VAMPIRE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH WRITTEN BEFORE 1938
Posted by:
Platypus (IP Logged)
Date: 17 April, 2021 08:29PM
VAMPIRE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH WRITTEN BEFORE 1938
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CRITERIA FOR THE LIST: A vampire is (1) a corpse creature or phantom of the dead; who (2) drains or drinks blood. Some fuzziness or ambiguity is allowed for meeting both criteria as long as each is at least hinted at without being disproven.
CRITERIA FOR THE DATE: I've arbitrarily chosen 1937 (HPL's death) as the cutoff year, so as not to make the list too large, or too influenced by cinema versions. The list is organized according to the date published or translated into English, to help keep track of the influence of the stories on each other.
At the end of the main list are some items written before 1838, but not published unti later; followed by two lists of stories rejected for the main list (for not meeting the 'vampire' criteria).
Please make suggestions to help add to the list. Thanks.
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1100s: See 1856: [REVENANT OF CASTLE ANANTIS], below
1732: [ARNOLD PAUL CASE], news digest regarding a "vampire" infestation in a Hungarian village of Medreiga in 1727.
1744: THE JEWISH SPY, an epistolary novel, translating LETTRES JUIVES (1738). Letter 137 relates the [KISILOVA VILLAGE CASE] describing an infestation in 1737 in a Serbian village, which starts with an old man causing the death of his son; the [ARNOLD PAUL CASE] see above, but with more detail; and its sequel the [SON OF MILLO CASE], discussing a second vampire infestation in the same town 5 years later.
1759: DISSERTATIONS ON ... VAMPIRES ... [Etc.], by Dom Calmet. Translating the first edition (1746) of Calmet's Treatise on Revenants. Discusses the [ARNOLD PAUL CASE] see above; its sequel the [SON OF MILLO CASE], see above; the [KISILOVA VILLAGE CASE] see above; [REPORT OF COUNT DE CABRERAS], an army captain digs up and destroys several blood-sucking vampires, after questioning local peasants, circa 1730; [BLACK HORSE] French officer describes a curious method for detecting vampires in Wallachia;
1765: THE THIRSTY VAMPIRES, a drinking song, that explains the habits of vampires before going on to explain that if the singer has the good luck to "drink when I'm dead", he'd rather suck on casks of wine.
1801: THALABA THE DESTROYER, epic poem by Robert Southey. Contains an episode where the the Thalaba's dead wife returns as a "vampire corpse". There's no explicit reference to blood-drain, but Southey's note explaining the word "vampire", together with Thalaba's wasted state of health after the visits, arguably supplies the defect.
1807: THE DEAD MEN OF PEST, poem by Arminius [John Herman Merivale]. A Hungarian town is devastated by a vampyre plague. In archaick stile.
1813: THE GIAOUR, epic poem by Lord Byron. Contains an episode, in the form of a prophesy, describing the protagonist's cursed future as a vampire who preys on his own children.
1819: THE VAMPYRE, short story by John Poldori. An aristocratic vampire, who seems as interested in corrupting people as in sucking their blood. He's not good marriage material.
1820: THE VAMPIRE or THE BRIDE OF THE ISLES, stage play by James Robinson Planche. Inspired by Polidori's tale.
1823: WAKE NOT THE DEAD, short story by Anonymous, evidently from a Germanic source, in POPULAR TALES AND ROMANCES OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS, v. 1. Walter rejects the title's good advice, with colorful results. I really enjoyed this story, and am surprised that it is so little known that no-one can even agree who wrote it.
1836: Entry on VAMPIRES in THE PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY, by Voltaire.
1843: SPALATRO: FROM THE NOTES OF FRA GIACOMO, short story by Anonymous [J. Sheridan Le Fanu]. Features century-old corpse creatures who drink blood from goblets.
1845: VARNEY THE VAMPIRE, a penny dreadful by James Malcolm Rymer, etc. Runs for 2 years (1845-1847). Origin of the idea that two small punctures on the neck are a sign of the vampire.
1848: VAMPIRES, essay by Anonymous, in THE PICTORIAL NATIONAL LIBRARY: A MONTHLY MISCELLANY.
1850: THE PHANTOM WORLD, by Dom Calmet. Translating the second edition (1751) of Dom Calmet's Treatise on Revenants. New material includes [THE VAMPIRE OF LIEBAVA] in which a Hungarian traveler frees the village of its vampire by stealing its linen, before finally beheading it.
1854: THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER, novelette by Anonymous, a translation of DER FREMDE (1844) by Karl von Wachsmann. A German knight brings his family to the Carpathians, where they find howling wolves, an abandoned castle, and guess what else. An obvious inspiration for DRACULA.
1856: [REVENANT OF CASTLE ANANTIS], by William [of Newburgh/Newbury/Newbridge], translating his Latin writings (HISTORY OF ENGLAND). William, a 12th century English monk, relates a tale told him by an older monk: A wicked man dies unshriven, after which his corpse haunts the vicinity spreading sickness and death. His corpse is dug up and destroyed, ending the plague. When dug up, it is found to be bloated with liquid gore "as if it contained the blood of many persons". William's writings, as well of those of his contemporary Walter Map, contain a number of tales of revenant corpses, which resemble those of East European vampires. This, however, is the only one that hints at blood drain, making it arguably the oldest vampire tale on this list.
1867: THE LAST LORDS OF GARDONAL, novella by Anonymous [William Gilbert]. Cruel mountain lord learns his new bride is a vampire.
1872: CARMILLA, novella by Sheridan Le Fanu. Gothic mystery whose solution is "vampire". Famous for supposedly being about lesbians, though my guess is the author was innocent of any such intention.
1873: THE SOLDIER AND THE VAMPIRE, folk tale collected in the 1800s by Alexandr Afansaev, in Ralston's RUSSIAN FOLK TALES (1873) . This vampire's methods of blood drain not what you'd expect. The volume also contains an extensive essay, from Afansaev's research, on vampire traditions. From the same collection are THE COFFIN-LID, THE TWO CORPSES, and THE DOG AND THE CORPSE, all of which are associated with vampires by Ralston's commentary; however the stories themselves only call the monster a "corpse", and do not mention any blood drinking (though neither do they rule it out). THE FIEND from the same collection, is a corpse-eating demon in the form of a handsome youth; called a "vampire" in later translations, though to my mind he does not quality.
1883: KEN'S MYSTERY, short story by Julian Hawthorne. American meets a mysterious woman while traveling through Ireland.
1886: A MYSTERY OF THE CAMPAGNA, by Von Degen [Anne Crawford]. Secluded artist it Italy foolishly messes with a nearby tomb, releasing its occupant.
1889: THE DEAD LEMAN, short story by Theophile Gautier, translating LA MORTE AMOUREUSE (French, 1836). Later (and earlier?) translated under other titles, like CLARIMONDE, THE DEATHLY LOVER, THE DEAD LOVER, etc. I don't much care for it.
1890: THE VAMPIRE MAID, short story by Hume Nisbet. There's some slight ambiguity whether this femme fatale is a corpse-creature; but there are clues enough.
1890: THE OLD PORTRAIT, short story by Hume Nisbet.
1893: VAMPIRE LORE, article by L.J. Vance, in THE OPEN COURT magazine.
1897: DRACULA, novel by Bram Stoker. Good stuff, especially the early chapters.
1900: [STORY OF CROGLIN GRANGE], by Augustus Hare, relating a story told him by Capt. Fisher in 1874.
1900: THE TOMB OF SARAH, short story by F.G. Loring. Church renovations disturb a 17th century vampire.
1905: FOR THE BLOOD IS THE LIFE, short story by F. Marion Crawford. Murdered peasant girl returns as a vampire.
1905: THE VAMPIRE NEMESIS, short story by Dolly [Leonard D'Olliver]. I do not normally count blood-drinking bats, but this one may be the spirit of a suicide, placing this in the context of the lore that vampires may be shapeshifters.
1910: THE SINGULAR DEATH OF MORTON, short story by Algernon Blackwood. Can you guess what killed him?
1912: THE ROOM IN THE TOWER, short story by E.F. Benson. A decidedly un-sexy vampire lady.
1912: THE PRINCESS IN THE COFFIN, translating a Danish fairy tale collected by Sven Grundvig circa 1870. An earlier translation by Andrew Lang, THE PRINCESS IN THE CHEST (1897), omits the detail that identifies the princess as a vampire.
1914: DRACULA'S GUEST, fragment by Bram Stoker, written 1890s. In which Harker meets one of Dracula's brides (the blonde) while passing through Germany.
1919: AN EPISODE OF CATHEDRAL HISTORY, short story by M. R. James. Vague and unresolved, and the word "vampire" is never used. But there are hints.
1919: THE SUMACH, short story by Ulric Daubeny. I do not usually count blood-drinking plants as "vampires"; but this one is framed as a extension of standard vampire lore.
1922: NOSFERATU, silent film by F.W. Murnau. Earliest and least sexy of the film Draculas.
1922: MRS. AMWORTH, by E.F. Benson. In which a person can be a vampire (possessed by an evil spirit) both before and after death.
1924: DRACULA, stage play.
1925: FOUR WOODEN STAKES, short story by Victor Rowan. A traditional approach to vampirism.
1925: THE RETURN OF THE UNDEAD, by Arthur Leads [Arthur Leeds]. Early story featuring a child vampire.
1926: BAT'S BELFRY, short story by August Derleth.
1927: THE CANAL, by Everil Worrell. In which vampires can't cross running water.
1927: THE WAILING WELL, short story, by M.R. James. The fate of a bad boy scout.
1927: THE MAN WHO CAST NO SHADOW, short story by Seabury Quinn. In which Jules de Grandin meets two different kinds of vampire, at least one of whom meets the criteria.
1928: THE SHUNNED HOUSE, novella by H.P. Lovecraft. A non-traditional take on vampires. But it meets the criteria.
1931: A RENDEZVOUS IN AVEROIGNE, by Clark Ashton Smith. Vampires in medieval France.
1931: DRACULA, a film starring Bela Lugosi, from the 1924 stage play.
1932: THE HORROR FROM THE MOUND, short story by Robert E. Howard.
1936: THE HOUR OF THE DRAGON, novel, by Robert E. Howard. In chapter 18, Conan meets Princess Akivasha, an ancient Stygian vampire lady who "died to live forever."
1936: LOOT OF THE VAMPIRE, short story by Thorp McClusky. In which vampires DO appear in mirrors, but as corpses, according to how long they they have been dead.
1937: I, THE VAMPIRE, short story by Henry Kutner. An early step in the direction of humanizing vampires.
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The following were published in English after 1937 (my cutoff point), but written significantly earlier.
1941: THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD, short novel by H.P. Lovecraft, written 1924. After being raised from his tomb, Joseph Curwen has an enormous appetite for fresh human blood.
1972: THE FAMILY OF THE VOURDALAK, translation of short story by Aleksey Tolstoy, previously in Russian (1884) and (unpublished) in French (1839).
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REJECTED WITH RESERVATIONS: THE DEATH OF HALPIN FRAZIER (1891), by Ambrose Bierce (no suggestion of blood drinking, but the strangulation and the preying on family both fit the oldest vampire traditions); LILITH (1895), by George MacDonald (Lilith is very corpselike when first met, but I'm not sure she's a corpse-creature in any ordinary sense; ulimately she's more akin to a Lamia); WILL (1899) by Vincent O'Sullivan (no suggestion of blood drain, but the corpse's body remains uncorrupt while she slowly drains the life of her murderer); COUNT MAGNUS (1904) by M.R. James (perhaps Magnus COULD be a vampire, but if so, his blood-drinking habits are camoflaged by his demon familiar sucking all the skin off the face); [ALYMER VANCE AND] THE VAMPIRE (1914), by Claude & Alice Askew (not a corpse creature, but possessed at times by the ghost of a witch); THE FACE (1922) by E.F. Benson (Roger Wyburn might be a vampire, by analogy to Benson's other vampire tales and because Wyburn does remain uncorrupt in his tomb, but we do not know the fate of his victim; THE HILLS OF THE DEAD (1930), by Robert E. Howard (these zombie-like "vampires" are said to drink the souls or life of those they kill, but there is no suggestion they drink blood).
REJECTED: THE BRIDE OF CORINTH, by Goethe (German version 1797); VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE (1870), by Richard Burton (trans.) ('vampire' here refers to the 'baital" of Indian folklore, but in this tale at least, there is no suggestion it is a blood-drinker or life-drinker); THE FATE OF MADAME CAPANEL (1880) by E.L. Linton (no actual vampire or other spook appears in this tale of superstitious French peasantry); LET LOOSE (1890) by Mary Cholmondeley (corpse creature implied to use its severed hand to strangle victims); THE PARASITE (1894), by A.C. Doyle (not a corpse-creature, and does not drain blood); THE TRUE STORY OF A VAMPIRE (1894), by Eric, Count Stenbock (I don't understand this story, but see no indication the "vampire" is a corpse creature); GOOD LADY DUCAYNE (1896), by Mary E. Braddon (she's not a corpse, at least not yet); THE BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE (1897) by F. Maryatt (the title translates as "the racial heritage of the wrong kind of girl"); THE VAMPIRE (1898), poem by Rudyard Kipling. THE VAMPIRE (1899) by Francis Hindes Groome in GYPSY-FOLK TALES (variant of Ralston's THE FIEND); MARSYAS IN FLANDERS (1900), by Vernon Lee (monster is not a corpse creature, and a stake through it's body at the end is the only connection to vampire lore); LUELLA MILLER (1902) by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (a sort of living vampire, who does not drink blood, though her influence does in some way survive her death); AN UNSCIENTIFIC STORY 1903), by Louise J. Strong (not corpse creatures, and their diet is not limited to blood); NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS (1922), by E.F. Benson (it drains blood, but there is no evidence it is a corpse creature as opposed to a demon); THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE (1924), by A.C. Doyle (Holmes investigates woman for sucking the blood of an infant; but there is no suspicion she is a corpse-creature); THE VOYAGE OF KING EUVORAN (1933), by Clark Ashton Smith (there is no indication these winged blood drinkers are corpse creatures); THE VAMPIRE OF THE VILLAGE (1936?), by G.K. Chesterton ("vampire" in this context merely meants "woman of bad reputation").
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 17 Apr 21 | 09:14PM by Platypus.