I recently read Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian. The title gives no hint that this lovely written piece of historical fiction is focused on one thing. The legend of Vlad III the Impaler better known today as Dracula.
Vlad Tepes |
Kostova’s book travels through time linking the 15th century wars between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, the actual life of Vlad Tepes and Europe in the 1950s and 1970s. Of course being fiction in Kostova’s world Dracula is indeed a vampire, unliving at the periphery of the world leaving hints for scholars to follow his legend if they dare. Kostova uses well known documents of the life of Vlad Tepes and histories of the Ottoman Empire to weave her tale. Via Wiki I found a translation of a 15th century Russian document that details some of the life of Vlad Tepes and reflects Kostova’s historical sources.
For a novel about Dracula he doesn’t actually appear much during the course of The Historian yet his presence is overwhelming. At times The Historian is more akin to a historical detective novel than a horror novel but when Kostova does need to pull out the scares she does it well. Apart from a very disappointing denouement The Historian is a worth addition to the library of literary vampire. It is a lengthy tome but one that you can sink your teeth into as there is a lot at stake for the protagonists of The Historian.
There have been concerns about the health of the literary vampire. Via tigtog’s post This is what we use it for there was a link to Charlie Stross having a go at the current standard of sci-fi. He also bags new horror as well:
The new horror isn’t about whelks, killer or otherwise: it’s about vampires, werewolves, and middle America. With police and detectives. Hell, you could even call it cop/vampire slash and have done with it, except that you’d be missing out on the tedious Manichean dualist drivel into which all these series eventually descend (unless they end up as soft porn instead — a very lucrative market, as Laurel Hamilton and her imitators have discovered — call it the fang-fucker subgenre). For the sad fact is, there seems to be some kind of law about contemporary American horror getting into furry sex by volume three then suffering a fit of remorse and going all god-bothering and Jesus-fondling by volume six. It must be all the crosses and holy water they need to fend off the blood sucking fiends, I suppose, but the endless re-hashing of tired old religious-sexual neuroses is getting to be a stereotype of the genre, and it’s not healthy. Horror isn’t about being born-again: it’s about bloody screaming catharsis, not a warm security blanket of belief that blocks out all menaces.
Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla |
Now sexuality and the vampire have always been linked. Bram Stoker’s Dracula and its antecedents such as Carmilla are chock full of Victorian sexuality. There is also the seductive nature of the vampire’s kiss still best exemplified by the section in Dracula where Jonathan Harker almost gives himself over the ‘kisses’ of Dracula’s brides. However one must remember that vampire at their best are totally evil. Dismay with the current state of the literary vampire drove F Paul Wilson to write Midnight Mass:
Midnight Mass was born out of my dissatisfaction with the tortured romantic aesthetes who have been passing lately for vampires. Stephen King gave us the real deal in ‘Salem’s Lot, but what gives since then? I wanted to get back to roots-go retro, if you will-and write about the soulless, merciless, parasitic creatures we all knew and loved.
Anne Rice’s early vampire novels were great but they have become a cliche. Maybe’s Rice’s dramatic about turn in terms of subject matter was partly a reaction to this?
Nosferatu |
Salem’s Lot is indeed one of the great vampire novels. The dark master Barlow scared the bejebus outta me when I first read Salem’s Lot back in the early 80s. Still to this day the Nosferatu imagery and pure evilness of Barlow is still effective. And there is no secret that elements of Salem’s Lot echo Stoker’s Dracula.
This is not to say the literary vampire must not stray to far from the vampiric conventions as dictated by Stoker. Buffy managed to stay true to the vampire mythos and also play with the conventions. But in Buffy’s world vampires were still pure evil. It was only the restoration of the soul that could turn a vampire away from evil.
I haven’t read any of the Anita Blake series so can’t comment on Stross’s criticisms. But the last time I was browsing the horror section at Galaxy it was hard to find a vampire novel that did not seem to be trying to cash in on the success of the Anita Blake series.
When I read a vampire novel I want the dark parts of my imagination to be disturbed so I am scared witless and tempted to only read in the daylight. Or is the conventional vampire something that now resides in the past as the real world horrors outweigh anything our imagination can create? We seek escape through the comforts of ‘reality’ instead of a good old fashioned cathartic scream of terror.
PS One of my best film experiences was a showing of Nosferatu at the Sydney Opera House with accompaniment on the Concert Hall organ back in 2003.
Anyone who doesnt see the clear link between Politics and the Gothic needs to visit Poligoths – turning todays politicians into sublime vampires and goths. I’ve posted it before, but in case you missed it……
On Andrew Bartletts suggestion, i’ve put Ruddock up today, although he didnt quite make the cut as a goth….
I thought Ruddock was already a vampire with that complexion of his.
I have a friend who works in a bookstore who gives me all the chick lit/ vampire books, because I’m the only person willing to read them. My favourite is about a vampire with a shoe fetish. And yes, I have received many a horrified look from the Vampire novel purists
I think we should remember what the vampire represents metaphorically. I’ve blurred the lines a little between the supernatural vampire and the human in my screenplay, Taking the Cure. It’s not a novel, but if you have sufficient patience and vision, you might find it interesting.
I remember reading Salem’s Lot in my late teens – I could only read it during daylight hours. I’d forgotten that until you wrote of it above, Shaun.
I thought “Near Dark” was pretty scary — though I seem to recall that it fell apart in the final reel.
And if we can believe even half of what we read about the real-life exploits of Vlad “the Impaler,” then I think I’d take an actual vampire any day.
More “Carmilla” movie adaptations, please!
I’ve always been a fan of vampire films, I must admit. Got a video of a weird one called Vampires In Venice, starring Klaus Kinski and Donald Pleasance. Christopher Plummer is in there somewhere as well. Not great example of the genre but Kinski walking through San Marco at dawn with a naked girl in his arms was an arresting image.
Ooh, Klaus Kinski. Must try and track that one down, Rob. He of course is also in the remake of Nosferatu by Werner Herzog. And I agree with j_p_z about Near Dark.
You still can’t beat a lot of the Hammer films though.
I must admit to liking vampire chick lit. It’s a bit different from the Laurel Hamilton stuff, and it’s more a variation the sex and the city theme. Chick who can’t find date gets bitten by vamp, still can’t find date etc.
Laurel Hamilton’s heroine is not herself a vamp (though that becomes a bit questionable as things develop over 11 or 12 books – I’ve lost count) but originally a hunter. She ends up getting way too involved. The first couple of books aren’t bad, but then the sex starts to drive the plot, and the total confusion of all her interweavings with various vamps, werewolves, etc. etc. makes the whole thing a bit tedious. She has certainly spawned a legion of imitators.
You can’t go past Todd Brimson’s Brand New Cherry Flavour for your genuinely scary and well written postmodern punkesque Zombie novel.
Well for me it’s the seduction of sexy danger. So pooh pooh to Mr Wilson I spose.
Some have argued that Kinski’s Nosferatu was his finest creation. This is contradicted by those who contend that Nastassja Kinski was his finest creation. And speaking of whom, she had her debut not in Polanski’s Tess, as is commonly thought, but in a classic Hammer film, To the Devil a Daughter.
(I’ve commented thus before and someone has proved me to be wrong — NK debuted somewhwere elsewhere, but I can’t remember where. Ah well. It’s Saturday night after all.)
Rob, IMDB has this Wim Wenders pic a year earlier as her first appearance:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071483/
Aah, Hammer films.
To tie in to j_p_z’s request for more ‘Carmilla’ there were three Hammer films that used Carmilla as a template. The Vampire Lovers, Lust for A Vampire and Twins of Evil.
tigtog, I read a lot of Stephen King during the mid 80s. Left him alone for a long time till Cell was released this year. Not a bad take on the zombie genre.
Kim, the vampire as a sexy seducer has always been part of the mythos and effective when used well. But I find sexy vampires with no terror to be a tad unfulfilling. I want totally evil vampires running amok!
I’ve recently seen the first three Anita Blake books collected in one paperback volume. Are the early ones still worth reading?
Charles the screenplay was interesting indeed. A nice take on the mythos. Thanks for the link.
Btw, if anyone remembers The Case of The Smiling Stiffs that was a vampire film as well
For anyone interested, Nina Aeurbach’s “Our Vampires, Our Selves” is an excellent work of lit crit on vampire stories.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226032027/103-8221760-1845452?v=glance&n=283155
There’s a review here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_n2_v39/ai_20017508
Fearless Vampire killers!
Best movie ever imo.
There are some good books out now on Transylvania in general and the impaler in particular. Sear Amazon.
There is one very rare book that the Calvinists ‘ Berned’ the author at the stake for and it connects with the uniterian church in Transylvania. One of the early rulers was reportedly gay and a uniterian which must be a pretty heavy heresy for protestants to burn you at the stake for. The uniterian thing I mean.
I forget a lot of what I read but the Ottomen Turks may have impaled men for being gay and they used to oil the stakes so you would die slower…ouch!
Sorry I forget the name of the book but thats why we have Google.
That’s right, professor rat – Transylvania is the only principality in Europe ever to have had a unitarian ruling monarch.
The heresy lies in denying the trinity – hence unitarian as opposed to trinitarian.
Shaun – what did you think of the film based on your life and interest in zombies – Shaun Of The Dead?
Well FXH. I wasn’t happy that they moved the action from Australia to England and messed with the characters. I’m much more dashing real life.
Otherwise I heartily recommend the movie as it is great fun.
Robertone,
Questo?
For a minute there, Fyodor, I thought we were witnessing a blog resurrection.
But perhaps we were.
I know, I know – got you all quivering with anticipation. And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like: just teasin’.
Ooh, Nadja, now there was a decent vampire film. Except for those pixelly kiddy-cam bits, which just made me want to clean my glasses.
No, I’m Nadja.
<img src="http://videodetective.com/photos/141/005937_34.jpg"
Great Moments in Dracula Movies, #3,650:
Bud Tingwell being crucified upside-down to drain his blood into Dracula’s grave, in Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Hammer, 1960-something.
Yes, my heart was in my mouth for a moment there as well, Fyodor.
For a truly peculiar take on the vampire mythos, check out George Romero’s 70s flick “Martin” some time. Moving and strange.
Also, what does it mean that the modern (read English-language) version of the vampire mythos was basically established by two Irishmen, Bram Stoker and Sheridan LeFanu (he of “Carmilla” fame). Ireland, to my knowledge, being a country without a lot of vampires in its otherwise elaborate folklore. Huh.
One more bit of arcana… Rob says, “my heart was in my mouth for a moment there as well…”
Not that anyone ought to care, but for lovers of oddity, the Latin idiom for this sentiment among the Romans was, “my soul was in my nose.” (Anima erat mea in naso.)
Next time you laff so hard you spit milk thru yr nose, have a care for your soul…
It’s Irish women – they suck you dry.
Apologies for the following pedantry, j_p_z, but The Vampyre, by the Anglo-Italian John Polidori, predates Carmilla by more than 50 years. The background around its origins are far more interesting than the story itself, as I recall relating previously.
Don’t forget Varney the Vampire – 1840s?
You can read it online here:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PreVarn.html
Written by Englishman Thomas Prest aka James Malcolm Rymer and published in weekly parts as a penny dreadful from 1845-7.
You can read a summary here:
http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/v/varney.htm
It was before a lot of the elements of the vampire mythos were established, and Sir Francis Varney renewed himself by devouring a virgin on the full moon.
And didn’t Byron have a vampire in one of his poems?
Polidori was Byron and Shelley’s doctor, n’est-ce pas, Fyodor? And he wrote his tome as part of a competition between the members of the menage which also produced Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Heh.
I wrote that without following your link. Fyodor, like a vampyre, is always one step ahead and appears before you when most unexpected.
Oui, ma demoiselle.
Well well well, Fyodor and Kim… the things we learn on blogs. Thanks for the info.
“And didn’t Byron have a vampire in one of his poems?”
Not sure about Byron, but now that you mention it, Coleridge’s great (and, typically for Sam, unfinished) poem ‘Cristabel’ has a sort of proto-lesbian-vampire thingy in it, which also predates ‘Carmilla.’
So I guess there’s more to it all than Sheridan and Bram. Double huh.
Once saw a very scary and claustrophobic theater adaptation of ‘Carmilla’ (I won’t say ‘stage’ adaptation, because there was emphatically no stage) a long time ago; it was one of only two times in my life that I actually felt something like ‘scared’ at a theater performance. (The other was the Wooster Group’s crazed, hallucinatory version of ‘The Crucible’ in their epic “L.S.D. — just the high points” …featuring a very young Willem da Foe! Now why wasn’t HE ever cast as a vampire?!)
Merci beaucoup, Monsieur le Comte de Bazarov
j_p_z, actually I was wrong. It seems that Polidori’s story was published anonymously, and Byron was believed to be the author, a perception he wanted to counter:
http://www.praxxis.co.uk/credebyron/vampyre.htm
btw, the fact that Polidori called his story just ‘The Vampyre’ tickles me. In the old days, they seem to have often had rather a plain way with titles. Stoker actually had the nerve to call one of his later novels simply ‘The Man.’ The sub-title to ‘Moby-Dick’ was just ‘The Whale.’ There was even one ninny, one of those early Scandinavian Nobel prize winners whose books are now unread, who called his magnum opus ‘The Young and the Old.’ Well, I should say, that just about covers it.
I guess no one in the 19th cent. woulda thought to call a work ‘The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton, Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.’ Rather more attention-getting than ‘Quills,’ innit?
Ce n’est rien, ma reine.
He was.
Yes, nice to mention Varney.
Track down a copy of The Vampire Omnibus edited by Peter Haining if you can. The first section a good selection of 19th century vampire prototypes before getting into the archetypes. It is Varney under the title The Vampyres Tale. Then lots of good stories involving the more familiar vampire archetypes.
Another handy book is the Vampire Film. A great reference book for the occasions when ABC shows Hammer films and a good history of the cinematic vampire.
“Varney the Vampire,” eh?
Now that makes me want to see Jim Varney the Vampire.
If only we could have had “Ernest Visits the Castle Draculya”… it mighta even had a sweet little cameo by Al Lewis. Oh well…
–j_p_z, moving on to ‘Mummy’ lore…
Heh, Vampire Chick-lit rocks. Who wouldn’t love a ditzy vampire with a shoe fetish and URST?