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Les cent ans de Dracula: De Goethe à Lovecraft, huit histoires de vampires
Huit histoires de vampires :- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : La fiancée de Corinthe (Die Braut von Korinth)- John William Polidori : Le vampire (The Vampyre)- Théophile Gautier : La morte amoureuse (La morte amoureuse)- Francis Marion Crawford : Car la vie est dans le sang (For the Blood Is the Life)- Bram Stoker : L'invité de Dracula (Dracula's Guest)- Alice & Claude Askew : Aylmer Vance et le vampire (Aylmer Vance and the Vampire)- Jean Ray : Le gardien du cimetière (Le gardien du cimetière)- H. P. Lovecraft : La maison maudite (The Shunned House)
154 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 20, 2019
3.5
J'accorde l'importance de cette collection d'auteurs pour une histoire de l'évolution du vampire mais je ne suis pas très sure quand a la qualité de la traduction. En français les phrases font parfois un paragraphe (Lovecraft en est un example). Cela reste quand même une bonne acquisition pour les admirateurs de Walpurgis.
J'accorde l'importance de cette collection d'auteurs pour une histoire de l'évolution du vampire mais je ne suis pas très sure quand a la qualité de la traduction. En français les phrases font parfois un paragraphe (Lovecraft en est un example). Cela reste quand même une bonne acquisition pour les admirateurs de Walpurgis.
June 16, 2021
(approximative translation of my 2019 June 11th french review)
My previous reading of « Les cent ans de Dracula » (« Dracula's one-hundred years ») happened five years ago. Five years during whom my memories, helped by the short lenght of the stories, slowly erased... allowing a re-reading with an eye almost as fresh as the first time.
Don't let yourself fooled by the thinness of the book, its A5 155 pages are well-filled and it takes several evenings to turn the last one. Except the very short « La fiancée de Corinthe », the stories are more or less long and some of them definitely could have their own pocket book like a « folio 2€ ».
The eight stories featured here belong the the vampire literature's genesis. If the hype calmed down a bit since the enthusiasm brought by Twilight, this wave wasn't the first one : 19th century authors had their period of interest for the subject too, each of them giving their try on the original myth... or creating variations around their buddies' works.
Oldest text of the anthology, « La Fiancée de Corinthe » was originally a poem. Once translated from german, nothing rhymes anymore so instead of the form, only remains the story... The one of a young man visiting his future in-law family for his convenient wedding. 30 seconds after seeing the first girl around, they swear each other eternal love and go to bed. Even faster than in a Harlequin romance (especially for the time) ! Not very credible nor interesting, the text's only interest lies in the place it has in the history of vampire stories. (4/10)
Simply titled « The Vampyre », Polidori's text tells the long descent to hell of a naive and idealistic young man travelling aside a companion whose life is fully dedicated to corrupting innocent souls. If the 21th century readers will immediately understand what's going on, Aubrey (the hero), won't... The author's pen easily manages to maintain quite an horrific suspense and we can't help to wonder, with a sort of macabre curiosity, until where the poor Aubrey will fall before realizing he's actually living what he tried to prevent the others from. A somehow dark and pessimistic story, though without any surprise, but pleasant from start to finish. (7/10)
« La morte amoureuse » is one of the best stories of the anthology. First because of its protagonist : admit a priest is an unusual choice. But the real spotlight is the atmosphere, lost in onirism, between dream and reality... unless there are two realities ? Even if the narrative mode, right from the start, doesn't lets any doubt about how things will end, we would love to see things going differently, mostly because this time, there's no clearly defined « good » or « evil ». And if the story isn't long, we still have the time to become attached to the characters. If this wasn't enough, Théophile Gauthier's pen is really beautiful, like when he describes a light ray falling on a palace between the clouds... (8/10)
« For the Blood Is the Life », it's Italy, a ghost story as much as a vampire one, recounted by the fire on a lovely summer night. It's the deep countryside, with its superstitions, a seemingly-perfect crime, a tragic love story and two brave men. The story is mostly based on the narrator's assumptions, then, we do believe it. We let ourselves sink in those tales of outlaws fleeing in the night, surrounded by the distrurbing atmosphere around this strange hillock... and we even shiver ! With almost nothing, Francis Marion Crawford created a delightfully frightening story. A real book-crush, reinforced by this re-reading ! (9/10)
However, we expected better from Mr Bram Stoker and the prequel of his masterpiece... « Dracula's Guest » is a trip in the heartland going bad, a snowstorm, and, for everything else... well, we don't really know as the events there are so confusing. The setting looks great but apart that, there's really nothing worth talking about. (6/10)
« Aylmer Vance And The Vampire » is like an early 20th-century Supernatural. A rich heir comes to a paranormal investigator to talk about his strange illness since he married a beautiful damsel... herself convicted to come from a vampire family. There's not much suspense here as most of the story is a retelling of Jessica 's story by her husband. It's a sort of family saga and an entertaining read... until Vance and Dexter have to figure things out. The story's outcome is messy, the « mental duel » totally impossible to follow... The potential was here but it collapses like an undercooked soufflé.
Difficult to do more classic than « The Cemetery Watchman », where we guess the whole story from the first lines. But being predictable doesn't mean it's not good. The tension gradually grows as the protagonist understands in which trouble he has put himself. A text very simple in its ideas, but very-well written and with a pen that seems so modern it's hard to believe the thing was written more than a century ago. (6/10)
« The Shunned House » was the only story I still remembered quite well... but, unfortunately, not for good reasons. I'd kept a memory of it as « shit*y bad » and it almost disgusted me of Lovecraft before reconciling with his pen through « The Dunwich Horror ». Conclusion: five years later, « The Shunned House » is still as bad as before. An incredibly slow beginning, the whole story of the place with names, dates, neverending descriptions from which we get bored before even their half... The atmosphere is less HORrific than SOPORific ! And the end... after all those unnecessary details, how to not be disappointed to not « see » anything of this vampire so different of the others ? In short, it's long, boring as f*** and finally incredibly frustrating. (3/10)
In « Les cent ans de Dracula », the best stands alongside the worst, though globally, even the « average » is a good read. But there are still two weak elements, the first one luckily very short, the other sadly really very long, which tarnish the glow of the book's three gems... and lower the average note ! Because out of the question to not use the average-rating method as usual. Anyway, 6 fits well a reading blowing heat and cold, sometimes excellent, sometimes frankly bad, but finally letting a somehow good impression... and matching my feeling of « cool, but not extraordinary ».
My previous reading of « Les cent ans de Dracula » (« Dracula's one-hundred years ») happened five years ago. Five years during whom my memories, helped by the short lenght of the stories, slowly erased... allowing a re-reading with an eye almost as fresh as the first time.
Don't let yourself fooled by the thinness of the book, its A5 155 pages are well-filled and it takes several evenings to turn the last one. Except the very short « La fiancée de Corinthe », the stories are more or less long and some of them definitely could have their own pocket book like a « folio 2€ ».
The eight stories featured here belong the the vampire literature's genesis. If the hype calmed down a bit since the enthusiasm brought by Twilight, this wave wasn't the first one : 19th century authors had their period of interest for the subject too, each of them giving their try on the original myth... or creating variations around their buddies' works.
Oldest text of the anthology, « La Fiancée de Corinthe » was originally a poem. Once translated from german, nothing rhymes anymore so instead of the form, only remains the story... The one of a young man visiting his future in-law family for his convenient wedding. 30 seconds after seeing the first girl around, they swear each other eternal love and go to bed. Even faster than in a Harlequin romance (especially for the time) ! Not very credible nor interesting, the text's only interest lies in the place it has in the history of vampire stories. (4/10)
Simply titled « The Vampyre », Polidori's text tells the long descent to hell of a naive and idealistic young man travelling aside a companion whose life is fully dedicated to corrupting innocent souls. If the 21th century readers will immediately understand what's going on, Aubrey (the hero), won't... The author's pen easily manages to maintain quite an horrific suspense and we can't help to wonder, with a sort of macabre curiosity, until where the poor Aubrey will fall before realizing he's actually living what he tried to prevent the others from. A somehow dark and pessimistic story, though without any surprise, but pleasant from start to finish. (7/10)
« La morte amoureuse » is one of the best stories of the anthology. First because of its protagonist : admit a priest is an unusual choice. But the real spotlight is the atmosphere, lost in onirism, between dream and reality... unless there are two realities ? Even if the narrative mode, right from the start, doesn't lets any doubt about how things will end, we would love to see things going differently, mostly because this time, there's no clearly defined « good » or « evil ». And if the story isn't long, we still have the time to become attached to the characters. If this wasn't enough, Théophile Gauthier's pen is really beautiful, like when he describes a light ray falling on a palace between the clouds... (8/10)
« For the Blood Is the Life », it's Italy, a ghost story as much as a vampire one, recounted by the fire on a lovely summer night. It's the deep countryside, with its superstitions, a seemingly-perfect crime, a tragic love story and two brave men. The story is mostly based on the narrator's assumptions, then, we do believe it. We let ourselves sink in those tales of outlaws fleeing in the night, surrounded by the distrurbing atmosphere around this strange hillock... and we even shiver ! With almost nothing, Francis Marion Crawford created a delightfully frightening story. A real book-crush, reinforced by this re-reading ! (9/10)
However, we expected better from Mr Bram Stoker and the prequel of his masterpiece... « Dracula's Guest » is a trip in the heartland going bad, a snowstorm, and, for everything else... well, we don't really know as the events there are so confusing. The setting looks great but apart that, there's really nothing worth talking about. (6/10)
« Aylmer Vance And The Vampire » is like an early 20th-century Supernatural. A rich heir comes to a paranormal investigator to talk about his strange illness since he married a beautiful damsel... herself convicted to come from a vampire family. There's not much suspense here as most of the story is a retelling of Jessica 's story by her husband. It's a sort of family saga and an entertaining read... until Vance and Dexter have to figure things out. The story's outcome is messy, the « mental duel » totally impossible to follow... The potential was here but it collapses like an undercooked soufflé.
Difficult to do more classic than « The Cemetery Watchman », where we guess the whole story from the first lines. But being predictable doesn't mean it's not good. The tension gradually grows as the protagonist understands in which trouble he has put himself. A text very simple in its ideas, but very-well written and with a pen that seems so modern it's hard to believe the thing was written more than a century ago. (6/10)
« The Shunned House » was the only story I still remembered quite well... but, unfortunately, not for good reasons. I'd kept a memory of it as « shit*y bad » and it almost disgusted me of Lovecraft before reconciling with his pen through « The Dunwich Horror ». Conclusion: five years later, « The Shunned House » is still as bad as before. An incredibly slow beginning, the whole story of the place with names, dates, neverending descriptions from which we get bored before even their half... The atmosphere is less HORrific than SOPORific ! And the end... after all those unnecessary details, how to not be disappointed to not « see » anything of this vampire so different of the others ? In short, it's long, boring as f*** and finally incredibly frustrating. (3/10)
In « Les cent ans de Dracula », the best stands alongside the worst, though globally, even the « average » is a good read. But there are still two weak elements, the first one luckily very short, the other sadly really very long, which tarnish the glow of the book's three gems... and lower the average note ! Because out of the question to not use the average-rating method as usual. Anyway, 6 fits well a reading blowing heat and cold, sometimes excellent, sometimes frankly bad, but finally letting a somehow good impression... and matching my feeling of « cool, but not extraordinary ».
August 25, 2025
Recueil de 8 nouvelles écrites entre 1797 (Goethe) et 1928 (Lovecraft).
Des hauts et des bas... certaines font bien sentir qu'elles ont ete écrites au 19e siècle.
Mention spéciale pour Théophile Gauthier, Bram Stoker et Jean Ray qui ont su réveiller mon intérêt après d'autres textes plus... soporifiques... (ceux Polidori et Crawford).
Et un avis un peu en demie teinte pour Vance et Lovecraft qui ont une bonne ambiance mais des longueurs et des descriptions qui tuent le rythme....
la nouvelle de Jean Ray sera ma préférée car courte et efficace avec une bonne tension de A à Z.
Des hauts et des bas... certaines font bien sentir qu'elles ont ete écrites au 19e siècle.
Mention spéciale pour Théophile Gauthier, Bram Stoker et Jean Ray qui ont su réveiller mon intérêt après d'autres textes plus... soporifiques... (ceux Polidori et Crawford).
Et un avis un peu en demie teinte pour Vance et Lovecraft qui ont une bonne ambiance mais des longueurs et des descriptions qui tuent le rythme....
la nouvelle de Jean Ray sera ma préférée car courte et efficace avec une bonne tension de A à Z.
January 25, 2015
Excellent recueil de nouvelles sur les thèmes des vampires. Les histoires traversent le temps sur plus de 150 années et présentent l'évolution du mythe à travers les âges. Des très bonnes histoires pour la majorité. Un incontournable pour les fans de vampires.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews