Vampires: The World of the Undead

File:Vampires – Restless Creatures of the Night & Vampires – The World of the Undead.jpg

The work was originally a reaction to Francis Coppola's 1992 film Dracula.{{cite book |last=Hache-Bissette |first=Françoise |chapter=Découvertes Gallimard ou la culture encyclopédique à la française : Une encyclopédie en quatre cent quinze volumes |chapter-url=https://www.ricochet-jeunes.org/articles/decouvertes-gallimard-ou-la-culture-encyclopedique-la-francaise |date=2002 |title=Histoire des industries culturelles en France, XIX{{sup|e}}–XX{{sup|e}} siècles : actes du colloque en Sorbonne, décembre 2001 |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Association pour le développement de l'histoire économique |pages=111–124 |isbn=9782912912152 |quote=[...] une grande réactivité par rapport à l'actualité, par exemple : [...] Sang pour sang, le réveil des vampires (nº 161) pour la sortie du film Dracula de Coppola en 1992 [...]}} After the film, media coverage around vampires was in full swing, and Gallimard, for their 'Découvertes' collection, was looking for an author to write a book about vampires. It was Jean Marigny, noticed by his dissertation on vampires in Anglo-Saxon literature, who would be chosen. After a few weeks of intensive work to match the release of the book with the release of the film in France (in 1993), {{lang|fr|Sang pour sang}} was born.{{cite web |url=https://www.vampirisme.com/interview/marigny-interview-celebre-vampirologue-essayiste-francais/ |title=Marigny, Jean. Interview d'un célèbre vampirologue et essayiste français |author=Vladkergan |date=6 December 2011 |website=vampirisme.com |language=fr |access-date=30 December 2020}} It was an immediate success that the book has sold 130,000 copies and was reprinted several times. It has been translated into American and British English, Japanese, Russian, Slovene, Spanish, South Korean, simplified and traditional Chinese. A revised and updated French edition came out in 2010, driven by the success of the Twilight series.{{cite web |url=http://www.brunogerelli.info/Histoires-de-vampires-a-Claix.html |title=Histoires de vampires à Claix |last=Gerelli |first=Bruno |date=17 July 2011 |website=brunogerelli.info |language=fr |access-date=23 November 2020}}

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| image1 = Vampires - The World of the Undead (p. 30).jpg

| image2 = Vampires - The World of the Undead (p. 64).jpg

| image3 = Vlad Țepeș in the book Vampires.jpg

| footer = Vampires: The World of the Undead. Clockwise from upper left: The Triumph of Death, 15th-century Flemish painting ({{p.|30}}); The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, 1782 painting ({{p.|64}}); Vlad the Impaler, woodcut, l: c. 1550, Nuremberg, Germany, r: 1500, Strasbourg, France ({{pp.|28|29}}).

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The book is part of the {{lang|fr|Culture et société}} series (formerly belonging to {{lang|fr|Traditions}} series) in the 'Découvertes Gallimard' collection. According to the tradition of 'Découvertes', which is based on an abundant pictorial documentation and a way of bringing together visual documents and texts, enhanced by printing on coated paper, as commented in L'Express, 'genuine monographs, published like art books'.{{cite web |url=https://www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/l-invention-des-decouvertes_810690.html |title=L'invention des Découvertes |last=Garcia |first=Daniel |date=1 November 2005 |website=lexpress.fr |language=fr |access-date=23 November 2020 |quote=De véritables monographies, éditées comme des livres d'art.}} The book is almost like a 'graphic novel', replete with colour plates.

Here the author traces in four chapters the history and evolution of this creature in legends and literature, from antiquity to the gaslit streets of London: the origins of the myth, the reference to Greek mythology in particular, confusion with the undead, fears related to plague in medieval times... (chap. 1, 'Blood Lust', {{pp.|13|29}}); the Church officially recognises the existence of the living dead (chap. 2, 'The Consecrated Vampire', {{pp.|31|43}}). The golden age of the vampire is in the Enlightenment era where such beliefs should be banned (chap. 3, 'The Golden Age of Vampirism', {{pp.|45|63}}). Then in the Victorian era the vampire becomes an indisputable character of theatres and nightlife (chap. 4, 'The Reawakening of the Vampire', {{pp.|65|95}}). It is not Bram Stoker's Dracula, but The Vampyre of John Polidori is the first published modern vampire story, the book is therefore dedicated to this Romantic writer. Marigny explains in the book that Stoker was inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla for his own novel. The book addresses, among other topics, the cult of blood, Vlad the Impaler, Countess Báthory, superstitions, reaction of the Church to vampirism, vampires in cinema and the most incredible vampirism affair at London's Highgate Cemetery, in the 1970s.{{cite web |url=http://www.maison-hantee.com/files/jmarigny/itw_marigny.htm |title=Interview de Jean Marigny, spécialiste de la mythologie du vampire |last=Valentin |first=Olivier |date=2001 |website=maison-hantee.com |language=fr |access-date=23 November 2020}}

The second part of the book, the 'Documents' section, contains a compilation of excerpts divided into seven parts: 1, Dracula, the tyrant ({{pp.|98|99}}); 2, Vampirism through the centuries ({{pp.|100|109}}); 3, The rationalist response ({{pp.|110|113}}); 4, The vampire in poetry ({{pp.|114|115}}); 5, The vampire in prose ({{pp.|116|127}}); 6, A night in Count Dracula's castle ({{pp.|128|129}}); 7, The vampire in film ({{pp.|130|131}}). These are followed by a filmography ({{pp.|132|137}}), further reading ({{p.|138}}), list of illustrations ({{pp.|138|141}}) and an index ({{pp.|141|142}}).

On Babelio, the book has an average of 3.85/5 based on 31 ratings;{{cite web |url=https://www.babelio.com/livres/Marigny-Sang-pour-sang-Le-reveil-des-vampires/60794 |title=Sang pour sang. Le réveil des vampires |author= |website=babelio.com |language=fr |access-date=23 November 2020}} and an average of 7.9/10 based on 12 ratings, on {{ill|SensCritique|fr}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.senscritique.com/livre/Sang_pour_sang_le_reveil_des_vampires/362788 |title=Sang pour sang, le réveil des vampires (1993) |author= |website=senscritique.com |language=fr |access-date=23 November 2020}} Goodreads reported, based on 50 ratings, the UK edition gets an average rating of 3.96 out of 5,{{cite web |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1917586 |title=Vampires: The World of the Undead (New Horizons) |author= |website=goodreads.com |access-date=23 November 2020}} and the US edition 3.47/5 based on 43 ratings,{{cite web |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/745373 |title=Vampires: Restless Creatures of the Night (Abrams Discoveries) |author= |website=goodreads.com |access-date=23 November 2020}} indicating 'generally positive opinions'.

The French daily Le Monde wrote, '[the book is] a very beautiful-illustrated, very informative and very playful little work, a vademecum to the land of blood drinkers.'{{cite web |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1993/01/07/cinema-comme-un-vol-de-vampires_3927211_1819218.html |title=CINÉMA Comme un vol de vampires |author= |date=7 January 1993 |website=lemonde.fr |language=fr |access-date=23 November 2020}}

On {{lang|fr|Vampirisme}}, the review says: 'This work by Jean Marigny, published in 1993, is a model of its kind. Here the author traces the chronology of the vampire myth, from antiquity to the present day. [...] The book is also very well documented, very well illustrated, and embellished with some most interesting appendices, whether they are anecdotes about Dracula, retranscription of some most famous reports confirming the existence of vampires, excerpts from novels and poetry, even from prayers for hunting vampires. In short, if you want to go deeper into the subject and learn more about vampirology, this is the book for you.'{{cite web |url=https://www.vampirisme.com/livre/marigny-jean-sang-pour-sang-le-reveil-des-vampires/ |title=Marigny, Jean. Sang pour sang, le réveil des vampires. |author=Vladkergan |date=23 November 2006 |website=vampirisme.com |language=fr |access-date=23 November 2020}}

Matthieu Buge gave a positive review in his article for the online magazine Le Salon Littéraire: 'With abundant illustrations and documents, Jean Marigny explains simply the multiple origins of what would eventually become Count Dracula. [...] The vampire is such a frequent character in the literary and audiovisual fictions of the past two centuries that he has become almost too familiar to us, leading us to rarely question him.' With a large number of documents from various periods, Jean Marigny therefore rediscovers with pleasure many fascinating details of the construction of the legend, its springs and its propagators, in an accessible, synthetic and complete book like any good "Découvertes Gallimard".'{{cite web |url=http://salon-litteraire.linternaute.com/fr/documents-litteraires/review/1797619-sang-pour-sang-histoires-et-origines-du-mythe-des-vampires |title='Sang pour sang', histoires et origines du mythe des vampires |last=Buge |first=Matthieu |date=16 August 2012 |website=salon-litteraire.linternaute.com |language=fr |access-date=22 November 2021}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.gallimard.fr/Catalogue/GALLIMARD/Decouvertes-Gallimard/Decouvertes-Gallimard/Culture-et-societe/Le-reveil-des-vampires}} {{in lang|fr}}
• {{Internet Archive|id=vampiresrestless0000mari|name=Vampires : restless creatures of the night}}
• {{YouTube|GE2S4Tb3RYE|Presentation of Sang pour sang, le réveil des vampires in Un livre, un jour}} {{in lang|fr}}

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Category:1993 non-fiction books

Category:20th-century history books

Category:Books about literature

Category:Essays about literature

Category:Découvertes Gallimard

Category:Vampires