When the Undead Are Greedy for Money

By Mario Guslandi

02/08/2005

Féval, Paul.  Knightshade (Le Chevalier Ténèbre). Trans. Brian Stableford, Encino, CA: Blackcoat Press, 2003.  176 p. 

Almost forty years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Paul Féval (1816-1887) published Le Chevalier Ténèbre (titled Knightshade in the English translation) a novella loosely linked to the subject of vampirism, featuring the two brothers: Ténèbre, the tall one, the Chevalier Jean, allegedly an oupire "that is, an eater of human flesh"and the short one, Ange, the priest, claimed to be a vampire.

(Un)dead for 400 years, the brothers supposedly rest in two graves covered by black stones, set in the middle of the Hungarian Plain. Their reappearances in the world of the living, however, have nothing to do with the craving for human flesh or blood. Instead, they reappear in order to pursue criminal activities aimed at accumulating money and gold. Far from appearing as horrific monsters, the brothers prove to be scoundrels extremely skilled in the art of disguise, avid thieves with ambitious plans for getting richer.

Indeed Knightshade is more of a comedy than a horror novel, and  very little can be defined as supernatural in the two Brothers Ténèbre. Feval chooses to, rather than endow the brothers with characteristics usually associated with vampires, give his 'undead' human characteristics. For instance they bleed, as shown when they stab each other during a violent quarrel about the apparent disappearance of their booty. And far from taking nourishment from human blood, they have more ordinary appetites, as demonstrated in the episode where their quarry, the Marquis de Lorgères, manages to leave undisturbed while they’re taking a lunch break. Daylight does not harm them, and solitude is not their habit. On the contrary, they show up in society and gladly entertain people.  During one such instance, the brothers make an appearance at a banquet in the house of the Archbishop of Paris as  Baron Von Altenheimer  and  Monsignor Benedict, the storytellers who elicit frissons among the noble ladies also present. They relate the criminal deeds of the brothers Ténèbre--in other words, of themselves.

Yet, as the editor and translator Brian Stableford points out in his clever afterward, the reader is left wondering if, after all,  the two scoundrels really are the Ténèbre brothers or simply ordinary brigands employing  a fanciful tale as a device to confound listeners whom they intend to rob. The tale's ambiguity remains, therefore, one of its charms, and it contributes to the entertainment and fascination of the reader. If the story can perhaps appear too bland to the fan of vampire tales, used to bathe in a flood of blood, it will certainly please anyone looking for a satisfactory read. Féval’s narrative style is sparkling  and captivating, but, most likely, a good part of the author’s merit must be attributed to the excellent translation by Brian Stableford, who also supplies a learned, exhaustive iintroduction providing the historical background to the novel and many interesting explanatory  notes.