Transylwania zmyślona? Obraz Karpat w literaturze wykorzystującej motyw wampira

Abstract

A fictitious Transylvania? The picture of the Carpathians in the literature using the vampire motif

Siebenbürgen [Seven Fortresses], a geographical area in the Eastern Carpathians just as often called Transylvania, is a region frequently used by popular literature and culture referring to the motif of the vampire. In the present article the author examines descriptions of the region, starting from both geographical conditions and a definition of adventure space. It turns out that Transylvania described or presented in cultural texts has more in common with stereotypical locations of the action of adventure or Gothic novels and less with the actual geographical region. The analysed material includes Bram Stoker’s classic novel, descriptions of Romania in Brian Lumley’s Necroscope, the visit to Transylvania by the protagonists of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, clashes with the creature living in the fictitious Dinu Pass and described by F. Paul Wilson in The Keep as well as the space described in Christine Feehan’s cycle about the “Carpathians,” a series of paranormal romances.