Il vampiro

by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Алексей Константинович Толстой, Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (Contributor)

A un ballo dell’alta società moscovita, il giovane Runevskij nota uno strano uomo, il quale, con grande serietà, lamenta di essersi imbattuto in alcuni ospiti alle cui esequie funebri gli era capitato di partecipare. Costoro, sfacciati, fingerebbero di essere vivi per proseguire nella loro occupazione preferita: succhiare il sangue alle giovani fanciulle. Sin dalle prime righe de Il vampiro, racconto lungo di A.K. Tolstoj, preceduto da uno scritto di Vladimir Sergeevic Solov’ëv e seguito da un inedito dell’autore, Appuntamento tra trecento anni, il lettore si trova immerso nell’atmosfera tipica del fantastico russo, complesso immaginario tra il realistico e il mistico, in cui si incontrano bizzarri vampiri di provincia che amano stare seduti a parlare dei tempi andati davanti a samovar fumanti, e in cui tutti gli elementi sono parte di un disegno mitico più ampio dall’ordito raffinatissimo.

Genres: Horror, Russia, Vampires, Fiction, Classics

117 pages, Paperback

Published October 25, 2018

About the author

Count Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, often referred to as A.K. Tolstoy (Russian: Алексей Константинович Толстой), was a Russian poet, novelist and playwright, considered to be the most important nineteenth-century Russian historical dramatist. He also gained fame for his satirical works, published under his own name (History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev, The Dream of Councillor Popov) and under the collaborational pen name of Kozma Prutkov.

A.K. Tolstoy was born in Saint Petersburg to the famed family of Tolstoy. His father, Count Konstantin Petrovich Tolstoy (1780–1870), a son of the army general, was a Russian state assignation bank councilor. His mother, Anna Alekseyevna Perovskaya (1796–1857), was an illegitimate daughter of Count Aleksey Kirillovich Razumovsky (1784–1822), an heir of the legendary Ukrainian hetman Aleksey Razumovsky. A. K. Tolstoy's uncle (on his father's side) was Fyodor Tolstoy (1783–1873). His uncle on his mother's side was Aleksey Perovsky (1787–1836), an author known under the pen name of Antony Pogorelsky. Aleksey Konstantinovich was a second cousin of Leo Tolstoy; Count Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy was their common great-grandfather.

Tolstoy represented the later period of Romanticism in Russian literature; art for him was a mystic link between the human world and the higher spheres where "eternal ideas dwell." Along with Fet, his artistic and spiritual ally, he saw Art as a kind of higher science, man's only instrument for a true and comprehensive understanding of the world. Romantic tendencies were best realised in Tolstoy's poetry and in some of his dramas, notably Don Juan where the hero is on a quest for a romantic ideal, looking everywhere for love "that helps one penetrate into the wonderful universal laws, our world's hidden beginnings," as he put it."Art can only be a 'means' - all of the 'ends'... it contains in itself," Tolstoy wrote in 1870, in the course of long dispute with those whom he labeled "utilitarianists in literature". Such views automatically made him a "conservative" in the eyes of the revolutionary democrats who formed a large majority in the Russian literary circles of the 1850s and 1860s. Unlike Fet, though, Tolstoy insisted on the artist's total independence from ideology and politics, and felt himself totally free to criticize and mock authorities, a trait that snubbed many people in high places.

Works

Drama

Don Juan (Дон Жуан, 1862)
The Death of Ivan the Terrible (Смерть Иоанна Грозного, 1866)
Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (Царь Фёдор Иоаннович, 1868)
Tsar Boris (Царь Борис, 1870)[42]
Posadnik (Посадник, 1871, published in 1874-1976)

Prose

Prince Serebrenni (known also as The Silver Knight, Князь Серебряный, 1862
The Family of the Vourdalak (Семья вурдалака, 1839)
The Vampire (Упырь, 1841)

Poetry

The Sinner (Грешница, 1857)
Ioann Damaskin (Иоанн Дамаскин, 1858)
Vasily Shibanov (Василий Шибанов, 1858)
The Alchemist (unfinished, 1867)
History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev (1868)
Portrait (Портрет, 1872)
Dragon (1875)
The Dream of Councillor Popov (written 1873, first published in 1978, Berlin)

Reviews

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 4 out of 5]

In questo libro vi sono due racconti: il primo e che dà il titolo all'opera, lungo ed un secondo breve. Tutti e due sono racconti dalla forte connotazione gotica e dove il mistero si miscela col folklore e la storia antica, di luoghi sperduti e dimenticati. Le due storie levitano tra realtà e soprannaturale, tra sogno e veglia, tra leggende antiche e storia di secoli passati. Il tutto narrato con piglio poetico e crepuscolare, il lettore rimane incatenato negli avvenimenti e soprattutto nella caratterizzazione dei personaggi, che si sviluppano sempre più che le pagine scorrono e che l'accompagnano a finali dove il mistero s'infittisce come la nebbia d'autunno.

Il vampiro - ****1/2
Appuntamento tra trecento anni - ****

[Daniel Maestro Sorin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction is incredibly intense. You have to get to the rules of the game quickly. After that, the whole story is essentially a collection of the characters’ retellings of events. As a result, the story loses a lot of its intrigue as you read on.

[Gabi Malix · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a vibrant ballroom, crowded with dancing people, there is one men standing and looking at ghosts. Ghosts of his own past, which turns out to be creepier and darker than you initially think.

[Radonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fenomenalna knjiga, Vampir koji je nastao nekih 50ak godina pre Drakule.. Inače je deo trilogije o Vampirima, Alekseja Konstantinoviča Tolstoja, rođaka Lava Tolstoja. Takođe je i po knjizi, tj triloziji, snimljen francuski film Vourdalak koji kida, tako da, sve preporuke.

[Anastasia Nagornova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Семья вурдалака мне, конечно, понравилась больше...

[Milica Matić · Rating 5 out of 5]

» des filles prédisant le sort de Dasha à la table du thé dans le manoir d'une comtesse russe «

[Yuliia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Дело ясное что дело темное….

[Sasha Ustyuzhanina]

#русскоестрашное
Молодой человек отправляется в Италию "лечиться виноградным соком", после такового лечения светские беседы он начинает разбавлять фразами вроде "а вы же знаете, что графиня упырь и на днях слопает внучку"?
Наши тоже могут в "ваши зубы на моей шее" - хотя тут именно "бабушка, почему у тебя такие большие зубки".

"Нет, я никого не ищу; мне только странно, что на сегодняшнем бале я вижу упырей!
– Упырей? – повторил Руневский, – как упырей?
– Упырей, – отвечал очень хладнокровно незнакомец. – Вы их, Бог знает почему, называете вампирами, но я могу вас уверить, что им настоящее русское название: упырь а так как они происхождения чисто славянского, хотя встречаются во всей Европе и даже в Азии, то и неосновательно придерживаться имени, исковерканного венгерскими монахами, которые вздумали было все переворачивать на латинский лад и из упыря сделали вампира. Вампир, вампир! – повторил он с презрением, – это все равно что если бы мы, русские, говорили вместо привидения – фантом или ревенант!"

[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Рейтинг: 4. Продолжаю свой путь по мистическому классическому котябрю, e-book 📱+ #вкоманделоквуда - "Крадущаяся тень". Вторая книга из русской классики на тему упырей и кровопийц. В отличие от «Семьи вурдалака» история гораздо более закрученная, как сказал один из критиков, настоящая рассказ-матрёшка. Три основные сюжетные линии переплетаются между собой, от одного ответвления идёт другое, потом оно приходит обратно, затем снова отщепляется. Герои связаны между собой, у них также различное восприятие событий: рациональное, потустороннее, смешанное. В общем, это небольшой рассказ-бомба, притворяющийся крохой, но содержащий много всего внутри.

Обновление: Прослушано второй раз в Storytel 🎧 Всё равно запутано как тарелка со спагетти внутри.

[Sof · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Liczi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it really fast tbh it was a great book