Scorpio Men When Hurt

Franco Mistral, "The Vampire. True Story"

Title: THE VAMPIRE. TRUE STORY
Author: FRANCO MISTRAL
Year: 1869 Edition
: Keres, 2011
Curator: ANTONIO DANIELE
Cover: Michele Rapisardi, "HEAD OPHELIA OF MAD "(1865)
ISBN: 978-88-97231-01-1
Pages: 240

Last January released by Editions Keres a book particularly interesting for fans of vampires. The Vampire. True Story of Frank Mistral is, in fact, the first vampire novel of Italian literature. Published in 1869, anticipated by three decades Stoker's Dracula and three years Carmilla Le Fanu. The reissue, the first exit of the novel, is actually a real annotated edition, enriched by an introduction and a thorough biobibliografia author.
The book, for the moment, can only be purchased on the publisher's site .

St. Petersburg, December 20, 1825. Nicholas Romanoff, Czar of All Russia, managed to escape from a plot thanks to the friend Maria Ludowiska. The emperor and woman behind a difficult love, never materialized because it is opposed by the father of Nicholas, the Tsar Alexander. This forced Mary unwelcome because the Polish Count Ludowiskoi to marry: the woman had to accept his fate, but never allowed herself to her husband. Some time later, during a dance, a masked woman with a black cloak in the context implied a suspicion that Mary betray him with Nicole. Ludowiskoi thus becomes the worst enemy of the tsar, but his deception was discovered and he was sent to Siberia. Here was saved by the witch Jarba, where the magic began.
Monaco, 1862. An artist, narrator of the story, a guest at the villa of Count Alfred Kostia, discovers that the owner of the house hides a secret torment. Kostia, pausing before a painting of Ophelia, tells his friend that the model was portrayed his beloved Ludowiska Pia, who died ten years earlier. The perfect likeness of a woman having a few days earlier during a trip to Kostia, is proof that Pia is back from the dead as a vampire. Moreover, the exhumation of the body, the coffin is found empty, except for a medallion and a ring.
In the following days, the artist and Kosta have the opportunity to meet the woman of the trip: it is Schonenberg Metella of the beautiful princess. Metella takes just to win the sympathies of Alfredo, the distrustful. The narrator, however, is upset when she sees the ring of the princess, which is identical to that of the woman in the portrait, and his ambiguous behavior. Concerned for his friend, the artist decided to investigate his secret, and get the help of the Prince of Monaco and the worthy inspector Ledru. The three reconstruct a history of blood and revenge, tied to the sad events of the family of Kost, of the mysterious and the same parents Metella Tsar Nicholas. To hinder the research will take care of the mysterious Eliam scientist alchemist, a close friend of the princess.

The Vampire. True Story is a compelling novel, the narrative passionate and full of late-romantic atmosphere. The style is refined and elegant, and the language of the time makes the reading enjoyable for its taste back. The story is full of quotations and anecdotes, and extensive notes on time, allowing the reader to discover historical and mythological stories and characters. The digressions are interesting especially when they draw Mistrali glimpses of his time as a detailed description of the boudoir of Metella. Memory, then, the short dissertation on vampires, some reported in the fourth. Wanting to find a genre, the work can be placed between the Gothic thrillers and historical novels.
Particularly successful are the characters of the Prince of Monaco and shrewd Inspector Ledru, by inquiring whether the modern detective, referring to Poe's Dupin Augusta. So much so that the real clash is between your and Ledru Eliam. Reason and justice are, however, here defeated by science and magic, which together comprise a mixture invincible. Metella also fascinating character, a true femme fatale , which will fall at his feet the poor Kostia, among dozens of suitors.
Among witches, ghosts and vampires, Mistral gives the reader the horrors and suggestions by candlelight, in whose light water portrayed in the context Ophelia seems agitated and the ghosts come to life.
curious description of the vampires, which the stories are Kostia Hungarian origin. They are blood drinkers who come out at night from the tomb, looking for victims asleep. Insubstantial as smoke into the room, standing on the cold lips of the victims at heart, and a small bite or suck blood. To destroy them, you have to pierce the bowel with a sharp pole carved from a tree fresh and headless, tear the heart and burn it, and finally sprinkle holy water with the remains.

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Data Sheet The Vampire