SOURCE: "The Vampire in Prose," in The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature, Duke University Press, 1981, pp. 103-41.

Twitchell is an American educator and critic who has written extensively on supernatural and horror literature and film. In the following excerpt, Twitchell praises The Vampyre, exonerates Polidori from the charge of plagiarism, and proposes possible biographical bases for some characters and incidents from the novel.

Whether or not The Vampyre would have survived on its own, had it not appeared to be Byron's work, is of course a moot point. It surely would not have gained such a wide readership, both in England and on the Continent (Goethe, for instance, claimed it was the best thing Byron ever wrote!), but it might well have launched the vampire into prose nonetheless. For it is a well-made tale, full of biographical intrigue, local color, melodrama, suspense, and...