Kathleen Scherf – författare

In 1816, John William Polidori travelled to Geneva as Byron’s personal physician; there he met Mary and Percy Shelley and took part in the most famous house party in literary history. To pass the time in ‘a wet, ungenial summer,’ the travellers took to writing ghost stories. Byron wrote his Faustian drama Manfred (1817); Mary Shelley wrote her masterpiece, Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus (1818). Polidori appropriated an unfished story by Byron and turned it into the The Vampyre (1819). Polidori’s tale, with its nightmarish atmosphere and seductive, aristocratic villain, was a scandalous success; the fact that it was originally published, without Polidori’s knowledge, under Byron’s name, didn’t hurt. All the most famous vampires of popular culture, from Stoker’s Dracular to Anne Rice’s Lestat, descend from Polidori’s Byronic prototype.Polidori also contributed an original novel to the ghost-story project: Ernestus Berchtold, or, The Modern Oedipus (1819). Polidori’s novel explores the incest theme common to such Romantic works as Manfred, Percy Shelley’s Alastor, and M.G. Lewis’s The Monk, and combines this Gothic material with a historical account of Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Switzerland, one of the key moments in the political evolution of Romanticism. This edition includes the extensive revisions Polidori made for a projected second edition of The Vampyre, Ernestus Berchtold is reprinted for the first time in the 174 years since its initial publication. The critical introductions and explanatory annotations place the two works in their biographical, historical, and literary contexts. Appendices include a new edition of the fragment by Byron on which The Vampyre  was based, and a fragmentary tale by Polidori, never before published, which shows him exploring new literary direction after being fired by Byron and returning to England in disgrace.

Tourists are travelling the world in greater numbers than ever before, seeking immersive cultural experiences. This massive rise of tourism has raised issues of social and cultural sustainability in the world's global cities. At the same time, smaller cities and rural communities struggling with increasing urbanization and the loss of traditional industries could benefit from increased tourism. Smaller cities and communities are uniquely well-suited to hosting tourists seeking authentic connection with local cultures. Locally led, collaborative efforts to build creative tourism industries have the possibility to reinvigorate struggling communities. Creative tourism offers the opportunity to build socially and culturally sustainable channels for growth that benefit locals and visitors alike. Creative Tourism in Smaller Communities examines the processes, policies, and methodologies of creative tourism, paying special attention to the ways creative and place-based tourism can aid sustainable cultural development. With topics ranging from placemaking through food to the cultural impacts of cruise travel, and from catalyzing creative tourism to creating resiliency, this collection offers a wide range of theoretical and practical perspectives from a variety of experts. Creative Tourism in Smaller Communities offers a bold vision for the future of tourism worldwide.

Adventures in Small Tourism presents academic studies and personal stories about small tourism. While small tourism is not new, it has become increasingly important as the widespread negative effects of overtourism have become increasingly apparent, with cities like Amsterdam and Barcelona experiencing barriocide, the death of neighbourhoods, as they host overwhelming numbers of visitors.Small tourism, especially creative tourism, not only reduces the actual and potential negative impact of guests on local culture but actively seeks to strengthen and revive local communities by weaving together the experiences of guest and host. Participatory, respectful, and celebratory methods and manners of tourism, rooted in community and cultural networks, has the potential to strengthen cultural bonds, support economic development, and increase sustainability.Focusing on the provision of small-scale creative tourism experiences, Adventures in Small Tourism explores possibilities for local empowerment through community-based tourism. With stories and studies from Italy, Portugal, Colombia, Japan, Australia, and beyond, this collection tells stories of visitors and residents coming together to co-create place in walks and workshops, gastronomy and art, festivals, markets, and more. This is a book that dares to ask what the future can be.With contributions by: Diana Guerra Amaya, Katja Bek Kos, Keith Lewis Bradbury, Nancy Duxbury, Darcen David Esau, Mohammadreza Gohari, John S. Hull, Vid Kmetič, Attila Komlós, Donald Lawrence, Sylvia M. Leighton, Alison Lullfitz, Moira A.L. Maley, Courtney W. Mason, Una McMahon-Beattie, Mateja Meh, Emese Panyik, Carol Pettersen, André Luis Quintino Principe, Meng Qu, Donna M. Senese, M. Jane Thompson, Spencer J. Toth, J. Eddy Wajon, Josie Vayro, Ian Yeoman, Simona Zollet, and Diana Marcela Zuluaga Guerra