« Le fondement d’une affreuse existence », ou ce que boivent les princes des ténèbres
“The Foundation of a Frightful Existence”, or What Princes of Darkness Drink

Summary/Abstract: La Vampire, ou la vierge de Hongrie [The Vampire, or the Hungarian Virgin] (1825) by Étienne- Léon de Lamothe-Langon (1786-1864) belongs to a very heterogeneous field of Gothic fiction, a genre which was particularly popular in the late 18th and the early 19th centuries. The main purpose of the present study is to examine the role played by blood in the analysed work. In order to demonstrate this aspect of the novel more successfully, it will be preceded by a general overview of the gradual popularisation of the vampire as a concept in the 18th-century Western Europe, with a particular emphasis placed on the role of Dom Augustin Calmet (1672- 1757) and his Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires [Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires] (1751) in this process. Thereafter, a more detailed consideration will be given to the way in which Lamothe-Langon explores the typical vampiric traits while portraying the main character of his book, namely the demonic Alinska.

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