RSSS 315 Sixth Twelfth Weeks

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RSSS 315 (Sixth - Twelfth Weeks)

• Slavic Folklore Vampires and Werewolves

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Today

• Exam and papers
• Films more of Bavas treatment of Tolstoy
• Discussion of the Family
• Discussion of werewolf stories
• True Blood
• Next reading Le Fanus Carmilla

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Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 1817-75

• The Family of the Vurdalak (La famille du
  vourdalak)
• Late 1830s, unpublished
• Numerous film adaptations

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Mario Bavas Black Sabbath

• 1963 film American and Italian version
• Three stories one based on Tolstois story ("The
  Wurdalak)

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Boris Karloff 1887-1969

• English, then Canadian, then American
• Willliam Pratt, then Boris Karloff
• Not Slavic or East European

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Necrorealism Yevgeny Yufit

• Father Frost is Dead 1991 (based on Family of the
  Vurdalak)
• Dream, nightmare qualities
• Death, dying in focus
• Dysfunctional family at center

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More Versions

• La notte dei diavoli (Night of the Devils) 1971
• Giorgio Ferroni

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Versions of Stokers Dracula
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Todd Brownings Dracula (1931)
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John Badhams Dracula (1979)

• Gothic, exotic, erotic
• Frank Langella

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Humor

• Mark of the Vampire 1935
• The Fearless Vampire Killers 1967
• Love at First Bite 1979

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Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, 1814-73

• Carmilla famous lesbian vampire story
• First published in Dark Blue, December, 1871
  through March of 1872.
• Some have said "probably the best vampire story
  of all"
• Diminished Gothic's emphasis on external sources
  of terror
• Focus on the psychological effects

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Film Versions The Hunger (1983)
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Carmilla

• Carmilla films
• Dreyers Vampyr 1932
• Vadims To Die With Pleasure 1960
• Kumels Daughters of Darkness 1971 (excerpt in
  class)
• Tony ScottsThe Hunger 1983 (excerpt in class
  earlier in term)

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Carl Dreyers Vampyr (1932) (we did not see
excerpt yet)

• Famous expressionist film director (Danish
  1889-1968)
• Evil presence, atmosphere
• Two daughters, one infected
• Reassuring male presence

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Daughters of Darkness (1971)

• Another cult classic
• Harry Kumel
• Combines Carmilla and Bathory

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Daughters of Darkness

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vVsz7WZuDpHU
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v8qGqmDB932Ifeature
  related
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v5NnpX0jEgfgfeature
  related

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Andy Warhols Dracula

• Blood for Dracula 1974
• Directed by Paul Morrissey

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Vampire Variations The Addiction

• Directed by Abel Ferrara
• Vampirism akin to drug addiction
• Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken

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Discussions of Stokers Dracula
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Coppolas Bram Stokers Dracula (discussion)

• Marriage Orthodox, Romania (in book not Orthodox
  and in Budapest)
• Mina and Dracula very clear shared historical,
  erotic link
• Hopkins Van Helsing very campy

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Interpreting Stoker

• Religious
• Sociological
• Psychological
• Formalist

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Religious

• Good vs Evil
• Infectiousness of evil
• Links with darkness, decay, death
• Opposition to Christianity
• Allegory
• Example Only defense is purity of heart,
  sacrificial love

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Formalist

• Sources folklore and literary
• Themes and motifs
• Narrative technique, e.g., unreliable narrators
• Gothic elements

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Gothic features

• Mystery, gloom, fog, night, storm
• Desolation, isolation
• Animals wolves, bats
• Distant past (unforgotten) sense of nostalgia
• Old castles, mansions, graveyards, churches
  (cobwebs, spiders)
• Mysterious sounds (howling, flapping, scratching)
• Mysterious figures, secrets, threat of violence
• Dark colors (black), blood, pale features

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Sociological

• Economic
• Capital, expanding markets
• Monopoly on resources
• Feminist
• Gender roles (Mina and Lucy, Lucy in Nosferatu)
• Patriarchy (e.g., restoration of patriarchy in
  the end)
• Dealing the other, aliens

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Psychological

• Non-Freudian
• Freudian
• Displaced sexuality
• Oedipal themes
• Patricide
• Matricide
• Incest
• Dealing with repressed fears (about the other,
  about death)

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Psychological issues

• Sucking, biting, thirsting, death and rebirth
• Links with milk and blood
• Oral sadism
• Attraction, repulsion ambivalence
• Projection revenge of the dead

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Dracula Chapters 19-23
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Key passages

• Jonathan and the daughters
• Killing of Lucy
• Seduction of Mina

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Chapter 21

• He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door
  did not yield. We threw ourselves against it.
  With a crash it burst open, and we almost fell
  headlong into the room. The Professor did
  actually fall, and I saw across him as he
  gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I
  saw appalled me. I felt my hair rise like
  bristles on the back of my neck, and my heart
  seemed to stand still.

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The scene

• The moonlight was so bright that through the
  thick yellow blind the room was light enough to
  see. On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan
  Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as
  though in a stupor. Kneeling on the near edge of
  the bed facing outwards was the white-clad figure
  of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man,
  clad in black. His face was turned from us, but
  the instant we saw we all recognized the Count,
  in every way, even to the scar on his forehead.

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Actions

• With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker's
  hands, keeping them away with her arms at full
  tension. His right hand gripped her by the back
  of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom.
  Her white night-dress was smeared with blood, and
  a thin stream trickled down the man's bare chest
  which was shown by his torn-open dress. The
  attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance to
  a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of
  milk to compel it to drink.

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Aftermath-1

• As we burst into the room, the Count turned his
  face, and the hellish look that I had heard
  described seemed to leap into it. His eyes flamed
  red with devilish passion. The great nostrils of
  the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered
  at the edge, and the white sharp teeth, behind
  the full lips of the blood dripping mouth,
  clamped together like those of a wild beast.

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After-2

• With a wrench, which threw his victim back upon
  the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned
  and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor
  had gained his feet, and was holding towards him
  the envelope which contained the Sacred Wafer.
  The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had
  done outside the tomb, and cowered back. Further
  and further back he cowered, as we, lifting our
  crucifixes, advanced.

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After-3

• The moonlight suddenly failed, as a great black
  cloud sailed across the sky. And when the
  gaslight sprang up under Quincey's match, we saw
  nothing but a faint vapor. This, as we looked,
  trailed under the door, which with the recoil
  from its bursting open, had swung back to its old
  position.

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Mina?

• Van Helsing, Art, and I moved forward to Mrs.
  Harker, who by this time had drawn her breath and
  with it had given a scream so wild, so
  ear-piercing, so despairing that it seems to me
  now that it will ring in my ears till my dying
  day. For a few seconds she lay in her helpless
  attitude and disarray. Her face was ghastly, with
  a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which
  smeared her lips and cheeks and chin. From her
  throat trickled a thin stream of blood. Her eyes
  were mad with terror.

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Mina-2

• Then she put before her face her poor crushed
  hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark
  of the Count's terrible grip, and from behind
  them came a low desolate wail which made the
  terrible scream seem only the quick expression of
  an endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and
  drew the coverlet gently over her body, whilst
  Art, after looking at her face for an instant
  despairingly, ran out of the room.

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Van Helsing

• Van Helsing whispered to me, "Jonathan is in a
  stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce.
  We can do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a few
  moments till she recovers herself. I must wake
  him!"

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Her account 1

• "Then he spoke to me mockingly, And so you, like
  the others, would play your brains against mine.
  You would help these men to hunt me and frustrate
  me in my design! You know now, and they know in
  part already, and will know in full before long,
  what it is to cross my path. They should have
  kept their energies for use closer to home.
  Whilst they played wits against me, against me
  who commanded nations, and intrigued for them,
  and fought for them, hundreds of years before
  they were born, I was countermining them. And
  you, their best beloved one, are now to me, flesh
  of my flesh, blood of my blood, kin of my kin, my
  bountiful wine-press for a while, and shall be
  later on my companion and my helper. You shall be
  avenged in turn, for not one of them but shall
  minister to your needs. But as yet you are to be
  punished for what you have done. You have aided
  in thwarting me. Now you shall come to my call.
  When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall
  cross land or sea to do my bidding. And to that
  end this!'

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Account 2

• With that he pulled open his shirt, and with his
  long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast.
  When the blood began to spurt out, he took my
  hands in one of his, holding them tight, and with
  the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to
  the wound, so that I must either suffocate or
  swallow some to the . . .

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Minas Reaction

• Oh, my God! My God! What have I done? What have I
  done to deserve such a fate, I who have tried to
  walk in meekness and righteousness all my days.
  God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse
  than mortal peril. And in mercy pity those to
  whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub her lips
  as though to cleanse them from pollution.

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Restoration of Conventional Family

• More on Little Quincey
• What is his parentage?

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Werewolf Discussions
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Werewolf Cult

• English word at base
• Central and Southeast Europeans had cults, but
  different terms
• Universal changelings, animal-human relations

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Characteristics of East European Werewolves

• Changelings rusalki, samovily
• Animal cults link with mysteries of universe
• Cannibalism, eating flesh, drinking blood

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Pre-historic times (all before 9th AD)

• ritual wearing of wolf pelts all before 9th AD

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Later

• Stories of vukodlaks (and related forms) chasing
  clouds, devouring sun and moon 13th 16th
  centuries
• Related terms (utilizing wolf as root) refer to
  vampires in South and Central Europe
• E.g., Dark Wolf (2003) is titled Vukodlak in
  Czech
• Linguistic changes in different areas many
  similar terms for vampires and werewolves in
  Eastern Europe, the Balkans (different language
  groups)

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Vseslav of Polotsk Early Historical Werewolf?

• Belarusian 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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Igor Tale (12th century)

• In the seventh age of Troian, Vseslav cast lots
  for a girl,         a maiden he desired for
  himself.Sustained by cunning, he mounted a horse
  and galloped to Kiev,         touched the shaft
  of his spear on the gold Kievan throne.He leapt
  away from them at Belgorod        like a wild
  beast at midnight wrapped in a blue mist. Three
  times he grasped good fortune, opened the gates
  of Novgorod,        smashed the glory of
  Iaroslav, and as a wolf leapt to the Nemiga. He
  blew clean the threshing floor.On the Nemiga
  sheaves are spread like heads         they
  thresh them with damask flails.On the threshing
  floor they lay down life and winnow souls from
  bodies. The Nemiga's bloody banks were sown with
  evil,        sown with the bones of the sons of
  Rus.Prince Vseslav judged the people he ruled
  the cities for the princes,         but at night
  he roamed as a wolf.From Kiev, before the cock's
  crow, he could lope to Tmutorokan         as a
  wolf he crossed the path of great Horus.They
  rang the bells for him at matins, early at St.
  Sophia, in Polotsk         he heard the sound
  in Kiev.And though his wizard's soul journeyed
  in another body,         still he often suffered
  misfortune.Of him the wizard Boian first spoke
  well-devised words        "Neither the skillful
  one nor the craftiest creature,        not even
  the cleverest bird, will escape the Judgment of
  God." 0 groan, Russian land, recalling the first
  time and the first princes.

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Our Readings

• Peter Stubbe (Peter Stumpf), 1525-89
• Setting near Cologne Germany
• 1590 account
• Werewolfs Daughter (Slovakia)
• Difficult to date
• Clearly a folk tale
• Many more tales, especially from France

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Werewolves

• World folklore Lycaon and others
• Native American folklore
• Slavic and E European folklore

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(No Transcript)
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Etymology and Terminology

• Man-wolf, Old English reasonable
• Lycanthropy, Therianthropy (changing into animals)

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Werewolf Epidemics

• Peter Stubbe (German example)
• Le Gevaudan (France)

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Whats the Message?

• Werewolves are vicious, bloodthirsty, lust driven
• Some change form with magic devices
• They can be destroyed, especially when they are
  not in wolf form.

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Folklore Sources

• German http//www.werewolfpage.com/myths/case_his
  tories.html
• Klein krams werewolf
• Greifswald werewolves
• Kornwolf
• Wolf wives
• Brothers Grimm collection

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French Werewolves

• Gevaudan monster
• Loup-garou stories
• Bisclaveret (Brittany magic transform)

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General interpretations of werewolves

• Psychological
• Sociological
• Ideological

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Other related stories

• Beauty and the Beast (originally werewolf)
• French version de Beaumont
• Redemption by love of virtuous maiden
• Cocteau, Walt Disney, TV series in late 80s

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More BB
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

• Based on true story businessman thief
• Stevenson 1886 The Strange Case of .
• Beast within human psyche
• Numerous plays and films

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Little Red Riding Hood Perrault, Bros. Grimm

• Originally tragic ending both eaten
• Grimm woodsman to the rescue

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Classic Films

• The Wolf Man, 1941

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New Wolf Man

• Remake of 1941 classic
• Benicio del Toro

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Tradition Continues

• Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man 1943
• House of Frankenstein 1944
• House of Dracula 1945
• Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948

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A Story for Children?
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Varied forms..
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Werewolf features
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Accounts

• Folklore
• Fairy tales
• Cautionary tales
• Most productive Little Red Riding Hood
• Films blend different genres

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Ambivalence?
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Associations Wolfsbane

• Poisonous
• Buttercup family
• Source of aconite
• Also pain reliever (in proper dose)
• Hallucinogenic effects

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Pentagram

• Five pointed star
• Witchcraft and werewolves

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Near Dark

• Kathryn Bigelow, 1987
• Transformation of the vampire tradition
• American SW setting

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Near Dark

• Kathryn Bigelow, 1987
• Transformation of the vampire tradition
• American SW setting

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What happened last time?
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Near Dark

• Kathryn Bigelow, 1987
• Transformation of the vampire tradition
• American SW setting

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Conventions

• Attraction (sexual mutualbut she seems
  ambivalent)
• Kissing she avoids (ambivalence)
• Contract he commits to joining her for eternity
  (pact motif)
• Blood
• Abduction he needs to join, to really join (he
  hasnt turned yet)
• He needs nourishment
• He needs to bite/suck to really join the true
  exchange

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Suspense

• Who will be the next victim
• Will Caleb be able to join the group

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Variations

• Mae nourishes him like an IVvein in arm or wrist
• Complete reversal? No, remember Mina and Dracula
• Exchanges are important
• Vampires travel pack, just like wolves

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Central characters

• Mae
• Caleb
• Sarah and Homer
• Father

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Final Conflicts and Resolutions

• Western Genre stylization
• Salvation return to roots restoration of the
  family

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Back to Vampires
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Vampire Chronicles

• Interview with the Vampire 1976
• The Vampire Lestat 1985
• Queen of the Damned 1988
• Tale of the Body Thief 1992
• Memnoch the Devil 1995
• The Vampire Armand 1998
• Merrick 2000
• Blood and Gold 2001
• Blackwood Farm 2002
• Blood Canticle 2003

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New Tales

• Pandora 1998
• Vittorio the Vampire 1999

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Anne Rice in the News
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First Two Chapters of Armand

• Links with Gospels-Christianity
• Veronicas Veil
• Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
• Frame story (with links) bio of Amadeo
• David Talbot
• Lestat
• Marius
• Pederasty

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Chapters Two-Four
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First Three Chapters of Armand

• Links with Gospels-Christianity
• Veronicas Veil
• Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
• Clash of Empires (and religions Orthodoxy,
  Catholicism, Islam)
• Byzantine (dying)
• Ottoman (growing stronger)
• Venetian

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Venice
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Grand Canal
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Scene with the Florentine Bankers

• Discussion of taking of Constantinople 1453
• Huge event
• Religion Christianity (Orthodoxy, RC) and Islam
• Empires Byzantine, Roman, and Ottoman

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Distinctive Features

• Historical-cultural background
• Use of sex and violence
• Implied philosophy
• Narrative devices (plot)
• Character and psychology

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In medias res

• Bio of Andrei-Amadeo-Armand
• Entwined with lives of other vampires
• David Talbot
• Lestat
• Marius

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Journey
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Armands Quest (Torcello)
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Iconostasis
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Kievan Rus
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Monastery of the Caves
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History

• Not Russia, but Rus
• Height of power 10th-12th
• Invasion, destruction in 13th
• Bare survival next centuries Mongol Occupation
• Under rule of Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 16th

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Hagia Sophia (Istanbul)
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Early East Slavic Territory (Kiev)
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Eastern Mediterraneum
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Iconography

• Holy activity purity
• Iconographers role
• Holy image follow the model
• Not made by human hands
• Two-dimensions, unusual perspective
• Prominent in Orthodoxy

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Christ With the Fiery Eyes
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From the 15th Century
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Our Lady of Tenderness
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Orthodoxy and Amadeo

• Trauma of his captivity amnesia
• Gradually remembers
• Torcello trip
• Recovery from poisoning

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Early chapters Amadeos Education

• Fine art of the Renaissance
• Fine Music
• Learning (printing expanding in late 15th)
• Sex
• Vampirism

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To Prepare for Rice on the Exam

• Read through p. 302
• What are the key events in Amadeos life so far?
• Who are the key figures in his life?
• How would you describe his life in Eastern Europe
  (Kiev/Russia/Ukraine)?

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Second Exam

• Updated syllabus
• Look at the readings Kitzberg, Lee
• Rice up through Part I (p. 302)

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An American Werewolf in London 1981

• John Landis, dir. (Animal House, Blues Brothers)
• Comic and creepy
• Key element the transformation
• Scare it could happen to anyone

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Details The Dreams

• What happens?
• Whats the point?
• http//www.poetv.com/video.php?vid11211

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Werewolf in Europe Series

• American Werewolf in London 1981
• John Landis, Director
• American Werewolf in Paris 1997
• Anthony Waller, Director

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Kitzbergs Play, Werewolf 1812

• August Kitzberg,1855-1927
• Estonian writer
• Tragedy
• Allegorical
• Social dimension (Realism)
• Attack on conventional values

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Today

• Vampire variations Landis Innocent Blood 1991
• http//www.dailymotion.com/video/x53t9k_innocent-b
  lood-theatrical-trailer_shortfilms
• http//technorati.com/videos/youtube.com2Fwatch3
  Fv3Dw--1qLZnFVk
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vE-YBGRT5WJ0

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New Film Neil Jordans The Company of Wolves
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Neil Jordan, 1950-
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Filmography

• Company of Wolves, 1984
• Interview with a Vampire, 1994
• Crying Game, 1992
• Good Thief, 2002
• The Brave One 2007

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For the Exam

• Read Tanith Lees Wolfland
• Whats happened so far in The Company of Men ?

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Key facts

• Shallow or no graves
• Bloating during decomposition
• Fluids expelled during decay
• Dead bodies make noises
• Decomposition generates heat
• Skin shrinks back
• Corpses attract wolves
• Puncturing is the best treatment for bloat

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Forensic bases

• Burial practices
• Decomposition features
• Decomposition duration
• Possible to explain vampires

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Key facts

• Shallow or no graves
• Bloating during decomposition
• Fluids expelled during decay
• Dead bodies make noises
• Decomposition generates heat
• Skin shrinks back
• Corpses attract wolves
• Puncturing is the best treatment for bloat

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More on Reality-Based Vampires

• Perkowskis Psychic vampires
• Psychology of sucking, biting, thirsting, death
  and rebirth
• Links with milk and blood
• Oral sadism
• Attraction, repulsion ambivalence
• Projection revenge of the dead