 |
|
Die Braut von Korinth
... [One of] the poems which are widely considered the originators of the theme of literary vampires is Goethe’s “Die Braut von Korinth” (“The Bride of Korinth,” 1797). As in Bürger’s “Lenore,” the use of the word “vampire” is suspiciously avoided, although Goethe himself referred to “Die Braut” as his “vampiric poem.” According to Christopher Frayling, Goethe was “the first to make the vampire respectable in literature,” which certainly has to do with Goethe’s status as the German poet, but also with the fact that Goethe derived his inspiration from a classical predecessor, namely Phlegon of Tralles’ Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (approx. 130 AD). The story of the young Machates and his undead bride Philinion, who returns from the grave to spend her nights with the youth, was reworked by Goethe and transferred into a framework of the enlightenment. It becomes a plea against the inhuman ascetic aspects of Christianity when contrasted to the Dionysian joi-de-vivre of paganism. Thus, Goethe’s account of the dead girl’s return to life is a far cry from similar treatments of the “love beyond the grave” motif in Gothic literature or the gory paraphernalia of the Graveyard poets. Yet, the very selective perception of literary critics has over-emphasized some of the lines in “Die Braut von Korinth”--lines which indeed conjure up or directly address images of blood-drinking and a compulsive search for more victims, but which I believe to be mere inconsistencies with regard to the poem as a whole.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Eben schlug die dumpfe Geisterstunde,
Und nun schien es ihr erst wohl zu sein.
Gierig schlürfte sie mit blassem Munde
Nun den dunkel blutgefärbten Wein, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Aus dem Grabe werd ich ausgetrieben,
Noch zu suchen das vermißte Gut,
Noch den schon verlornen Mann zu lieben
Und zu saugen seines Herzens Blut.
Ists um den geschehn,
Muß nach andern gehn,
Und das junge Volk erliegt der Wut ....
Technical points:
Like Bürger’s “Lenore,” Goethe’s poem is often referred to as a
ballad, since it displays some of the secondary formal elements of the
artform, for example the description of a single episode; a swift development
of events; minimal detail of surroundings; and an emphasis on the dramatic
elements and the intensity of narration. Yet, on the structural
level, the poem does not exhibit any of the repetitive features and the
use of refrain as, e.g., Bürger’s “Lenore,” and which, [one could]
claim, are indeed the decisive factors contributing to the development
of the vampire genre.
One does Goethe or Bürger little justice when one refers to “Die Braut”
and “Lenore” as “the usual Gothic poems,” as Twitchell condescendingly
does in The Living Dead (163). By doing so, Twitchell reverses
cause and effect. In addition, these poems certainly have to be acknowledged
as the germinal stage of another developing genre. They were influential
but not yet exemplary for what only a few years later was to become vampire
fiction. Nevertheless, after the Germans had prepared the ground,
it would take until 1819 for the first literal vampire to appear in English
literature....
excerpted from:
Blood
Obsession: Vampires, Serial Murder, And The Popular Imagination
JöRG WALTJE, Peter Lang Pub Inc, 2005, ISBN 0820474207
Questions:
- (coming soon -- awaiting your submission)