Tajemný hrad v Karpatech – V karpatských lesích stojí ponurý polozřícený hrad, který vyvolává děs a hrůzu u obyvatel blízkých vesniček. Krouží o něm spousta tajuplných a často naprosto neuvěřitelných příběhů. Jeho tajemství se pokusí odhalit krajem projíždějící hrabě Franz Teleke, který hledá svou ztracenou milenku.

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El gran escritor Julio Verne toma la tradición de la novela gótica del siglo XIX para escribir un libro alejado, en principio, de lo que nos tiene acostumbrados. Pueblos atemorizados por la presencia de un castillo maldito habitado por el Diablo; rivalidades por amores pasados; psicofonías y apariciones; muertos resucitados. Todo ello en Transilvania, Rumania. Sin embargo, fiel a su tradición, usa todos esos elementos para adelantarse al desarrollo tecnológico de su época e imaginar máquinas que hoy estamos usando o que quizá en un futuro cercano podremos disfrutar.

review of
Jules Verne's Carpathian Castle
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - March 18, 2013

This is the 3rd Verne bk I've read in a row now. It actually increased my admiration for him b/c it's so different from anything else that I've read. This is his "Gothic" novel & it does fit the bill. 40 yrs or so ago I went thru a phase of exploring Gothic novels - esp when I learned that the Surrealists liked them. I'd already read Bram Stoker's Dracula when I was around 12. Of course I read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. &, then, in no particular order, there was Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, William Beckford's Vathek, M. G. "Monk" Lewis' The Monk, & even Thomas Love Peacock's Nightmare Abbey, wch might be a parody of Gothic novels as well as of romanticism, & probably Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, another Gothic novel parody. Mainly lacking here is Polidori's The Vampyre. I cd care less about the 20th century stuff.

It's interesting to note that Verne's Carpathian Castle takes place in Transylvania & was published in 1892 - 5 yrs before Stoker's Dracula was published. From the introduction:

"In her biography of Verne, his niece Marguerite Allote de la Füye explains that during this period in which Carpathian Castle was written, Verne was plunged into so long-enduring a mood of sadness that his family were alarmed. She infers that he had some secret sorrow, and adds that "whatever tragedy was enacted behind that silence, he allowed no whisper of it to survive him." The implication is that it was some unhappy love affair, which in all probability was of a purely Platonic nature, for in such matters Verne, a devout Roman Catholic, was as austere as his own heroes." - p 5

The argument that his devout Roman Catholicism ruled out extra-marital sex strikes me as somewhat thin. If he was indeed so depressed, perhaps it had something to do w/ this: "On 9 March 1886, as Verne was coming home, his twenty-five-year-old nephew, Gaston, shot at him twice with a pistol. The first bullet missed, but the second one entered Verne's left leg, giving him a permanent limp that could not be overcome. This incident was hushed up in the media, but Gaston spent the rest of his life in a mental asylum. After the death of both his mother and Hetzel, Jules Verne began publishing darker works." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne )

Even tho Carpathian Castle is full of superstition & obsession w/ a dead woman, it's really completely different from the other Gothic novels. I wdn't call the mood 'dark' in the way that The Monk & Dracula are. It's really this difference from the other Gothic novels that makes it such a remarkable bk. Verne was a man of the scientific age, debunking superstition. Still, he was also an entertaining novelist & the bk's written very successfully as a mystery so one can't really be completely sure where he's going w/ it.

As much as I respect & enjoy Verne's writing, I've previously criticized him for always having classism somewhat everpresent w/ his rich heros & their loyal servants (read lackeys) - & this one's not much of an exception. & I've criticized him for his racism against Chinese in The Begum's Fortune (see my review here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17611386-the-begum-s-fortune ). SO, w/ every novel I pretty much expect at least a little of more-of-the-same & in this one there's a tad of anti-Semiticism. BUT, Verne's trying, I really think he was, to give everybody a fair shake - regardless of how ingrained in his society such prejudices were. Hence we get this:

"Who was its proprietor? A Jew of the name of Jonas, a good fellow of about sixty, having a pleasant if somewhat Semitic appearance, with his black eyes, hook nose, long lip, smooth hair, and the traditional beard. Obsequious and obliging, he willingly lent small sums to one or the other without being too particular as to security nor too usurious as regards interest, although he expected to be paid on the dates agreed by the borrower. Would to heaven that all Jews in Transylvania were as accommodating as the innkeeper of Werst!

"Unfortunately, this excellent Jonas was an exception. His fellows in religion, his brethren by profession - for they are all innkeepers, selling drinks and groceries - carry on the trade of money-lenders with a bitterness that is disquieting for the future of the Roumanian peasant. The land is passing, bit by bit, from the native to the foreigner. In default of being repaid their advances, the Jews are becoming the owners of the finest farms, which have been mortgaged to their advantage: and if the Promised Land is not in Palestine, it may one day make its appearance on the maps of Transylvania geography." - pp 40-41

Oh, well. I really wish he hadn't written that crap. Regardless, the novel does have 'eerie' touches that make it, at least seemingly, a Gothic novel in the typical sense:

"Suddenly a voice was clearly heard amid the general silence, and these words were slowly pronounced -

""Nicolas Deck, do not go to the castle tomorrow! Do not go there or you will meet with misfortune."

"Who was it said this? Whence came the voice which no one recognized, and which seemed to come from an invisible mouth? It could only be the voice of a phantom, a supernatural voice, a voice from the next world." - p 52

I don't want to spoil this by giving too much away. For readers who love intertextual reference, he refers to both James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) & Victor Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) - both of whom were alive in Verne's lifetime (8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905). While Carpathian Castle doesn't really have the atmospheric creepiness that many readers probably want from Gothic fiction, it's very Jules Verne & that was definitely enuf for me. ( )