Embodiment of Vampire Archetype in Silver Age Novellas: “He” and “Mother's Love” by E. Nagrodskaya

O. Yu. Osmukhina; N. M. Mironov

doi:10.24224/2227-1295-2026-15-4-317-336

Embodiment of Vampire Archetype in Silver Age Novellas: “He” and “Mother's Love” by E. Nagrodskaya

O. Yu. Osmukhina, N. M. Mironov

https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2026-15-4-317-336

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Abstract

This article examines the novellas of Evdokia Nagrodskaya from the 1910s within the context of the Western European tradition of vampire prose. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time, the novellas “He” and “Mother's Love” reveal a fundamental and genetically determined tradition of gothic prose that shapes the Russian vampire literary canon. It is demonstrated, firstly, that in the novella “He,” infernal imagery serves to articulate the author’s masonic and occult beliefs: a connection with a being from a supernatural, otherworldly realm grants access to “secret” knowledge about humanity, but at the cost of one’s sanity. Secondly, it is argued that in “Mother's Love,” the phenomenon of vampirism acquires characteristics previously absent from Russian vampire literature. The analysis reveals that the struggle against the vampire takes on a pronounced gendered subtext, while its depiction is interwoven with numerous references to Western European traditions. Ultimately, it is shown that in both novellas, encounters with a blood-drinking undead entity — one that transcends the boundary between life and death and possesses occult knowledge (as does the antihero in “He”) — never result in a favorable outcome for the victim.

Keywords

Russian short stories of the Silver Age, the image of vampire in Russian literature, E. Nagrodskaya’s prose, Western European tradition, gothic chronotope

About the Authors

O. Yu. Osmukhina

National Research Ogarev Mordovia State University; Russian Christian Academy for Humanities named after Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russian Federation

Olga Yu. Osmukhina – Doctor of Philology, Professor, Head of the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature

Saransk++-

N. M. Mironov

Russian Christian Academy for Humanities named after Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russian Federation

Nikita M. Mironov– Project executor, Scientific Project Support Department

St. Petersburg

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Review

For citations:

Osmukhina O.Yu., Mironov N.M. Embodiment of Vampire Archetype in Silver Age Novellas: “He” and “Mother's Love” by E. Nagrodskaya. Nauchnyi dialog. 2026;15(4):317-336. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2026-15-4-317-336

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