The Vampire Lord Ruthwen

by Cyprien Bérard

The mysterious Lord Ruthwen travels to Venice and strikes again, killing the beautiful Bettina and torturing her lover, Léonti, who swears to avenge her. He joins vampire hunters Aubrey and Nadoor Ali to search for the elusive monster... Cyprien Bérard's The Vampire Lord Ruthwen (1820) was the first sequel to continue John-William Polidori's 1819 ground-breaking story that had introduced the character of the handsome, but evil Vampire lord. Also drawing upon The Thousand and One Nights for inspiration, Bérard weaves stories of mystical Venice, Arabian Nights and Vampire legends into one exotic and suspenseful tale of revenge against the Undead. "A significant stepping-stone in the evolution of the modern image of the vampire, foreshadowing the other major thread of subsequent vampire the seductive female vampire." Brian Stableford.

Genres: Horror, Vampires

212 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1820

About the author

C.B. is supposed to have been a pseudonym used by Charles Nodier when he published Lord Ruthwen, ou Les Vampires (1820), a vampire novel which may have been intended as a play and a sequel to Polidori's short story The Vampyre.

The title page of the first edition said "Lord Ruthwen, ou Les vampires. Roman de C.B. publié par l'auteur de Jean Sbogar et de Thérèse Aubert [Charles Nodier]" and the book was attributed to Cyprien Bérard, with whom Nodier was associated.

Reviews

[Sofi Mascaró]

mas vueltas no podia dar para contar algo este hdp ldkfjs estuvo bueno pero eh, tardo una banda en el drama y a veces no entendia quien decia las cosas :P

[Jorge Héreth]

Written by Cyprien Bérard as a continuation to John Polidori's tale Le Vampire, the French translation of The Vampire released in 1820, this is the first vampire novel ever written, and upon which Charles Nodier made out a mayor classic for French 19th Century theater.

Personally, I see this novel as extremely important to get to a deeper understanding of the vampire in literature. Its chronologic place is after Lord Byron's poem The Giaour and John Polidori's tale The Vampire and as the first vampire novel ever, before Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, James Malcolm Rymer's and/or Thomas Preskett Prest's Varney The Vampire and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Also from a literary point of view, I'd clearly state Cyprien Bérard's Le Vampire, as published in its French original, belongs into the same shelf together with these mayor classics.

[Serena]

Carino e chiaramente figlio del suo tempo

[Ladygiodesi]

Nodier è conosciuto soprattutto per aver scritto racconti e drammi teatrali. "Il vampiro" è infatti un melodramma, scritto in occasione della famosa serata buia e tempestosa che nel 1819 ha visto la nascita di altri miti della letteratura, come “Frankestein”. E i protagonisti sono nomi già conosciuti, perchè incontrati in altre opere letterarie di altri scrittori: Aubrey e Lord Rutwen.

La storia è interessante, ma solo nell’ultima pagina viene citato il vampiro, fino ad allora sembra di avere più a che fare con un fantasma tornato nel mondo terreno. Ed è questo l'aspetto che ho meno apprezzato nella lettura: l’aver solo sfiorato la questione “vampiri”, pur raccontando una trama ben ideata anche se con dialoghi troppo pomposi per i miei gusti (ma d’altronde, trattandosi di un classico, ci sta…).

[Antonia]

I loved this short story by Cyprien Berard. It is a form of sequel to John Polidori's "The Vampire" as it brings back to life (pun intended) the figure of the beautiful but deadly Lord Ruthwen. I cringed at some point of the story and I can remember crying "DON'T!" out loud while reading it.