Title: Il Vampiro
Format: Short story
Author: Enrico Boni
Nationality: Italian
Written: 1908
Impact: ?
Synopsis: Unfortunately I can tell you almost nothing about this, other than it seems to have been one of the first stories to really plunder rural superstition and folklore for its subject, but as it’s in Italian, and every source I look up is, well, in Italian, and I don’t speak or read Italian, I got nothing.
Title: The Lair of the White Worm
Format: Novel
Author: Bram Stoker
Nationality: Irish
Written: 1911
Impact: - 10 (Minus ten)
Synopsis: How is it possible that a man who more or less created the popular fictional vampire, and gave birth to, or at least played midwife to a whole genre of literature, could, only fourteen years later, be castigated for his next book, widely regarded, I’m told, as one of the worst ever - even H.P. Lovecraft hated it. But I would have to say, on my brief skim through its summary, that I question its inclusion as a vampire story. Of course, I haven’t read it, and there may be more to it than comes through in the synopsis, but from what I can see it’s more concerned with some monstrous worm who may, or may not, be sucking victims’ blood. But other than that I don’t see any connection. There are none of the classic vampire tropes here, none of the elements Stoker masterfully created/used/adapted for
Dracula, and at best, I would see this as a monster/horror story rather than anything approaching a vampire one.
Still, I suppose it is interesting to see where the all-but-father of vampire literature went with his next venture. I imagine he wanted to steer clear of being accused of writing
Dracula II, or whatever, so tried his hand at a standard horror story in the vein of Lovecraft, but without any of that man’s skill for horror and terror and storytelling. Actually, I see this was his last novel, published a year before his death, and he had had others published before it, so I don’t know, maybe he was running out of steam as he ran out of breath? Perhaps it’s telling that of the six other novels - not including this - he wrote after
Dracula, not one appears to have been a vampire novel. Could it be that he just got lucky that once? Had he the talent, or was it just that he caught the imagination of the reading public at the time? I don’t know, but iIf reviews are to be believed, were this Stoker’s first instead of last story then this would likely be the last anyone would have ever heard of him.
Title: Wampir
Format: Short story
Author: Wladyslaw Reymont
Nationality: Polish
Written: 1912
Impact: ?
Synopsis: Is this the first Polish vampire story? I don’t remember seeing another one prior to this. Unlike other authors, who tended to move the action to foreign countries (even F. Marion Crawford, an American, basing his story in Italy, while Loring did use England as the setting, but vaguely spoke about the West Country, though he did mention Bristol) Reymont decides to use London as the setting. However he uses it differently to most authors. Whereas in Stoker’s classic, London was, until Dracula’s arrival in England, the safe haven, far from the wilds and legends of Transylvania, Reymont sees it as a dark web, an endless network of warrens and lanes, close-packed dwellings that seem to close in on his character, a maze from which he can never extricate himself. Add in the thick London fog and you have all the setting needed for a dark, creepy horror story, right at home. Well, not at home to Reymont, but to most of his readers.
The vampire is again female, though this time (and possibly for the first time?) with red hair. She exerts her influence over the protagonist, Zenon, a writer and Polish immigrant, until he forgets his wife and child back home, and is enslaved to the beautiful and deadly, um, Daisy. Right. Veering away slightly from other interpretations, Reymont brings in Satanism, having Zenon attend a black mass. Though vampires have, until now, been more or less assumed to be associated with dark powers and Hell, the Devil has not been mentioned (possibly in
Dracula, where Van Helsing may snarl “the devil has made her his own” or somesuch, but if so, I believe he’s referring to Dracula as
a devil, not
the Devil). But here the writer draws a very clear connection between the two.
However, again from a summary, it seems the vampire Daisy is not of the bloodsucking variety, but could most closely perhaps be compared to Viereck’s Reginald Clarke, more a psychic than physical vampire, feeding off hopes and dreams until the victim is forever under their spell. Reymont’s novel looks to be more one of spiritualism and mesmerism than horror
per se; his vampire, though important, is merely the conduit through which he gives up his will and embraces the things he wants to do, even if he didn’t realise he wanted to do them. I personally feel that without some interest in psychology, spiritualism or other aspects explored in it, this novel would be a boring read. I doubt it would be for me.