Ce sujet est actuellement indiqué comme "en sommeil"—le dernier message date de plus de 90 jours. Vous pouvez le réveiller en postant une réponse.
1AndreasJ
I'm considering getting a copy of Treptow's Vlad III Dracula. Just wondering if anyone here's read it and if so what they thought of it?
2jcbrunner
I was not aware of this title. Reviews on Amazon and Goodreads sound favorable (the author's personal life - if true what is stated in some of these reviews - might be a red flag). Firstly, though I would read Radu Florescu's Dracula, Prince of many faces and, assuming you know German, Ralf-Peter Märtin's Dracula : das Leben des Fürsten Vlad Ţepeş, both of which are cheaply available and informative, especially the latter one.
The German language catalogue to a Dracula exhibition in Innsbruck, Austria Dracula : Woiwode und Vampir features nice illustrations, though I didn't like the vampire stuff.
The German language catalogue to a Dracula exhibition in Innsbruck, Austria Dracula : Woiwode und Vampir features nice illustrations, though I didn't like the vampire stuff.
3AndreasJ
Funnily enough, I had dismissed Florescu's book from consideration based on your review. (Later reading his contribution in Dracula didn't change my mind.)
I do know German, and the Märtin book does seem like it could be an interesting option. Thanks.
ETA: Märtin's book was originally published back in 1980. Is the 2001 edition updated any?
I do know German, and the Märtin book does seem like it could be an interesting option. Thanks.
ETA: Märtin's book was originally published back in 1980. Is the 2001 edition updated any?
4jcbrunner
I think that the 2001 edition of Märtin was updated, it is still a slim book.
Florescu is not bad if you accept its limitations of limited historical knowledge and nationalistic pride. His main message of "Dracula was based on a historical person" has managed to penetrate the public consciousness. The general public, unfortunately, isn't interested in a detailed medieval history of this backwater area.
Historical Vlad was a local strongman and Hungarian retainer trying and failing to control a backwater area (beyond even Transylvania), while the real prize was control of the Danube (Belgrade). While the German sources about Vlad (biased as they are) have been collected, to my knowledge, little exists about the texts in Hungarian and Ottoman archives. Given the linguistic complexity (Latin, German, Hungarian, Romanian, (old) Turkish, Arabic, ...), this would be a good candidate for a European research project. It would also help combat the excessive nationalism plagueing the area.
It would also reinforce that terror and torture are a sign of weakness and impotence when soft power doesn't work. Vlad's tenuous authority could only be kept up by violence which undermined it, leading to increased levels of violence.
Florescu is not bad if you accept its limitations of limited historical knowledge and nationalistic pride. His main message of "Dracula was based on a historical person" has managed to penetrate the public consciousness. The general public, unfortunately, isn't interested in a detailed medieval history of this backwater area.
Historical Vlad was a local strongman and Hungarian retainer trying and failing to control a backwater area (beyond even Transylvania), while the real prize was control of the Danube (Belgrade). While the German sources about Vlad (biased as they are) have been collected, to my knowledge, little exists about the texts in Hungarian and Ottoman archives. Given the linguistic complexity (Latin, German, Hungarian, Romanian, (old) Turkish, Arabic, ...), this would be a good candidate for a European research project. It would also help combat the excessive nationalism plagueing the area.
It would also reinforce that terror and torture are a sign of weakness and impotence when soft power doesn't work. Vlad's tenuous authority could only be kept up by violence which undermined it, leading to increased levels of violence.
