Metaphorical Vampirism of the Heroines in Slovak Literature between the Wars (Hrušovský, Švantner)

Abstract

The article analyzes vampirical motifs – elements of great importance within the Dark Romanticism trend – in texts by two representatives of Slovak literature of the interwar period: the novella Muž s protézou/Man with prosthesis by Ján Hrušovský and František Švantner´s Nevesta hôľ/ The Bride of the Mountains. In both cases the vampirism involved is of erotic character, what differs, however, is the degree to which it is metaphorical. Hrušovský employs some elements of the vampire´s condition as staffage, thus enlarging the scope of modernist textual maneuvers, whereas the creation of the vampirical heroine in Švantner´s prose falls into the pattern of elements contributing to the structure of the gothic in the novel.

Keywords

• vampirism
• werewolf
• slovak prose between the wars