Eruption of Mount Tambora
Mount Tambora is a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in present day Indonesia, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Its eruption in 1815 was the most powerful volcanic eruptions recorded in human history. “It had the effects of causing 10,000-11,000 deaths from direct volcanic effects and 49,000-90,000 deaths from post-eruption famine and epidemic diseases. This eruption was said to have reduced global temperatures in the following year which led to famine in numerous regions” (1815 Eruption of Mount Tambora). This was called the ‘year without a summer’. During this period, the days were cold and wet across Europe and North America. This summer of 1816 also erupted the start of gothic tales in literature. This is when gothic literature emerges in Europe in the 18th century and its entails placing strong emphasis on intense emotion, pairing terror with pleasure, and death with romance. This is also when Polidori’s The Vampyre was also written which has dark themes such as seduction and murder.
“Mary Shelley was said to witness this eruption’s effects firsthand as she traveled across Europe with her husband” (Strickland, Ashley). During her trip, she was confined indoors by the bad weather. This is when she was said to write her novel Frankenstein. “As she wrote, she inflected the foreboding landscapes and human misery into her emerging horror novel” (Alan Marshall Lecturer in Environmental Social Sciences). The volcano was inactive for 5,000 years before it exploded. The eruption of Mount Tambora can be paralleled to the awakening of the monster, both an eruption of life. While the gothic era may not have given way because of the eruption of Mount Tambora
“1815 Eruption of Mount Tambora.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Apr. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_eruption_of_Mount_Tambora.
Alan Marshall Lecturer in Environmental Social Sciences. “Did a Volcanic Eruption in Indonesia Really Lead to the Creation of Frankenstein?” The Conversation, 3 Apr. 2023, https://theconversation.com/did-a-volcanic-eruption-in-indonesia-really-...
Strickland, Ashley. “Why a Volcanic Eruption Caused a 'Year without a Summer' in 1816.” CNN, Cable News Network, 17 Sept. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/17/world/tambora-eruption-year-without-summe...