The Virgin Vampire

by Étienne-Léon de Lamothe-Langon

During one of Napoleon's military campaigns, Edouard Delmont, a young officer, promised to marry Alinska, a Hungarian girl. Back in France, he goes back on his vows and marries someone else. Several years later, Alinska suddenly reappears in his life, transformed into an avenging vampire. She threatens to kill his wife and children unless he honors the vows he made to her... In La Vampire (1825), Étienne-Léon de Lamothe-Langon tells the story of the first, implacable, female vampire. What makes Alinska stand out in the ranks of female vampires is that she is not a predator, but the instrument of a higher power, working for God as the tool of Divine Wrath.

Genres: Vampires, Horror

268 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1825

About the author

Étienne-Léon, baron de Lamothe-Langon était un romancier français.

Étienne-Léon, baron de Lamothe-Langon was a French novelist.

Reviews

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyment factor - 4
writing - 3


Let's call it a 3.5 and pop it up to a 4, because while it's certainly not the best writing ever, this book was a lot of fun. It is also a worthy read to be sure, especially for people who are interested in the evolution/history of vampires in literature. This book is well off the beaten path, and I can tell you as someone who is not a huge fan of vampire novels, it made for a rollicking good read. On the serious side, this book, published in 1825 (or quite possibly 1824), offers readers a look at an entirely different sort of vampire than modern readers are used to. As translator Brian Stableford says in his afterword, Lamothe-Langon's vampire is "not a predator in her own right," but more a "mere instrument of a higher power, more puppet than actor," caught up in a "plan for vampiric vengeance." This facet of the story is only one way in which The Virgin Vampire differs from the more familiar plots of vampire lore; another difference is found in the very nature of this "higher power." Reading carefully will yield other differences as well.

While I wouldn't say that Lamonthe-Lagon's writing is destined to make this book a classic, Stableford believes that this book is "not without literary merit as an item of dark Romantic fiction." I completely agree, and I also think that the story reveals much about the nature of Enlightenment thinking in terms of rational thought vs superstition. While it will likely be dull for many modern readers of vampire fiction, for me it was fine bit of dark, supernatural, and gothic fun which can be chilling at times, and really, once I started it, I didn't want to put it down.

more here:

https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/201...

[Tahina Ray]

48:27 Do not fear: he knows of what you do not know and grants besides that, a victory nearby.

[John Peel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, written long before the more popular "Dracula", "The Virgin Vampire" tells a relentless story of the destruction of a family by a woman thwarted by a fickle lover. It's one of the earliest of horror stories, and well written. If the ending is a trifle obvious to us these days, it's because of the mass of vampire tales that have followed it. And they followed it, at least in part, because of the success of this story.