Wampiry rewolucji („Drzazga” Władimira Zazubrina)
The vampires of the revolution („Sliver” Vladimir Zazubrin)

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the attempt to interpret the micro-novel Sliver (Щепка, 1923/1989) written by Vladimir Zazubrin (Vladimir Yakovlevich Zubtsov; 1895–1938). To the mind of the author, horror, atrocity and eeriness, that accompany the reading of Sliver result not only from the subject matter and problematique of the novel, but they are also, as the esthetic categories, the effect of visible references to the convention, developed by the classic horror novel.In Sliver we have to deal with the exploration and unconventional usage of the most important motive of uncanny stories, which is the vampire motive. It served to Zazubrin, not only to reveal the chekist’s addiction to the “life-giving victim’s blood”, but also to show how much, sooner or later, the bolshevik idea of making the order presents its strangeness and deconstructive power in relation to mental construction of the intellectual, even when the revolution “seduces him” with the dictate of historical necessity.

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