History Literature / Vampirismus

* InformedSpecies: The vampires in the story have little in common with the traditional image of a vampire- either folkloric or pop cultural one. If anything, they sound more like ghouls, particularly with their craving for human flash.

As the original publication left the story untitled, it has since been known under a variety of different titles, including ''Tale of a Vampire'', ''Cyprian's Narrative'', ''The Hyena'' or simply ''[[CharacterTitle Aurelia]]''. It is believed to have inspired elements of Literature/{{Carmilla}}.

A 1821 horror tale, written by Creator/ETAHoffmann and inspired by "Literature/TheStoryOfSidiNouma". Originally published as part of the story collection ''The Serapion Brethren'', it has since been published on its own as a self-contained short story.

A 1821 horror tale, written by Creator/ETAHoffmann. Originally published as part of the story collection ''The Serapion Brethren'', it has since been published on its own as a self-contained short story.

Said story tells the tale of Count Hippolytus, a man too busy with his extensive renovation of his newly inherited estate to have any thougts about romance, until he's visited by an elderly baroness and falls head over heals in love with her daughter, Aurelia. The pair are soon wed -- something not even the unexpected death of the Baroness can stop -- but Hippolytus soon realizes that there's something peculiar about Aurelia. Why does she never seem to eat? And why does she always take strolls around the graveyard in the middle of the night?

After Sylvester brings up Creator/JohnWilliamPolidori's [[FollowTheLeader then recently published]] story Literature/TheVampyre[[note]] wrongly credited to Creator/LordByron[[/note]] to his friends, a discussion of vampirism ensues. One of said friends, Cyprian, then goes on to tell a story he claims to have heard from a friend, about very real vampires who terrorised [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield an unspecific foreign land]] not too long ago.

As the original publication left the story untitled, it has since been known under a variety of different titles, including ''Tale of a Vampire'', ''Cyprian’s Narrative'', ''The Hyena'' or simply ''[[CharacterTitle Aurelia]]''. It is believed to have inspired elements of Literature/{{Carmilla}}.

* AgeGapRomance: The 1982 TV adaptation portrays the relationship between Hippolytus and Aurelia as such, by casting the 46-year old Antonio Salines and the 22-year old Francesca Archibugi in the roles. The story itself only describes Hippolytus as having ”the agitation of a young man overpowered by love”, making it somewhat ambiguous whether or not he actually is young himself. Aurelia meanwhile is explicitly sixteen in a flashback, followed by a vague TimeSkip or two before it becomes a case of HowWeGotHere.

* EatingOptional: Aurelia eventually stops eating and drinking altogether. The fact that she keeps this up for months is what clues Hippilytus and the doctor into the fact that there’s something supernatural at play. As it turns out, she has been sneaking out at night to feed of corpses... [[MindScrew probably.]]

* HumanoidAbomination: The vampires surrounding Aurelia are portrayed akin to the more modern concept of [[OurGhoulsAreDifferent vampiric ghouls]]. They are described as old, half-naked women who yet resemble ”frightful, spectral-looking creatures” as they consume a man’s corpse ”[[FeralVampires with wolfish appetite]].”
* [[IHateYouVampireDad I Hate You, Vampire Mom]]: Combined with a GenderFlipped example of TurnOutLikeHisFather.
* ImpoverishedPatrician: The Baroness and her daughter became this after the death of the former’s husband, giving both her relationship with her suitor and Aurelia’s marriage to Hippolytus a GoldDigger element.

* RealismInducedHorror: The abuse inflicted on Aurelia by both the Stranger and her mother — herself a victim of her lover’s domestic violence — stands out as disturbing even in a story featuring flesh-eating vampires.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: DoubleSubverted. The one time Aurelia’s eyes are described as red, it’s because she’s just been crying. However, it’s implied that what she was crying about was her losing battle against her own vampiric urges.
* SecretKeeper: The Baroness and the Stranger seems to have served as such for each other, both covering up the other’s dirty deeds. This strategy worked until the latter physically abused the Baroness, crossing the line for what she was willing to tolerate.
* SlippingAMickey: It’s heavily implied that Aurelia is spiking her husband’s tea with a sleeping agent, as not drinking it levars him without his usual symptoms of tiredness.

* SupernaturalAngst: It’s implied that Aurelia hates her vampiric nature, but that her curse has progressed to the point where she has to eat corpses to sustain herself.
* TragicMonster: [[OlderThanTheyThink Even before]] Literature/VarneyTheVampire, Aurelia has a fair amount of angst, the source of which is a DrivingQuestion for Hippolytus before the TwistEnding. [[RewatchBonus Rereading the story, it’s pretty obvious that her curse is what she loathed.]]
* VampiresAreSexGods: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed.]] While Aurelia is presented as attractive she’s not TheVamp, and her desire to marry Hippolytus seems genuine.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Hoffmann’s vampires are capable of passing themselves off as upstanding members of society, but behave like savage animals when it’s time for them to feed. Essentially, they manage to embody both the [[VampiresAreSexGods charming aristocrat]] and the [[FeralVampires bloodthirsty monster]] type of vampires.
* WackyCravings: The local doctor diagnosed Aurelia’s symptoms as simply signs of pregnancy. He then goes on to describe an extreme case where an expecting mother [[IAmAHumanitarian developed an appetite for her husband’s flesh]] and cut him to death with a knife. This turns out to be quite a bit closer to Aurelia’s situation than he likely believed.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: While Aurelia dies after biting her husband, her coven is completely unaccounted for, and — as far as we know — still around to terrorize the area.

A 1820 horror tale, written by Creator/ETAHoffmann. Originally published as part of the story collection ''The Serapion Brethren'', it has since been published on its own as a self-contained short story.

After Sylvester brings up Creator/JohnWilliamPolidori's [[FollowTheLeader then recently published]] story Literature/TheVampyre to his friends, a discussion of vampirism ensues. One of said friends, Cyprian, then goes on to tell a story he claims to have heard from a friend, about very real vampires who terrorised [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield an unspecific foreign land]] not too long ago.

* OnlySaneMan: The briefly mentioned uncle of our protagonist, who advices him to give up on his relationship with Aurelia, lest it will ruin him. [[AdviceBackfire Hippolytus ignores his warning, but the rest of the story ends up proving him right.]]