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Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and journalist, has written a fascinating first novel based on the life of his real-life ancestor, Elizabeth Bathory, the legendary Blood Countess. Codrescu expertly weaves together two stories in this neo-gothic work: that of the 16th-century Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a beautiful and terrifying woman who bathes in the blood of virgin girls; and of her distant descendent, a contemporary journalist who must return to his native Hungary and come to terms with his bloody and disturbing past. Drake Bathory-Kereshtur, a Hungarian-born journalist who has lived in the United States, returns to his native Hungary, only to be the target for recruitment among a patriotic group that wants to restore the glory--and the horror--of the Hungarian aristocracy. As a descendent of the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, he is heir to all that is wonderful and terrible about his country and his family's past. Codrescu brilliantly explores Drake's anguish, as he realizes the truth behind his gruesome family history. But more importantly, Codrescu also creates a convincing and historically accurate picture of a sadistic woman obsessed with youth, vigor, beauty, and blood_a woman with enough power to order the deaths of 650 virgins so that she could bathe in their blood. The Blood Countess is a bizarre and compelling book about the horrors of the past, shown so effectively in the monstrous yet attractive personality of Elizabeth, and what pull these horrors have on those who live now.… (meer)
One of the weirdest books I have ever read. I picked this up because of the author. Full of gratuitous sex and violence, no really. Is it a horror novel or historical fiction? It can't seem to decide. I was reviled and fascinated at the same time. I like it's prurient sado-erotic aspects more than the actual novel but in the end it was too much of a mess to rate it very high.
I thought Codrescu could write better than this, but I guess he should stick to short pieces. ( )
The author is supposedly a descendant of the Blood Countess, and his attempted biography of his ancestor is horrible. I couldn't even finish it, the writing was so poor. ( )
Supposedly a historical novel about Elizabeth Bathory. The book is framed in the context of a courtroom confession of a man (Bathory's descendant) who is explaining to a judge why he turned himself in for supposedly killing a woman - but why it was justified. (Possession by the spirit of the evil murdering Bathory, but things went wrong). But it doesn't work, because not even with the furthest stretch of the imagination can one imagine a judge sitting there listening to all this crap. The book is divided between this courtroom-story, and the "story" of Bathory herself, which makes not even the slightest attempt to be historical. Instead, it's an incredibly trashy S&M fantasy kinda thing. Which would be all fine and well, except it simultaneously manages to be boring, slow-moving, and not-at-all-hot. Oh well. Not recommended. ( )
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
To be sure, the light itself is also varied by the surface of the body whence it comes, as it shows now this and that color, but the degree of the heating power is obtained from the interior disposition of the body. -Johannes Kepler Concerning the More Certain Fundamentals of Astrology
It is difficult for us to evaluate the distance that then seperated the man (magnified by birth and fortune) who did the crushing from the insect crushed between two stone. -Georges Bataille, The Trail of Gilles de Rais
The witch-burning stakes coverd Europe: the Reformation would have preferred that the only book surviving on earth be the Bible, but in any cawe it was not inclined to tolerate either. Eros or magic or the continguous "sciences" of the Renaissance. A magic invocation or an alchemical experiment could cost a man his head. Fear justified everything. -Joan P. Coulianov, Eros and Magic in the Renaissance
Immortality is a clock that never runs down, a mandala that revolves eternally like the heavens. Thus the cosmic aspect returns with interest and compound interest. -C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy
Opdracht
Eerste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
On the last day of the sixteenth century, Countess Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary, despondent over the irremediable passage of time, angered at the betrayal of her flesh, and sorrowed beyond measure at the passing of her youth, ordered her maids to break all the mirrors in her hilltop mansion at Budapest.
Citaten
Laatste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and journalist, has written a fascinating first novel based on the life of his real-life ancestor, Elizabeth Bathory, the legendary Blood Countess. Codrescu expertly weaves together two stories in this neo-gothic work: that of the 16th-century Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a beautiful and terrifying woman who bathes in the blood of virgin girls; and of her distant descendent, a contemporary journalist who must return to his native Hungary and come to terms with his bloody and disturbing past. Drake Bathory-Kereshtur, a Hungarian-born journalist who has lived in the United States, returns to his native Hungary, only to be the target for recruitment among a patriotic group that wants to restore the glory--and the horror--of the Hungarian aristocracy. As a descendent of the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, he is heir to all that is wonderful and terrible about his country and his family's past. Codrescu brilliantly explores Drake's anguish, as he realizes the truth behind his gruesome family history. But more importantly, Codrescu also creates a convincing and historically accurate picture of a sadistic woman obsessed with youth, vigor, beauty, and blood_a woman with enough power to order the deaths of 650 virgins so that she could bathe in their blood. The Blood Countess is a bizarre and compelling book about the horrors of the past, shown so effectively in the monstrous yet attractive personality of Elizabeth, and what pull these horrors have on those who live now.
I thought Codrescu could write better than this, but I guess he should stick to short pieces. ( )