The Tyrant and the Saint: Cruelty, Ambivalence, Humour in the Earliest Dracula Tales

The article explores the literary and artistic traditions around Vlad III (alias Dracula), Prince of Wallachia, which started circulating about him in the second half of the fifteenth century. His proverbial ruthlessness and cruelty gained him a name among the most vicious historical figures already...

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Main Author: Levente Nagy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature 2024-09-01
Series:Studia Litterarum
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Online Access:https://studlit.ru/images/2024-9-3/03_Nagy.pdf
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author Levente Nagy
author_facet Levente Nagy
author_sort Levente Nagy
collection DOAJ
description The article explores the literary and artistic traditions around Vlad III (alias Dracula), Prince of Wallachia, which started circulating about him in the second half of the fifteenth century. His proverbial ruthlessness and cruelty gained him a name among the most vicious historical figures already during his lifetime. This study examines how, by imitating and rewriting contemporary literary topoi, the authors created the image of the voivode as the cruel tyrant and the persecutor of Christians. By comparing the German and Russian versions of the Dracula tales, we tried to prove that the Russian author also incorporated the political ideology of his era in the Russian Dracula stories. The analysis relies on three sources: the Sankt-Gallen manuscript (1461), the verse chronicle of Michael Beheim (1416?–1479?), and Skazanie o Drakule voivode (1486).
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publishDate 2024-09-01
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spelling doaj-art-ad620447eada414fbcec1b1e4a6e1dc92025-08-20T03:39:40ZengRussian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World LiteratureStudia Litterarum2500-42472541-85642024-09-0193569510.22455/2500-4247-2024-9-3-56-95The Tyrant and the Saint: Cruelty, Ambivalence, Humour in the Earliest Dracula TalesLevente Nagy0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3266-5061Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HungaryThe article explores the literary and artistic traditions around Vlad III (alias Dracula), Prince of Wallachia, which started circulating about him in the second half of the fifteenth century. His proverbial ruthlessness and cruelty gained him a name among the most vicious historical figures already during his lifetime. This study examines how, by imitating and rewriting contemporary literary topoi, the authors created the image of the voivode as the cruel tyrant and the persecutor of Christians. By comparing the German and Russian versions of the Dracula tales, we tried to prove that the Russian author also incorporated the political ideology of his era in the Russian Dracula stories. The analysis relies on three sources: the Sankt-Gallen manuscript (1461), the verse chronicle of Michael Beheim (1416?–1479?), and Skazanie o Drakule voivode (1486).https://studlit.ru/images/2024-9-3/03_Nagy.pdfmichael beheimgerman and russian dracula talesliterary toposliterary propagandabody in middle age
spellingShingle Levente Nagy
The Tyrant and the Saint: Cruelty, Ambivalence, Humour in the Earliest Dracula Tales
Studia Litterarum
michael beheim
german and russian dracula tales
literary topos
literary propaganda
body in middle age
title The Tyrant and the Saint: Cruelty, Ambivalence, Humour in the Earliest Dracula Tales
title_full The Tyrant and the Saint: Cruelty, Ambivalence, Humour in the Earliest Dracula Tales
title_fullStr The Tyrant and the Saint: Cruelty, Ambivalence, Humour in the Earliest Dracula Tales
title_full_unstemmed The Tyrant and the Saint: Cruelty, Ambivalence, Humour in the Earliest Dracula Tales
title_short The Tyrant and the Saint: Cruelty, Ambivalence, Humour in the Earliest Dracula Tales
title_sort tyrant and the saint cruelty ambivalence humour in the earliest dracula tales
topic michael beheim
german and russian dracula tales
literary topos
literary propaganda
body in middle age
url https://studlit.ru/images/2024-9-3/03_Nagy.pdf
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