''The Carpathian Castle'' (french: Le Château des Carpathes) is a novel by
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
first published in
1892
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States.
* February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado.
* February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...
. It is possible that
Bram Stoker
Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...
took inspiration from this for his 1897 novel ''
Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
''. Due to castle aspect and local toponymy, it is assumed that in
Hunedoara county
Hunedoara County () is a county ('' județ'') of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva. The county is part of the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion.
Name
In Hungarian, it is known as , in German as , and in Slovak as ...
inspired Jules Verne.
Title
The original French title was ''Le Château des Carpathes'' and in English there are some alternate titles, such as ''The Castle of the Carpathians'', ''The Castle in Transylvania'', and ''Rodolphe de Gortz; or the Castle of the Carpathians''.
Synopsis
In the village of Werst in the
Carpathian mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
(in the then
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
), some mysterious things are occurring and the villagers believe that
Chort
A chort (Russian: чёрт, Belarusian and Ukrainian: чорт, Serbo-Croatian ''čort'' or ''črt'', Polish: ''czort'' and ''czart'', Czech and Slovak: ''čert'', Slovene: ''črt'') is an anthropomorphic malign spirit or demon in Slavic folk ...
(the
devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
) occupies the castle. A visitor to the region, Count Franz de Telek, is intrigued by the stories and decides to go to the castle and investigate. He finds that the owner of the castle is Baron Rodolphe de Gortz, with whom he is acquainted; years earlier, they were rivals for the affections of the celebrated Italian prima donna La Stilla. The Count thought that La Stilla was dead, but he sees her image and hears her voice coming from the castle. It is later revealed that it was only a projected still image accompanying a high-quality phonograph recording.
In the media
* The 1981 Czechoslovak comedy feature film ''
The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians
''The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians'' ( cs, Tajemství hradu v Karpatech) is a 1981 Czech comedy film directed by Oldřich Lipský. It is based on Jules Verne's novel '' The Carpathian Castle''.
Production
The film marks Lipský's third ...
'' is based on this novel.
Further reading
*
External links
''The Castle of the Carpathians''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpathian Castle
1892 French novels
1892 science fiction novels
Novels by Jules Verne
Culture of Transylvania
Transylvania in fiction
Novels set in Romania
Works set in castles
French novels adapted into films
Novels set in Hungary