خانواده وور دالاک: ناگفته‌هایی از خاطرات یک ناشناس و ملاقات در سیصد سال بعد

by Aleksey Tolstoy, محمدعلی رفیعی (Translator)

آلکسی تالستوی داستان خانوادهٔ ووردالاک را در سنین جوانی و هم‌زمان با داستان ملاقات در سیصد سال بعد، به زبان فرانسه نوشت. تالستوی این اثر کوچک را چندان جدی نمی‌گرفت؛ حتی به فکرش هم نرسید آن را به روسی ترجمه کند. در سال ۱۸۸۴، بولسلاو مارکویچ، ترجمهٔ روسی این داستان را در نشریهٔ قاصد روس منتشر ساخت. ۲۲ سال بعد، در نوامبر ۱۹۰۶، نشریهٔ قاصد اروپا که ادامه‌دهندهٔ فعالیت قاصد روس بود، خلاصه‌ای از این داستان خارق‌العاده را به انتشار درآورد. ویژگی خانوادهٔ ووردالاک این است که منحصرا به سلیقهٔ ادبی یک دورهٔ زمانی خاص تعلق دارد و اثرگذاری پروسپر مریمه نویسندهٔ فرانسوی و به‌ویژه یکی از آثار او به نام گوزلای خون آشام در آن به خوبی احساس می‌شود.
خانوادهٔ ووردالاک نوشتهٔ آلکسی کنستانتینوویچ تالستوی یکی دیگر از نخستین داستان‌های خون‌آشامی و یکی از اولین نمونه‌های آن در ادبیات روسی/فرانسوی است. خانوادهٔ ووردالاک که ریشه در داستان‌های فولکلور اسلاوی دارد به سبب جایگاه کلاسیک و محبوبیتش بارها در روسیه و جاهای دیگر به فیلم درآمده است. داستان دربارهٔ پدر پیر خانواده‌ای است که با چند نفر دیگر به دستگیری یک یاغی می‌رود. پدر به دو پسرش می‌گوید اگر پس از ده روز بازگشت بدانند که او به ووردالاک تبدیل شده و باید بی‌درنگ کشته شود

Genres: Horror, Vampires, Gothic, Classics, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction

91 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1839

Reviews

[♥Milica♥]

As a Serb, I found this delightful. I could even believe it actually happened back in the 1700s, the mentality was captured perfectly. Also, for anyone who doesn't already know, the word vampire (vampir) came from Serbian, so y'all are welcome.

[Iloveplacebo]

Un relato con una ambientación muy buena, con una trama ya bastante vista, pero que en este caso no importa tanto, ya que lo importante es cómo el protagonista de esta historia nos narra su aventura más terrorífica.
Y es que el amor familiar, a veces, puede ser peligroso.

[Jonathan Dunne]

This is a good one to read by candlelight in front of the open fire. There's something creepy about Easter European and Russian supernatural horror I can't put my finger on, except to say it's raw and highly tenebrous...

[Orçun Güzer]

As I continue to read classic vampire strories, this one seemed to me the most accomplished story so far, in the sense of creating an eerie atmosphere and well-developed narration. Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875) was little-known writer cousine of well-known writer Leo Tolstoy ( - not to be confused with Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, another writer from the family, who was born on 1882.) There is nothing new in this story but the gloomy experience is almost cinematic and maybe that’s why it took attention of Italian horror movie directors in 1960s-1970s. The emphasis on contagious nature of vampirism and emotional conflicts of protagonists are very-well captured. Here we face the pure romance & pure terror in the village life.

[Benjamin Uke]

*bedraggled head pops head out of nearby snack-cubbard*
TOLSTOY WROTE HORROR?!
*frantic scrambling*
Written in 1839 in French and originally entitled "La Famille du Vourdalak. Fragment inedit des Memoires d'un inconnu". Tolstoy wrote it on a trip to France from Frankfurt, wherein attached to the Russian Embassy. Tolstoy was more famous for historical fiction, but he wrote this ripping vampire tale when he was 20 or 21. It's mostly lucid and straightforward.
Despite its age, the moves along briskly with very modern scenes and tempo. It has a frame; the teller is an old marquis. The wry and charming old man remembering his womanizing youth, flirting with court ladies who listen to his story of nearly being seduced and eaten by vampire family in rural serbia because he flirted too much promising his love. On its own, its rather pulpy.

Ultimately, I'd only recommend it to those interested in old-fashioned spiritual vampires and/or Tolstoy.

[Shannon]

I've been meaning to read this for a long time, and I'm glad I did, but I didn't fall absolutely in love with it or anything. It's a super short read, and I liked reading about a different kind of vampire. So, worth reading, but not crazy super awesome.

Another Horror Aficionado Halloween read! :)

[Alwynne]

A supernatural novella published in the 1800s and set in Austria in 1815. A group gather by a fireside swopping tales drawn from legend and superstition. One of them offers instead a true account of his terrifying experiences while visiting a remote, Eastern European village. He arrived to find his intended hosts anxious and strangely restless, awaiting the return of Gorcha, the head of the house, who’s left to track down a criminal. But Gorcha’s possible fate may be a more sinister one than the visitor imagines, the family fear he may come back as a Vurdulak: a hideous vampire who feeds on the blood of its nearest and dearest. But when Gorcha finally appears it’s not clear what he is or what he may become, and as the snow starts to fall, the village is cut off from the outside world.

Alexei Tolstoy apparently based this around a variation on a Serbian myth of the vlkoslak, which seems to be a curious blend of werewolf and vampire. His story has some wonderful gothic elements, monstrous figures lurking in the shadows, a seductive, undead woman and a frankly bizarre finale. Slight but well-crafted and eerie enough to be entertaining seasonal reading.

[Sarthak Bhatt]

I don't know why many people don't like it. It was an awesome vampire story!

[Nilo0]

آلکسی تولستوی پسرعموی دور لئو تولستوی که خیلی‌ها از نویسنده بودنش بی‌خبرن. او در کودکی هم‌بازی الکساندر دوم، تزار روسیه، بود و با پوشکین و گوگول هم دیدار داشت
این کتاب شامل داستان خانواده ووردالاک و ملاقات در سیصد سال بعده
دو داستان با شخصیت‌های مشترک و تم ترسناک با محوریت ووردالاک که به معنای خون‌آشام‌هاییه که دوست دارن خون خویشاوندان و دوستان صمیمی‌شون رو بمکن و از اولین کتاب‌ها با مفهوم خون‌آشام بوده.

مارکی دورفه در جشنی برای عده‌ای خاطره‌ای از دوران جوانی‌اش را تعریف می‌کند.
او دلباخته دوشس گرامون شده و چون امیدی به وصال نداشته، تصمیم می‌گیرد برای ماموریتی از فرانسه برود. در راه سفر به مقصد، چند روزی در خانه‌ای می‌ماند که پدر پیر خانواده برای جنگ با یاغی ترکی می‌رود و بعد از ده روز که برگشته گمان می‌رود که یک خون‌آشام شده. اتفاقات هولناکی که پس از برگشت پیرمرد رخ می‌دهد، داستان این کتابه.

در داستان ملاقات در سیصد سال بعد، دوشس گرامون به دستور پدرش به خانه پدری می‌رود، در راه بر اثر طوفان از کالسکه‌اش به بیرون پرتاب می‌شود. به عمارتی مرموز می‌رود که ساکنان قدیمی در آن هستند که گویا از دوران گذشته دور هستند که بعد متوجه می‌شود سیصد سال قبل ماجرایی رخ داده که در همان تاریخ سیصد سال بعد جلوی چشم دوشس رخ می‌دهد.

داستان‌ها در عین کوتاه بودن جالب بودن. سخت و سنگین بودن ادبیات روسیه و اسم‌های سختشون رو نداشت و برعکس، خیلی روون و سریع پیش می‌ره و سبک و تجربه تازه‌ای از ادبیات روسیه‌س.
حتی اگه به ادبیات روسیه علاقه ندارید، می‌تونه تجربه جدیدی باشه.

[Kathi]

2016 habe ich das Buch schon einmal in zweisprachiger Ausgabe (Französisch/Deutsch) gelesen und mir die CD dazu angehört. Hier findet ihr meine alte Rezension: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

An meiner Meinung hat sich wenig geändert. Ein 3. Mal würde ich die Geschichte allerdings vermutlich nicht mehr lesen. Eventuell als Hörspiel, falls es da ein gutes dazu gibt. Dem Hörbuch alleine kann ich leider auch nur 4 Sterne geben. Meiner Ansicht nach wird das Buch erst durch die Erläuterungen der Übersetzerin zu einem richtig tollen Leseerlebnis.

Hier folgen noch ein paar Infos zum Hörbuch:
1 Stunde und 8 Minuten / Ungekürzte Ausgabe
Sprecher: Rainer-Maria Ehrhardt
Ich würde dem Sprecher 4 Sterne geben.
Verlag: Theodor Boder

[Emi.acg]

En un cuento corto narrado por su protagonista en una velada con unas cuantas personas más. Trata obviamente de vampiros y de como logro escapar de la situación que vivió. Tiene un muy buen ritmo y está bien escrito. Me gustó.

[Paloma orejuda (Pevima)]

Pues... Relatito corto que se lee en un bocado.
Me ha gustado, aunque el final me ha sabido a poco y no me ha dado lo que me dan los relatos. Giros y sorpresas XD

Se puede sacar una moraleja de la historia? El amor por encima de la sensatez se convierte en estupidez.

**Popsugar 2022 categoría 12. Un libro sobre la vida después de la muerte.

[Tim Pendry]

Originally written in French in 1839, only four years after Gautier's 'Clarimonde', what is interesting about Alexei Tolstoy's story (Alexei was brother to the more famous Leo) is that it returns to the East European origins of the vampire legend and presents us with real horror.

It was not actually published until 1884 (in Russian) but preceded a rather poorly received novella ['The Vampire'] that was published in 1841. This poor reception resulted in three other vampire works (including this one) not being brought forward for publication.

The vampire fascinated the romantics and the Russians had received a translation of Polidori's work in 1828 so the initial interest is unsurprising.

In fact, 'The Family of the Vourdalak' still stands up as an essay not only in horror - creating the image of vampirism as a sort of plague - but in recreating the callous emotional world of the young Russian aristocrat in the face of peasant beauty and in the use of folkloric atmosphere.

[poetavates]

güzeldi, bir çırpıda bitti

[robs]

3.5 musste das für ein seminar über suizide russischer autorinnen lesen; typische schauergeschichte aber mag das eigentlich !!

[klay]

Un récit fantastique exécuté à la perfection !

[Lee Foust]

A masterful tale of the Balkan folk vampire written a century after the era of the greater, cosmopolitan European discovery and fascination with that folk figure, given a wonderful counterpoint by Tolstoy (no, not that Tolstoy) with a frame narrative of a cultured French roue diplomat/soldier who tells the tale at an Austrian dinner party as part of an old man's extended flirtation with group of very young ladies. So many great elements at work here. First of all, the family dynamic of the peasants and the building horror of uncertainty and their seduction, if you will, by their perhaps infected patriarch would have been a great tale on its own. The frame, in its beginning, makes a first-person eyewitness truth claim which functions, in light of an old man's tale out of his distant past, to both estrange and make the tale feel more real. Then, as the first part of the tale leads into a kind of pause and a more pointed final conflation of the vampiric infection with the seducer's art, the fantastic and absurd (and the horrific!) merge in the denouement, which the narrator finally undercuts with a nod to his own false, self-serving chivalry at the end. So much more subtle than Dracula, I think this is perhaps the folk figure of the vampire's greatest literary appearance.

[ناني ماكفي لا أملك حساب ثاني]

استمعت لها بصوت توني والكر tony walker
An excellent adaptation
صارت قصص الفانباير كليشي الصراحة
لكن ما يجعلها قصة تستحق القراءة هو التفاصيل
اليوم اتعرف على تولستوي
ولا ليس من كتب الحرب والسلام بل تولستوي اخر. أليكسي كونستانتينوف تولستوي
حتى الإسم شاعري أما قلمه فخفيف وخيالي وجميل
ونجح في أخذ القصة من كليشي لشيء جيد
طبعا القصة من الكلاسيكيات وربما وقتها ماكانت كليشي كاليوم
لكن دائما نجد تكرر الثيمة مجموعة تروي مغامراتها ونجد فيها شخصا وقع له شيء خيالي وعاشه ثم يحكي عنه

[Carter]

A chilling tale!

[Mueed Mahtab]

I recently found out that Aleksey Tolstoy’s The Family of the Vourdalak is quite rare. it’s not easily available in local bookshops. Even on Goodreads, it shows that only around 600 readers have read it. And now, I’m one of them! Honestly, this is one of the most underrated gems in this genre, truly a goated book. It’s not much talked about worldwide, but the story is absolutely wonderful in every detail. The storytelling was amazing from start to finish.



Summary:
A French traveler visits a Serbian family whose father warns he’ll return as a vampire if he’s late from his journey. When he does come back at midnight on the tenth day, horror slowly unfolds, and the family falls victim to the curse of the vourdalak.

[Kissa]

Listened to David Tennant's reading of this tale. The story is quite compelling, sitting on the fence between gothic horror and thriller. Everything flows nicely and keeps you interested as each new development is revealed. I would suggest this story to anyone looking for a short piece to read to satisfy their horror/thriller needs.

[Roberta]

I vampiri sono un classico e come tale andrebbero tutelati. Quelli di Tolstoj appartengono alla tradizione contadina slava e sono stati un piacevole intermezzo.

[Ecem]

Kitabı çevirmen dışında kimse okumamış, çevirmen de nasıl cümle kuracağını bilmiyor, hikayeyi hiç etmişler.

[Beril]

Çok tatlı bir gerilim sunan tadımlık bir kısa öykü.

[jimmy rostova]

i read like a year or so ago and didn’t log it for some reason anyway Awesome vampire tale oh hell yes

[Cevizin_kitaplari]

Merhabalar Edgar'ın vampirsever müritleri. @ithakiyayinlari bu vampir serisini arada bir okumak için hızlı tüketmemiştim. #alekseyktolstoy dan #vourdalakailesi ni yeni okudum. 1815 yılındayız Soylu ve seçkin insanlar Haftada iki defa Hitzing kasabasının civarında bir şatoda toplanıyorlar. Bu toplantılarda politika konuşmak yasak herkes akşam şömine başında bir hikaye anlatıyor biliyorsunuz Bu tarz eski korku kitaplarında bu durum çok olağandır. Hatta Victoria döneminde özellikle hayalet hikayeleri şömine başında anlatılırdı. Kitap da aynı bu şekilde başlıyor. Urfe markisinin hikayesini dinliyoruz. 1759 yılında Sırbistan'a gitmek zorunda kalmış ve o esnalarda aşık olduğu bir kadın ona bir haç vermiş. Sırbistan'da bir ailenin yanına konuk oluyor Dede Gorcha ve ailesi. Gorcha, bir Türk eşkıyasını yakalamak için gitmiş ve oğullarına sıkı sıkı tembih etmiştir 10 gün geçip dönmezse adına cenaze töreni düzenlenmeli 10 günden sonra dönerse de kalbine kazık saplanmalı Çünkü o zamanlar vourdalak diye anılan vampirler meşhur. Adam tam 10. günün saatinde dönünce aile ne yapacağını bilemiyor. Adam vampir oldu mu yoksa olmadı mı? Bunun ertesinde olan olayları okuyoruz. Urfe aynı zamanda ailenin küçük kızına nasıl aşık olduğunu da bu hikayeye sıkıştırmış.
Kolay okunan, bir oturuşta bitebileceğiniz kitaplardan biri olmakla birlikte Türklerin Macar ve Sırpları köleleştirmesi gibi saçma bir şeyden de bahsediyor ama Osmanlı fethettikten sonra halkın kendi hâlinde yaşamasına izin veriyordu biliyorsunuz. Çok fazla Türklerle olan savaşa, sürtüşmelere yer verilmiş ve ciddi bir Türk düşmanlığı hissediyorsunuz okurken. Çocukların oyunu bile Türkleri savaşta öldürmek üzerine. Dönemseldir deyip tamamen edebî bir anlamda kitabı ele alırsam gayet güzel bir vampir kitabı.

[T.A. Keenan]

Leo Tolstoy's second cousin, Aleksey K. Tolstoy, wrote this fine short story in French in 1839. I read an online English translation by Nina Zumel. In the story, an aging French diplomat, returning from the Congress of Vienna in 1815, relates his frightening encounter with a family that had hosted him decades earlier during his travels through Serbia. The vourdalak of the title is a variety of vampire with a peculiar taste in victims, which I won't spoil for you here. The tale is a quick read. A low-budget (but IMO excellent) French film version of the story, released in 2023, features a large, creepy puppet in the title role. It is available for free as "The Vourdalak," with English subtitles, on Tubi.

[Paola Salas]

European horror… amazing as always! A true classic.

This book is short and direct. The story flows really nicely and keeps you interested in every page, definitely recommended. It’s a great story to get in the Halloween mood!

[Laura]

Pas mal, très classique dans le développement, mais c'est surtout pour l'ambiance mystérieuse et surannée que l'on lit ce genre de roman... Parfait donc pour se mettre dans l'époque.

[Luna]

It’s a sweet, short story about vampires, written in 1839 and set in 1815, when such things would be terrifying.