The Family of the Vourdalak
| Author | Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy |
|---|---|
| Original title | La Famille du Vourdalak |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Gothic fiction |
|
Publication date
|
1884 (Russian), 1950 (French) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback & Hardback) |
The Family of the Vourdalak is a gothic novella by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, 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, where he was attached to the Russian Embassy.
It was translated into Russian by Boleslav Markevich, as "Семья вурдалака" (Semya′ vurdala′ka), published for the first time in The Russian Messenger in January, 1884. The original French text appeared in print in 1950, in Revue des Etudes Slavs, vol.26.The Reunion After Three Hundred Years (Les Rendez-vous Dans Trois Cent Ani) which was written at about the same time and which might be regarded as a sequel (for protagonist Marquis d'Urfe and Countess Grammon appear in it) first appeared in a compilation Le Poete Alexis Tolstoi by A.Lirondelle (Paris, 1912).
The word vourdalak occurs first in Pushkin's work in the early 19th century, and was taken up in Russian literary language following Pushkin. It is a distortion of words referring to vampires (originally probably to werewolves) in Slavic and Balkan folklore - cf. Slavic volkolak, vǎlkolak, vukodlak etc., and Romanian Vârcolac and Greek Vrykolakas (both borrowed from the Slavic term)
Marquis d'Ufré, a young French diplomat, finds himself in a small Serbian village, in the house of an old peasant named Gorcha. The host is absent: he left the house ten days ago along with some other men to hunt for a Turk outlaw Alibek. Upon leaving he told his sons, Georges and Pierre, that they should wait for him for ten days sharp and, should he come a minute later, kill him by driving a stake through his heart for then he’d be not a man but a vourdalak (vampire).
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