John William Polidori (1795-1821) was a British writer and physician, best known for his pivotal role in the creation of the modern vampire genre. Born in London to Gaetano Polidori and Anna Maria Pierce, Polidori's early life was marked by a strong education, including medical studies at the University of Edinburgh. His literary associations with the Romantic movement, particularly with Lord Byron, were influential in shaping his career. Polidori's most famous work, The Vampyre: A Tale (1819), is often regarded as the first modern vampire story, and it established many of the themes and motifs that would later define the genre. The infamous "ghost story challenge" among the group led to the creation of The Vampyre, which introduced the character of Lord Ruthven, a suave yet sinister figure that would become the archetype for later vampires in literature. Though Polidori's life was tragically short, he left a lasting legacy, as his work influenced later horror fiction, particularly Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). His contributions to literature, especially in the vampire genre, are significant, and his work remains a landmark in Gothic and horror fiction.
