This novel is better than I had any anticipation of it being. I’d seen it among a friend’s luggage then later saw it at the library. Having just come off three weeks of nineteenth century novelists, I thought, Oh, something light would be a nice change. After all, I thought. Vampires. The book is about vampires. And not just any vampire, but the mack daddy himself, Dracula, the real Vlad the Impaler, who turns out to be the undead.Light reading. Sure. Six hundred and fifty pages of vampires that is less concerned with torn pulsing arteries than with the minutiae of historical research. And much like Dracula, to which Kostova’ novel The Historian owes an incalculable debt (more so than many another vampire novel), the novel is constructed as a story within a story within a story.One of the novel’s central conceits is how much of the story is told in the form of letters written by the young female narrator’s father. As this sum surpasses well over 300 pages in type, obvious plausibility considerations of scale arise, but only if you stop to think about it long enough. In the middle of the father Paul’s letters, he is handed a parcel of letters written by his mentor, Bartolomeo Rossi which are also substantially sized documents.As their stories take them further and further into Eastern and Central Europe, the texts begin to shelter one inside the other inside the other like Russian nesting dolls. As the narrator reads the letters of her father, Paul tells of visiting a Bulgarian scholar who reads to him from a manuscript which includes in its history yet another person’s lengthy transcription of in fact one more person’s reminisces about Vlad Tepes. This kind of layered story is most definitely part of Kostova’s novel’s sensibility, and it’s rather an amusing in-joke.What’s impressive about all this is how Kostova weaves three sizable narratives together, alternating time and place and narrative voice. We first are in Amsterdam of 1972 as our young narrator, a sixteen year old school girl, tells of discovering a mysterious volume in her diplomat father’s office and later of her journey to France. Part of what sends her out are the letters she is reading left to her by her father after he vanishes, telling of his travels and investigations into the Dracula legend in the 1950s Eastern Bloc. He is launched across the Soviet empire as well as through the byzantine mazes of Istanbul’s streets and libraries trying to discover what became of his missing mentor. Along the way as we try to find Rossi, we are told of his 1930s investigations into the Dracula legend in Romania.On top of that, there are vast stores of erudition on fifteenth century monasteries, the cultural divide betwixt Romanians and Transylvanians, the Walechian court, medieval church politics, central European folk songs, Bulgarian religious rituals based around old pagan traditions, historian cataloging and research methodology, and the overlapping history of Central Europe with its shifting rulers of Ottomans, the Orthodox church and its tiny fiefdoms, and the Soviet Union. For, thinking about it as an historian, the undead would have lived through an impressive array of eras.Consider this rather late passage:The “Chronicle” of Zacharias is known through two manuscripts, Athos 1480 and R.VII.132; the latter is also referred to as the “Patriarchal Version.” Athos 1480, a quarto manuscript in a single semiunical hand, is house in the library at Rila Monastery in Bulgaria, where it was discovered in 1923…This original manuscript was probably housed in the Zographou library until at least 1814, since it is mentioned by title in a bibliography of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century manuscripts at Zographou dating from that year. It resurfaced in Bulgaria in 1923, when the Bulgarian historian Atanas Angelov discovered it hidden in the cover of an eighteenth-century folio treatise on the life of Saint George (Georgi 1364.21) in the library at Rila Monastery….The second and only other known copy or version of the Zacharias “Chronicle” — R.VII.132 or the “Patriarchal Version” — is housed at the library of the Oecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople and has been paleographically dated to the mid- or late sixteenth century.Not your average vampire book, eh?And that’s one of the funny things about reading this novel. At times, you have to remind yourself that this is a book about vampires. Not that Kostova won’t remind you at some point along the way herself, but that there is so much enjoyable writing throughout, so much fun detective work, that at times the supernatural element seems almost decidedly secondary.Kostova knows well enough to keep the monsters off the stage as long as possible, merely make suggestive shadows lurk here and there on the periphery and affect a rather creepy atmosphere. After a point there are a hair too many overt murders that sap some of the menace, surprisingly, as they make the gathering darkness all too palpably concrete. Then there are a number of vampire staples that might turn up normally anyway. A bat flitters across a night sky. In the woods near a ruin, a wolf approaches the edge of the firelight. After sitting for some time near a railing cobby with webs, Helen Rossi, daughter of Paul’s mentor and mother to the unnamed young narrator, ends up with an enormous spider on her back. These stand-ins for the vampire are pleasantly unsettling without being accompanied by shrieking violins.What propels each of the main characters, the young girl (whose name we never discover), her father Paul, and his mentor, Rossi, is the discovery of a mysterious old book among their own, a book with one printed page, that of a dragon with a banner reading “Drakulya” while the rest of the pages are blank. Throughout the novel we find that each character who has become obsessed with the legend of Vlad Tepes possesses a similar book that came to them under curious circumstances. Why and how these volumes keep turning up is one of the novel's mysteries an it's one of Kostova's rather clever conclusions in her own well-thought out realization of the character of Dracula. And there is throughout the book an enormous cast of characters, not merely just historical personages, but various researchers and students and librarians and bureaucrats and all of them are well-drawn, interesting, and fully fleshed.We know, of course, from the very beginning, before the narrator even informs us, that when her father Paul speaks of a young beauty named Helen who he meets while trying to track down his missing mentor, that this will be the overtly absent mother of the young narrator. And, of course, since she is absent, we know there is a reason for that, and of course, as this is a horror novel, we know she is dead — or worse. Kostova manages to keep even that particularly familiar angle surprising. The author is at least a thorough-going plotter and she paces everything beautifully, setting up revelations with periodic sparks. All three story lines converge some hundred pages out from the novel’s end and from there the story picks up and aims squarely toward its conclusion.The actual climax of the novel as our heroes close in on Dracula and his daytime resting place seems rather rushed, ending just all abruptly as if Kostova had opted just to skip overt dramatics, which feels a bit of a cheat, though she does make up for this lack of action with a final pages reversal that is as unsettling as it is quiet.
The HistorianBy Elizabeth KostovaKostova received two million dollars for this debut novel, an almost unheard of sum for an unknown writer, but I’m sure it went a long way in reimbursing her expenses for the research that would have been required to write The Historian. Make no mistake, this is a lush and beautiful book, each passage is fleshed out in detail reminiscent of the grand medieval cathedrals and libraries in which it takes place. The reader is drawn into the past quickly and presented with the vast knowledge Ms. Kostova has of the Ottoman Empire, Eastern European folklore, and the legend of Dracula. At it’s heart, The Historian, is the story of a young man led to believe his missing professor has been whisked away by the evil Vlad Tpesch, Dracula. Paul xxxx is drawn into a world where history and myth walk hand in hand. He receives a mysterious book, blank save for the chilling emblem of a dragon at the very center. When he shows this book to his mentor, Professor Rossi, it sets into motion a chain of events that lead him from his university in London, to Constantinople, Romania, Bulgaria and eventually the Transylvania province of Walachia. Along the way he meets a mysterious Romanian woman also searching for Rossi, a noble Turkish Scholar, various priests and numerous villains. His steps are dogged by bureaucrats, as well as the undead, making this a long and complicated search not only for Rossi but for Dracula as well. Most vampire tales rely on cloaked figures, fangs gleaming, jumping out of dark alleys or taking the shape of a giant bat to prey on their innocent victims. The Historian has none of this melodramatic buildup. It plods along, gathering information about the real Walachian Prince, taunting not only our hero and his female companion but the reader with some menace and a few appearance of an undead librarian but for the most part the real blood sucking is minimal. I’m a history buff so the background information and the search for Dracula is something I find interesting. It has the feel of a research paper, but an intriguing research paper. However, I’m also a fan of vampire stories, so the slow methodical trudge and lack of actual sightings of the fiend are something I find irksome. It drags in too many places, and goes off on historical tangents that a scary story really shouldn’t. I can’t decide it the historical aspects and the amazing depth they provide help or hinder this book. It just seems to me that she could have tightened the whole thing up and gotten to the heart of the matter and the stake through its heart, sooner. I found The Historian to be rich and luxurious - kind of like a mink coat, unfortunately the pacing and unrelenting narrative make it about as useful as a mink coat in Florida. Still, I wouldn’t mind reading the next novel Ms. Kostova writes, maybe a biography of one of the historical characters in this book because she has a wonderful ability to bring her characters to life. My only hope is that Ms. Kostova spent her two million dollar advance wisely, hopefully not on a mink coat.
What do You think about The Historian (2015)?
Hmmm.I read this at work and one of the builders in the break room looked over the top of his copy of the Daily Star and asked if this was some sort of "how to" book (he understood that I was an archaeologist and thus interpreted The Historian to be some sort of quick guide to well, being a historian). And I sighed my deepest sigh yet, as another tiny particle of my soul curled up, died and flaked off and floated away into the ether.Obviously if I was a vampire I wouldn't have to worry about the condition of my soul because that would be long gone, along with worries about iron supplements and dental hygiene. Maybe not a bad thing in the long run. So Vlad Tepes, Prince, Impaler and legendary ruler of Wallachia, not to mention possible embodiment of Bram Stoker's villainous Count Dracula is a living breathing actual person who has taken to sending out teasers in the form of esoteric historic folios in order to lure unto himself a librarian, historian or archivist for nefarious purposes related to archiving. As every goodreader knows, book collecting is an addiction and so imagine having over 500 years in which to collect and hoard piles of papery goodness? Vlad is not averse to snacking on his bibliophilic staff either and this got me to thinking... what would be the tastiest of all professions? The conclusions I have drawn are based largely upon my perceptions of what each job actually entails. If you perform any of these professions then feel free to chip in and argue the pros/cons of your own tastiness.1. Chef: Generally a little plump, well-fed, uses only the finest ingredients and are subtly flavoured after years of rubbing things in butter, slurping down sherry, red wine, bouille bases with herbs and shallots. Lets face it these people are basically self basting here. The only potential downside might be the long term exposure to garlic.2. Athlete: Perfectly honed in their well muscled meaty suits and filled with more vitamins and minerals than you can shake a stick at plus with the added bonus of always having their blood pumping extra loudly due to all the exertion so they're easy to find.3. Lingerie model: scantily clad and used to drapping themselves over furniture in a way which might be appealing to vampires of a more traditional frame of mind. Exposed neck area for easy biting. 4. Dentists: Probably taste minty fresh and who is to say that a vampire might not need a scrape and polish now and again?However, I quite clearly digress. The Historian moves like a river, the edges (first and last section) swirl and spin and blood sucker you into a promising plot, however the centre has a sluggish meander where the waters get a little muddied. The story follows three generations of the same family and little by little their own history is shown to be interwoven with that of Vlad the Impalers. The narrative travels between Amsterdam, America, Oxford, France, Istanbul, Bulgaria and Romania so there are pleny of colourful scenery changes as the plot unfolds. I did enjoy this, all digression and prevarication aside and Elizabeth Kostova can write and is clearly an excellent historian in her own right, which is what pushed me on to the end without feeling the need to drive a stake through my own heart.
—Shovelmonkey1
The first third of the book is boring. The action builds up only on the second. The third is exceptional. It seemed to me that Kostova saved the best for last. Considering that this is her first novel, I would like to think that she still has a lot to offer.I found the first third boring because of the basic premise: that Dracula and/or his cohorts, Vlad the Impaler to be specific are still alive. What triggers this is the book that is found in the bookshelves of a university professor who has a daughter. The said book makes the daughter curious about Dracula so she goes hunting all over Europe for that Bram Stoker's most popular fictional character. Go through this is like reading an old typical children's book that when the old storytelling grandma, sitting on her creaking rocking chair, lifts the first page of the book, its characters jumps out of it and the innocent children gasp and with their eyes wide open shriek with joy and happiness. Then on the second third, Kostova upped the ante. This is as if the book graduated from the elementary and entered high school. First is my realization that the book was based on Kostova's real experience with her father. The latter was really fond of telling the young girl Kostova the tales about Dracula and this really made her interested on the old count's life. While reading a book and I get bored, I normally find ways to make it interesting like finding out entries in the internet anything about the author or the milieu of the book. At this point, the three milieus become very evident and quite interesting. The first is Paul the father of the narrator and his mentor and this is in the 30's. The second is Paul himself in the 50's and the third is the unnamed narrator (supposedly Kostova herself) in the 70's. The plot becomes interesting when the narrator realizes that the woman her father encountered in the 50's is actually her mother. So, the father sends her back home to look for his own mother and the daughter looks for his father. Apparently, there was no email or GPS or FB or SMS or Skype in the 50's nor in the 70's. Fine.The intellectual and brilliant parts of the novel are in the last third. It is as if Kostova graduated from high school and turns collegiate. Here comes the travelogue part of the book. Istanbul. Hungary. Flasback to Romania. Helen's mother has had an affair with the professor (of her husband) and is found to be a direct descendant of Vlad the Impaler. I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING and even if I know all these to be Kostova's work of imagination, I thought it was well done. From then on, Kostova was unstoppable. I will not tell you the rest of the story so as not to give too many spoilers. Just trust me at the three stories in it are tightly and skillfully interwoven and I had to double check if this was really Kostova's first. Very nice book to be her first. I'm impressed. Some of my friends did not like this book at all. Maybe they did not finish reading. Especially if they stopped somewhere on the first third? Bleh, that was really a big bore.
—K.D. Absolutely
This novel would have done well to have large parts of the first half culled. Although the first half is pleasant enough as a travelogue, especially the Eastern European scenery and impressions of Budapest that we are treated to, it soon began to feel tedious and I was pretty bored by the time the book began to pick up again.The last third is the best part of the book, so do try and push through until you get there.The biggest aspect I found to complain about, is that I'd expected a bit more solid history from it, taking in account the title and the premise of the book.I found the few scraps and tidbits the author threw at us about Count Dracul/ Vlad Tepes rather unsatisfying. I'd learned nothing from this book about Vlad that Wikipedia hadn't already told me.I enjoyed the polished, almost Victorian prose, which seemed in character with the setting of the book, though of course not all modern readers enjoy such a detached style.I also rather enjoyed the sub-plot about the protagonist's parents.I'd say the blurb is rather deceptive, though, because exciting, nailbiting stuff this is not.
—Traveller
