A Brief Introduction to the Polidori Society
By Jonathon York and Rufel Ramos
This document is not intended to recount a complete history of the Polidori
Society. Rather, it is intended to explain briefly how the Polidori Society came
to be what it is now, and to figure out how I came to be so closely associated
with it. Let it be known to those out there that I am not an original Polidorian,
nor do I claim to be. While I do know several of the people who, unlike myself,
actually did get off their behinds to write a contribution to that original
part, it is my sincere hope that those who were there who read these lines know
that I intend no malice nor ill-will toward them nor anyone else who may have
been involved. If there is an error in these pages (and I am sure there will
be), you may let me know if you wish, but I cannot guarantee a prompt correction
to the text.
The reader will become aware that I include in this narrative several references
to the various invitations from past years. The invitations serve as references
for my own mind, seeing as how I drew most of the pictures, and I have them
readily available to jog my memory.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let us begin, hmm?
The Polidori Pumpkin Party, Halloween 1991, Irving Texas
In 1991, a group of students and some faculty at the University of Dallas came
up with an idea for a different kind of Halloween party. Each was familiar with
the infamous “Haunted Summer” of 1816 at the Villa Diodati which culminated in
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin, George Gordon Lord Byron, and Dr. John
Polidori coming together to write and tell ghost stories to each other. Mary
Godwin, a.k.a. Mary Wollstonecraft and later Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,
presented the germ of what would later become her best known work, about the
hubristic Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his efforts to create life from death.
In the author’s introduction, Mary Shelley writes about the Villa Diodati and
the stories which were presented there. Her account of Dr. Polidori’s
contribution were less than flattering, apparently some dreadful thing about a
ghoulish woman with only a bare bloody skull on her shoulders and a man peering
at her through a keyhole. Others claim that Dr. Polidori’s contribution was not
actually the rotten peep show Shelley describes, but instead was the
introduction of the vampire motif in the English language. This story, simply
titled “The Vampyre,” is still in print today, albeit typically on the
children’s lit rack, and is often described as a thinly-veiled account of the
physician and struggling writer’s experience with his most notorious patient,
Lord Byron. Polidori had struggled for years to get his work published and
believed that the key to his success lay in developing a rapport with the
already established Lord, but Byron had other ideas in store for the unfortunate
doctor. In this way Polidori never gained the success in writing for which he
had hoped.
Now, the group of students and faculty at the University of Dallas were all
familiar with the story, and at least one (much clamor generally ensues about
which one of the original group actually came up with the idea, especially when
somebody tries to write it down so that it will be remembered) suggested as an
idea for a Halloween party that they all get together at someone’s home to read
their own stories. Enough people liked the idea that is became a reality.
Invitations for what they called the Polidori Pumpkin Party – partly to avenge
the poor doctor, but mostly because it was a lot of fun to alliterate – were
printed up on an Apple IIe using PrintShop.
And the Polidori Society was unceremoniously born.
Polidori, Halloween 1993, Manziana-Roma Italy
In the study abroad semester in Rome, Italy, John MacQueen and Shontelle Vion,
fellow UD students, suggested to me that we really ought to hold a Polidori
party over Halloween in Manziana. It was at this time that I finally got in my
first Polidori party. I hadn’t realized at the time, however, that I would
actually have this much to do with it in future years. Yet it began when
Shontelle asked me if I could draw.
“Suppose so,” I said like an idiot, and we all worked together to draw up
invitations. We had no computers in the Hotel degli Etruschi, but we did have a
copier, so we drew them up by hand. Shontelle did the lettering and I did the
border. Some fiddledy bits with vines and pumpkins and spiders and little rats
and things. Unfortunately I don’t think any copies survived.
Growing Pains
After coming back from Rome, some of us got our degrees, others took a leave of
absence, and, with some fits and starts, the Polidori Society became quite
stable, even predictable, since 1995. Members of the Polidori Society who move
away often start chapters of the Polidori Society where they live. Polidori
parties have been hosted in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois; San Francisco,
California; Charlotte, North Carolina; as well as the UD Rome campus in Italy
and, of course, the original point, Irving, Texas. During these years, the
Polidori Society had grown to include members from outside the University of
Dallas community and it became clear that the Polidori Party could no longer be
taken casually, and that a lot preparation would be required in order to make
each informal gathering a success.
Certain core ideas about how to conduct these parties remained, as outlined in
the Polidori Society FAQ Sheet. Another idea was to keep the suggestion that
each reader bring his or her own refreshments, despite the fact that
refreshments would be available. This mitigated the responsibility of providing
refreshments for up to thirty people, which would be overburdensome for any
single host, and would require additional and distasteful ways of financing the
party.
Generally speaking, it is more prudent to give a specific time to begin reading
than not. But the host should not be overly concerned with starting exactly on
time, for it detracts from the informal and generally friendly character of the
evening, not to mention wearing the host’s nerves down to nothing. To this end,
we have generally held Polidori on a Saturday, and starting around seven in the
evening, expecting the actual reading to start around eight.
John and Shontelle hosted Polidori parties in Irving from 1995 to 1997; they
moved out of state and held Polidori parties in Illinois and currently in North
Carolina. From 1997 to 2001, Frank Patterson, Scott Laurange, Rufel Ramos, and
Jonathon York hosted Polidori parties in Irving. Since 2002, the hosting has
passed on not only to Rufel Ramos and Jonathon York, but also to Russell
Mitchell and Annamaria Kovacs, as well.
Invitations
With the changing of the guard in Irving, and with John and Shontelle’s
commitment to the idea of the Polidori Society in general, John and Shontelly
desired a kind of consistency between the Polidori invitation in Irving, in
Champaign and, later, Charlotte. They figured the only way to do that would be
to have the same basic illustration. Since then, the invitations for the two
locations have differed only slightly in overall composition, but the graphic
has remained remarkably consistent. To my understanding, other people who have
been attracted to the idea of the Polidori party have used these drawings as
well for their invitations.
Spring Polidori is a year younger than Fall Polidori, and is generally
considered less formal than the Fall. The theme is usually announced either at
the end of the previous Fall Polidori, or on the invitations as they go out.
With respect to “who is invited?” that is up to the people putting the party
together. It is generally polite to invite the people who attended the previous
party even if this year’s host or planner had not previously, but the host or
planner may decline to invite whomsoever he or she wishes. Those who receive an
invitation may bring guests provided those guests also have a submission to
present. Because this can be confusing, we found it a good idea to keep a
guestbook for everybody to sign, including their name, current address and/or
email, and the title of the story or poem they presented. This makes drafting an
invitation list much easier when the time comes. Invitations are generally
delivered by hand or mailed three weeks to a month in advance, are usually
sealed with a wax stamp bearing the letter “P” on the lip of the envelope, and
bearing the name of the invited on the front. We can thank Shontelle for the
idea of the wax stamp.
Chronology of Hosts of the DFW (Irving TX) Chapter
David Banchs, Alexandria Volk, Jason Henderson (ca. 1991-93)
Brian Rogers (1994)
John MacQueen and T. Shontelle Vion (1995-96; current NC Chapter hosts)
Frank Patterson and Scott Laurange (1997-99)
Scott Laurange, Jonathon York (invitation illustrator since 1993), Rufel Ramos
(2000- 01)
Jonathon York and Rufel Ramos (2002-present)
Russ Mitchell and Anna Kovacs (2002-present)
Updated: 3 July 2006