The Blood Countess A Novel eBook Andrei Codrescu
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A “brilliant” novel of Elizabeth Bathory, the notorious sixteenth-century Hungarian aristocrat who bathed in the blood of virgins (St. Petersburg Times).
Turmoil reigns in post-Soviet Hungary when journalist Drake Bathory-Kereshtur returns from America to grapple with his family history. He’s haunted by the legacy of his ancestor, the notorious sixteenth-century Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who is said to have murdered more than 650 young virgins and bathed in their blood to preserve her youth. Interweaving past and present, The Blood Countess tells the stories of Elizabeth’s debauched and murderous reign and Drake’s fascination with the eternal clashes of faith and power, violence and beauty. Codrescu traces the captivating origins of the countess’s obsessions in tandem with the emerging political fervor of the reporter, building the narratives into an unforgettable, bloody crescendo.
Taut and intense, The Blood Countess is a riveting novel that deftly straddles the genres of historical fiction, thriller, horror, and family drama.
Turmoil reigns in post-Soviet Hungary when journalist Drake Bathory-Kereshtur returns from America to grapple with his family history. He’s haunted by the legacy of his ancestor, the notorious sixteenth-century Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who is said to have murdered more than 650 young virgins and bathed in their blood to preserve her youth. Interweaving past and present, The Blood Countess tells the stories of Elizabeth’s debauched and murderous reign and Drake’s fascination with the eternal clashes of faith and power, violence and beauty. Codrescu traces the captivating origins of the countess’s obsessions in tandem with the emerging political fervor of the reporter, building the narratives into an unforgettable, bloody crescendo.
Taut and intense, The Blood Countess is a riveting novel that deftly straddles the genres of historical fiction, thriller, horror, and family drama.
The Blood Countess A Novel eBook Andrei Codrescu
Andrei Codrescu has created a savory paprikash, served with Tokaji and the occasional bloody sausage. His story not only encompasses the anguish of a contemporary journalist, who bears a physical and professional resemblance to Codrescu, but the brutal history of Inquisition-era Europe, revolving around the Blood Countess, Erzebet (Elizabeth) Bathory. Both Codrescu and his protagonists are relatives of the Countess.Journalist Drake Bathory asks a judge to convict and sentence him to death for a murder he has committed. Anchored by his story, the narrative jumps from the courtroom to Drake's misadventures among contemporary neo-Fascist Hungarians, to the mazes of towers, passageways, dungeons, and stairways of not one, but several, including the Čachtice Castle, the exemplary creepy castle, where Elizabeth Bathory murdered an unknown number of virgins and spent her last days imprisoned in a walled chamber.
It is possible that Blood Countess would be less compelling to a reader who did not already have some knowledge of the Countess's reputation and Carpathian geography and politics. I do wish maps of the region and castles had been included, but they are easy enough to find elsewhere.
Codrescu's prose is exquisite and his book is a lush and bloody delight.
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The Blood Countess A Novel eBook Andrei Codrescu Reviews
This is a compelling story about an infamous historic monster who was perhaps missunderstood. I enjoyed the contrast between the male protagonists story and Elizabeth Bathory. A truly fascimating read.
Codrescu did his homework, and the book was well researched, but still with a good dose of fantasy in the time travel of the modern characters. Often I find the mix of modern with historical material distracting, but it was not so in this case. I would recommend to anyone (whomsoever) likes a good yarn.
I have read other books about Elizabeth Bathory. This book speaks of her actions in detail. It can be stomach turning. An interesting read
I loved reading this book. History is always interesting and The Blood Countess doesn't let you down. It is not light hearted. Her life was full of seeing sex, abuse, violence and no parental influence. This novel goes into and gives you a sense of why she could have did these horrible deeds.
Andre Codrescu's "The Blood Countess A Novel" first is a description of Elizabeth Bathory, the 16th Century Hungarian countess who ruled a kingdom in her warrior husband's absence. Elizabeth was an able administrator, but she is known instead for her brutal and mechanical fascination with depravity and torture. Elizabeth's obsession with youth caused her to torture and murder 650 indentured maidservants at her castle, often bathing in their blood to restore her own youthfulness.
"The Blood Countess ..." also is the fictional interwoven story of Drake Bathory-Kereshtur, a journalist and direct descendent of Elizabeth who fled to the United States during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. During his return visit to Hungary after the fall of Communism, Drake becomes involved in a coup attempt to reinstate the hereditary Hungarian monarchy, and with his acquaintances Drake becomes entangled in Elizabeth Bathory's depraved heritage.
Andre Codrescu's descriptions of depravity are troubling despite the current popularity of macabre entertainment (of which "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" is the tip of the iceberg). Yet Andre Codrescu is a craftsman and a wordsmith, and his own experiences with (gothic) Romanian culture are reflected throughout this fictional novel. Codrescu's descriptions of depravity create an atmosphere of hopelessness that reminds me of "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn. IMO this wonderful portrayal of hopelessness elevates "The Blood Countess A Novel" from a good read to a brutal work of art.
This review is for the Dell Publishing paperback edition published in 1996, 453 pages.
Andrei Codrescu is a poet, essayist, screenwriter, commentator on National Public Radio and edits the EXQUISITE CORPSE, a literary journal. He has published five novels. Some editorial reviews cite THE BLOOD COUNTESS, copyrighted in 1995, as his first novel, although he published REPENTANCE OF LORRAINE in 1993. Mr. Codrescu also wrote the words for Erszébet, an opera work in progress about THE BLOOD COUNTESS and the characters in his novel; the website Bathory.org/index.html has extensive information on the opera and the Báthory story.
Erszébet Báthory, The Blood Countess, lived from 1560 to 1613 or 1614. A reasonable account of her life is available at [...] which notes that, depending on the source, she murdered from 20 to 2000 young women. In his novel, Mr. Codrescu mixes historical facts, medieval urban legends and his own inventions such as the CHRONICLES OF ANDREI DE KERESHTUR and a contemporary character, Drake Bathory-Kereshtur. The novel alternates between alleged events during the life of the countess and Drake's first person narrative before a judge in New York City.
The first thirty pages of the novel suggest a literary fantasy genre, followed by the hopeful narrative of Drake, and then medieval intrigue with placid gore and limp erotica. There are hints of interesting stuff the judge seems to have the hots for Drake, Susanna Forgach lives openly with her lover, Benezzo Gozzoli searches for his father, but alas, the author does not conclude any of his potential subplots. There are over 130 proper names in this story, and the author tries to parallel two in medieval past and narrative present, but his effort escaped me. At page 313, I commented "pointless drool." When I got to the remarkably dull ending, I decided that THE BLOOD COUNTESS was a temptation throughout, but ultimately a bore.
Andrei Codrescu has created a savory paprikash, served with Tokaji and the occasional bloody sausage. His story not only encompasses the anguish of a contemporary journalist, who bears a physical and professional resemblance to Codrescu, but the brutal history of Inquisition-era Europe, revolving around the Blood Countess, Erzebet (Elizabeth) Bathory. Both Codrescu and his protagonists are relatives of the Countess.
Journalist Drake Bathory asks a judge to convict and sentence him to death for a murder he has committed. Anchored by his story, the narrative jumps from the courtroom to Drake's misadventures among contemporary neo-Fascist Hungarians, to the mazes of towers, passageways, dungeons, and stairways of not one, but several, including the Čachtice Castle, the exemplary creepy castle, where Elizabeth Bathory murdered an unknown number of virgins and spent her last days imprisoned in a walled chamber.
It is possible that Blood Countess would be less compelling to a reader who did not already have some knowledge of the Countess's reputation and Carpathian geography and politics. I do wish maps of the region and castles had been included, but they are easy enough to find elsewhere.
Codrescu's prose is exquisite and his book is a lush and bloody delight.
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