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A Vampire
Short story by Luigi Capuana. Written 1906. Translated from the Italian by Erin O'Rourke.
15 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 21, 2014
4 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Luigi Capuana
321 books10 followersLuigi Capuana was an Italian author and journalist and one of the most important members of the Verist movement. He was a contemporary of Giovanni Verga, both having been born in the province of Catania within a year of each other. He was also one of the first authors influenced by the works of Émile Zola, French author and creator of Naturalism.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 30, 2017
Known to me as "A Case of Alleged Vampirism", this tale features some interesting circumstances but not a whole lot else. A married couple are haunted by the wife's dead former husband who visits in the night, sometimes visible only to the widow, sometimes as a hazy apparition. This "vampire" shakes the bed, argues with his widow, and perhaps most disturbing he locks lips with the couple's newborn child and drinks his blood. The story is told from the husband's distraught point of view to a scientist friend who at first is very sceptical and presents numerous logical, psychological explanations for what the pair are experiencing, recommending various activities which the protagonist claims the couple have already tried, but gradually this friend comes to accept that this phenomenon cannot be dismissed. Recognising the usefulness of what he deems "popular belief" (more correctly, superstition) he recommends cremating the body of the dead husband, however not before spending the night himself and seeing the effects of the vampire play out before his eyes, even exchanging words with this supernatural force as it "possesses" the widow. All in all there are some interesting themes here and I don't dislike the story but there's just not much substance and very little to get excited about. The final lines are quite cool though, because they indicate that the scientist was in fact the author of this very story, injecting some meta "reality" to the tale. So I would say it's worth a read and it's quite brief but not one of the better vampire stories I've read.
February 7, 2025
Es un cuento que no ha envejecido demasiado bien, pretende narrar terror pero el tono ha quedado desfasado. Sin embargo tiene algunas ideas interesantes y se lee muy rápido, a mi me ha venido muy bien como inspiración.
En algún momento publicaré un cuento de vampiros aquí: https://www.wattpad.com/user/Paganes
Por si os interesa.
En algún momento publicaré un cuento de vampiros aquí: https://www.wattpad.com/user/Paganes
Por si os interesa.
October 20, 2020
Also known as A Case of Alleged Vampirism. First published in 1907 in Rome, this story involves science versus superstition. There are incidents possibly involving a dead husband, but there is not much payoff to this story.
August 14, 2013
the story was ok. my notes for this story are:
stop talking scientist and get to the story
too much scientific talk, not enough story
spiritualism has not changed!
a couple are haunted by something that seems to be draining the life from their baby & what do they do? call the priest to bless the house! lol, 100 years later and we are still doing the same thing!
stop talking scientist and get to the story
too much scientific talk, not enough story
spiritualism has not changed!
a couple are haunted by something that seems to be draining the life from their baby & what do they do? call the priest to bless the house! lol, 100 years later and we are still doing the same thing!
July 16, 2018
solo per la prefazione con un sacco di titoli buoni per degli spunti nel tema vampiresco
per il resto
noioso e senz'anima , non mi ha trasmesso nulla
per il resto
noioso e senz'anima , non mi ha trasmesso nulla
June 14, 2021
[I think I've got the right work, but this one is pages longer ??]
This is another title that has less vampire in it than I expected in a vampire boxed set. It seems more like a ghost story.
A man is refused permission to marry his love, as he is poor. Several years later, his uncle dies and leaves him money, so he rushes back only to find that his love has married. He writes her an abusive letter, that her new husband intercepts and returns to him; they agree to be gentlemen over this, shake hands and part.
Six months later, she contacts him to say her husband is dead.
They marry, have a child, and are haunted by a spectre of the dead man; it shakes the child's cradle and evidently argues with the wife that she poisoned him. [STOP putting the poor child in the cradle so he can be thrown around the room - what is the matter with you people?]
It just doesn't seem to work to me. The scientist, the husband brings in to help, tells him he is a fool for marrying a widow - but he's supposed to be a sceptic - but then agrees to help. His advice is to burn the husband's body.
But thinking about it, if you follow the theory that ghosts have unfinished business, what if he's right? What if she DID poison him? And now they have destroyed the corpse, it can never be proven and she has got away with it.
Now THAT'S a stroy.
2 stars
This is another title that has less vampire in it than I expected in a vampire boxed set. It seems more like a ghost story.
A man is refused permission to marry his love, as he is poor. Several years later, his uncle dies and leaves him money, so he rushes back only to find that his love has married. He writes her an abusive letter, that her new husband intercepts and returns to him; they agree to be gentlemen over this, shake hands and part.
Six months later, she contacts him to say her husband is dead.
They marry, have a child, and are haunted by a spectre of the dead man; it shakes the child's cradle and evidently argues with the wife that she poisoned him. [STOP putting the poor child in the cradle so he can be thrown around the room - what is the matter with you people?]
It just doesn't seem to work to me. The scientist, the husband brings in to help, tells him he is a fool for marrying a widow - but he's supposed to be a sceptic - but then agrees to help. His advice is to burn the husband's body.
But thinking about it, if you follow the theory that ghosts have unfinished business, what if he's right? What if she DID poison him? And now they have destroyed the corpse, it can never be proven and she has got away with it.
Now THAT'S a stroy.
2 stars
June 15, 2020
When I discovered that one of the most famous Verismo authors wrote two short stories about supernatural creatures I was quite perplexed, and now that I have read them I can definitely say they left me still more perplexed.
In the first story, A Vampire, you can definitely say the clash of scientific investigation vs superstitious beliefs, and I was very very surprised to actually see how close this story was to typical Gothic stories written in the same period by foreign authors and I never imagined that Italian authors could do that.
The second one, "Un Influsso Fatale" (I can't find the English traslation), was more confusing than the first, and I still have no idea of what and why exactly happened.
Overall this wasn't the greatest "gothic" read ever, but it was really nice to discover that some Italian authors actually knew and created something in that genre.
In the first story, A Vampire, you can definitely say the clash of scientific investigation vs superstitious beliefs, and I was very very surprised to actually see how close this story was to typical Gothic stories written in the same period by foreign authors and I never imagined that Italian authors could do that.
The second one, "Un Influsso Fatale" (I can't find the English traslation), was more confusing than the first, and I still have no idea of what and why exactly happened.
Overall this wasn't the greatest "gothic" read ever, but it was really nice to discover that some Italian authors actually knew and created something in that genre.
June 10, 2021
No sé si el autor quería parodiar el racionalismo con este cuento corto, pero en ese caso dicha idea se impone a la historia en cuestión. El lenguaje es innecesariamente tedioso y la supuesta historia de vampirismo llega a importar muy poco y casi no se le presta atención, siendo lo importante los enormes y ridículos monólogos del científico; dado que parece que lo que quiere el cuento es demostrar lo pomposo que es y la poca razón que tiene, el resto da igual al ser excusa para lo anterior. El resultado es que la historia es aburrida pese a tener tan pocas páginas, porque al final el supuesto vampirismo no se trata y la parodia del método científico no es divertida sino un rollo.
March 21, 2022
Deux petites nouvelles du tout début du 20e, la première avec une histoire de mari revenant hanter son épouse après sa mort pour lui ravir leur enfant…
La seconde avec une histoire de meurtres et de somnambulisme…
Et comment l’esprit scientifique explique-t-il cela ?
Bof, bof
https://www.noid.ch/un-vampire/
La seconde avec une histoire de meurtres et de somnambulisme…
Et comment l’esprit scientifique explique-t-il cela ?
Bof, bof
https://www.noid.ch/un-vampire/
February 2, 2021
un vampiro e influsso fatale, due brevi storie dalle atmosfere gotiche, un vampiro più simile ad un fantasma e una donna che viene ipnotizzata dal marito troppo geloso per fidarsi di lei. Il primo racconto finisce in maniera divertente, il secondo un pò meno
October 17, 2021
Il vampiro secondo Capuana, Salgari, Morando: testi poco noti ma pregevoli e testimonianza di una tradizione precedente a quella poi codificata da Polidori e Stoker.
July 13, 2023
(Audiolibro) Racconto di un caso misterioso di morto che perseguita da fantasma la vedova e del rimedio popolare utilizzato ma con poca coerenza da parte dello scienziato amico. Godibile.
April 1, 2025
Libro ancora troppo difficile per me, ma ho piacuto quello che ho capito
November 5, 2025
me dejo con la boca abierta tal cual, que genio este tano
January 31, 2016
Non sapevo che Capuana avesse scritto questi due racconti "Un vampiro" e "Un fatale influsso". In entrambi trovo i dialoghi incalzanti e a volte ironici che questo autore sa snocciolare con magistrale facilità e il cui ritmo fa sembrare viva la scena con gli attori che si fronteggiano. Una felice scoperta, un libro piccino ma molto divertente.
November 17, 2011
Like a cross-breed between H.P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker but with far less to the story.
It's typical and nothing highly worth reading.
Would probably be very good if rewritten in more depth and dimension to the story.
It's typical and nothing highly worth reading.
Would probably be very good if rewritten in more depth and dimension to the story.
July 1, 2021
Raccontino condensato ma che trasmette poco, ritmo pesante e con davvero poco coinvolgimento.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews