RSSS 315 Tier 2

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RSSS 315 (Tier 2)

• Slavic Folklore Vampires and Werewolves

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Basic information

• Instructor George Gutsche
• Teaching assistants Kenny Cargill, Paula
  McCambridge
• gutscheg_at_u.arizona.edu
• D2L http//russian.arizona.edu/courses/vampires
• Office hours T 11-1230 or by appointment

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Syllabus

• Questions?

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First Writing Assignment (in class)

• Give me basic information year, major, preferred
  email
• Tell me why you are here (and not in another Tier
  2).
• Tell me your background in vampires and
  werewolves favorite films, books, related
  activities

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What are they?
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Where do you find them?
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(No Transcript)
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Origins Eastern Europe?
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An area of the world that is

• Complicated
• Dangerous
• Rich in tradition
• Linguistically and culturally diverse
• Multi-national

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Languages of the Balkans

• Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian
• Bulgarian
• Slovenian
• Macedonian
• Albanian
• Rumanian (Romanian)
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Romany

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And Beyond

• Ukrainian
• Belarusan
• Russian
• Turkish
• Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian

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Alphabets

• Latin
• Cyrillic
• Greek

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Empires in Contact and Conflict

• Byzantine Empire (4th-15th centuries)
• Ottoman Empire (13th-20th)
• Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empire (19th-20th)

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Important fact

• Languages (and customs and folklore) dont
  respect national borders

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Famous Representations
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Where is Transylvania?
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Transylvania
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Mountain Ranges
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Sources of vampire and werewolf stories

• Folklore
• Historical examples
• Literature (poetry, drama, short stories, novels)

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Classification of written accounts

• Early testimonies to outside parties
• Recorded folklore accounts
• Historical records (e.g., of real historical
  figures)
• Literary accounts in all genres

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Folklore

• Classified by genre, area of origin
• Oral and performance based (like drama, opera)
• Transcribed from oral performance by 19th century
  collectors (Brothers Grimm, Vuk Karadic,
  Alexander Afanasev)
• Recorded testimonies (often imaginative)
• Functions in various ways (warnings ritual
  accompaniment entertainment)

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Kinds, genres

• Poetic ritual songs, historical songs, folk
  ballads, epics
• Related to beliefs (pagan, Christian)

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Special terms Myth

• Story, or characters and themes in a story, often
  with supernatural elements, that is accorded
  special status in a society by custom or
  tradition because it involves origins
• Untrue religious story in popular understanding

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Legend

• Story about people that contains supernatural
  elements
• Told as if it were an historical event and may
  reflect a real event

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Fairy Tale

• Story with magic, magical creatures, witches,
  dragons
• Implications of both
• May have little basis in historical fact
• May give expression to hopes
• May give focus to fears and anger

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Why People Believe Weird Things

• Easy explanation for inexplicable events (e.g.,
  sudden death)
• Life beyond death is comforting idea
• Saving powers of conventional religion is
  reassuring
• We desire nice, neat, simple explanations
• Our goal to understand human actions, not to
  scorn them (Spinoza)

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Etymology of vampire and werewolf words

• Terminological complexity
• Vampire is Slavic, werewolf is not
• Werewolf cult associated with ritual wearing of
  wolf pelts all before 9th AD

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Vlad Tepes 1431-76 Legend and Historical Reality
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Features

• Warrior-ruler caught between competing empires
• Noted for cruelty violence of punishments
• Numerous enemies (e.g., boyars)
• Years of imprisonment
• Mixed message on justness

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Sources

• German tracts, Russian accounts
• Romanian legends
• Biography put together from anecdotes about his
  behavior and semi-historical accounts

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Bran Castle
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Dinner at Vlads
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Snagov Monastery
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Link with Vampires?

• Tenuous
• Violence (sustenance through blood?)
• Immortality (lives on in history?)

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Later

• Stories of vukodlaks (and related forms) chasing
  clouds, devouring sun and moon 13th 16th
  centuries
• Mythological sense Slavs adopted term ala and
  ale for these beings
• Related terms (utilizing wolf as root) refer to
  vampires in South and Central Europe
• Some linguistic change vurdalak in Russian now
  can mean both

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Erzsébet Bathory another historical notable

• 1560-1614
• Special powers of blood
• True vampirism (she drank it and bathed in it)
• Is she a vampire?

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Vseslav of Polotsk

• Belarusan Prince, 1030-1101
• Great Grand-Grandson of Vladimir
• Werewolf-sorcerer reputation (Vseslav the
  Magician-Charodei)
• Could turn to a grey wolf, a clear falcon or a
  deer with gold horns

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First Reading Assignment Slavic Mythology CN

• Variety of supernatural figures
• Many unrelated types
• Magicians, sorcerers closest to our topic

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Writing assignment for next week

• Two pages on the Links texts
• Summarize the features of these vampires in your
  own words. Then comment on how these vampires
  relate to your own concept of a vampire.