-Godwin Archive, MS. Abinger c. 56,
4r. Retrieved from http://shelleygodwinarchive.org/sc/oxford/frankenstein/volume/i/#/p1

“…the experiments I did on the hanged criminal did not aim
at reanimating the cadaver, but only to acquire a practical
knowledge as to whether galvanism can be used as an
auxiliary, and up to which it can override other means of
reanimating a man under such circumstances….”1 Giovanni
Aldini, 1804
Aldini, G. Essai théorique et expérimental sur le galvanisme,
avec une série d’expériences faites devant des
commissaires de l’Institut national de France, et en divers
amphithéâtres anatomiques de Londres. Paris Fournier Fils
(1804).–Parent’s translation (see Ref. 4)
Parent, A. Giovanni Aldini : From Animal Electricity to Human
Brain Stimulation. 576–584 (The Canadian Journal of
Neurological Sciences 2004).

Giovanni Aldini. Essai theorique et
experimental sur le galvanisme, avec une
serie d'experiences faites en presence des
Commissaires de l'Institut national de France,
et en divers amphitheatres anatomiques de
Londres. 1804. Pl. 4. Wellcome Trust.

Where do the bodies come from?

M. Aldini, who is the nephew of the discoverer [Giovanni Aldini] of this
most interesting science, showed the eminent and superior powers of
galvanism to be far beyond any other stimulant in nature. On the ﬁrst
application of the process to the face, the jaws of the deceased criminal
began to quiver, and the adjoining muscles were horribly contorted, and
one eye was actually opened. In the subsequent part of the process the
right hand was raised and clenched, and the legs and thighs were set in
motion. Mr Pass, the beadle of the Surgeons’ Company, who was
ofﬁcially present during this experiment, was so alarmed that he died of
fright soon after his return home.
Andrew Knapp and William Baldwin, The Newgate Calendar, 4 vols. (London: J. Robbins and Co, 1825), iii, 317-318.
Luigi Galvani. De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius, cum J. Aldini dissertatione et
notis. Acc. epistolae ad animalis electricitatis theoriam pertinentes. 1792. Table 3. Wellcome Trust.

“Some volumes of ghost stories, translated from the
German into French, fell into our hands. . . . "We
will each write a ghost story," said Lord Byron; and
his proposition was acceded to. There were four of
us. The noble author began a tale, a fragment of
which he printed at the end of his poem of
Mazeppa. Shelley, more apt to embody ideas and
sentiments in the radiance of brilliant imagery,
commenced one founded on the experiences of his
early life. Poor Polidori had some terrible idea about
a skull-headed lady . . . “
1831)

The large spots which may now be seen upon the
sun's disk have given rise to ridiculous apprehensions
and absurd predictions. These spots are said to be the
cause of the remarkable and wet weather we have had
this Summer; and the increase of these spots is
represented to announce a general removal of heat
from the globe, the extinction of nature, and the end
of the world.
London Chronicle (July 19, 1816): 70; Examiner (July 21, 1816): 455

According to the calculations of an astronomer of
Bologna, who has lately published here [in
Fermo, Italy] some observations on the subject,
on the 18th of July a great solar catastrophe is to
put an end to the world by conﬂagration. The
signs of this are the spots to be remarked at
present on the sun’s disk. The government,
thinking it improper to suffer the circulation of
such predictions, has put the astronomer under
arrest.
London Times, 1 June 1816
The Bologna Prophecy

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires—and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings—the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd,
And men were gather'd round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other's face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forests were set on fire—but hour by hour
They fell and faded—and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash—and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smil'd;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and look'd up
Lord Byron
Darkness
composed circa July 21
and August 25, 1816

With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'd
And twin'd themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food.
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again: a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought—and that was death
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails—men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devour'd,
Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer'd not with a caress—he died.
Lord Byron
Darkness
and August 25, 1816

The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they rak'd up,
And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's aspects—saw, and shriek'd, and died—
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless—
A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd
They slept on the abyss without a surge—
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;
The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them—She was the Universe.
Lord Byron
Darkness
and August 25, 1816

J.M.W. Turner. Lancaster Sands. 1816. Birmingham Art Gallery

Corn Laws (1815)
Ely and Littleport Riots (May 1816)
Spa Fields Riots (November-December
1816)
Habeas Corpus Suspension Act
(February 1817)
"Blanket March" (March 1817)
Seditious Meetings Act (March 1817)
Pentrich Rising (June 1817)
Peterloo Massacre (August 1819)
Six Acts (1819)

John Melish, John Vallance, and Henry Schenck Tanner. Map of the United States of America : with the contiguous British and Philadelphia: J. Melish, c1816.

“In every State north of this there has been frost in every month of
the year; in this State we had none in June and July, but those of
August killed much corn over the mountains. The crop of corn
through the Atlantic States will probably be less than one-third of an
ordinary one, that of tobacco still less, and of mean quality. The crop
of wheat was middling in quantity, but excellent in quality. But every
species of bread grain taken together will not be sufficient for the
subsistence of the inhabitants, and the exportation of flour, already
begun by the indebted and the improvident, to whatsoever degree it
may be carried, will be exactly so much taken from the mouths of our
own citizens. My anxieties on this subject are the greater, because I
remember the deaths which the drought of 1755 in Virginia produced
from the want of food.”
Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin
September 8, 1816

Le Glacier du Giétro et le Mont Blanc de Cheilon, vus depuis la montée vers le Col des Otanes. Août 2007.
Giétro Glacier

Escher von der Linth. Glacier du Giétro (Switzerland) [early 19th century]. 1818.

Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818)

Drought, then
unseasonal ﬂooding,
led to a new strain of
cholera in Bengal for
which people did not
have immunity.
In 1817, it stopped the
British East India
Company in its tracks.
This cholera pandemic
killed tens of thousands
in India, China, and
Indonesia.

American Geographical Society, "Distribution of Cholera 1816-1950," Atlas of Distribution of Diseases, Plate 2

Li Yuyang (1816)
Rain falls unending, like tears of blood
from the sentimental man.
Houses sink and shudder
like fish in the rippling water
I see my older boy pulling at his mother's skirt.
The little one cries unheard. Money gone, and
Rice rare as pearls, we offer our blankets to save ourselves.
A single dou of grain, and nothing over to fix the house.
We have only a few acres, and these grow nothing.
My wife and children portion out their grains across
The wide year. At least the taxman stays away.
How could anyone fill his deep pockets?

Lin Zexu, an Imperial Commissioner of Qing China, orders the destruction of opium seized from British traders at
Humen on 3 June 1839. The destruction of 1,000 long tons of opium provided casus belli for the First Opium
War.

Frankenstein and the Year Without a Summer

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