Jean Marigny

Jean Marigny (born 9 April 1939 in Cherbourg) is a French emeritus professor of Stendhal University in Grenoble, where he taught English and American literature. He is a specialist on vampires, from ancient folklore to modern vampire myth.

Jean Marigny has devoted much of his career to the myth of vampires, he is the founder of the research centre for studies in fantasy and horror in English and American literature: the Groupe d’Études et de Recherches sur le Fantastique (GERF, lit. ‘Group of Studies and Research on Fantasy’) which he directed several years at Stendhal University. He is also a member of the Canadian branch of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula.

After his doctoral dissertation in 1985, Le Vampire dans la littérature anglo-saxonne, he has published a number of essays and translated novels and short stories about the vampire theme. He published two anthologies, Histoires anglo-saxonnes de Vampires in 1978 and Les Vampires : Dracula et les siens (in collaboration with Roger Bozzetto) in 1997. He is the author of Sang pour sang : Le réveil des vampires (1992), a copiously illustrated pocket book that has been translated into eight languages (including English) and was a reaction to Francis Coppola’s Dracula. He also directed a collective work on Dracula for the collection ‘Figures mythiques’ published by Éditions Autrement [fr]. Marigny is considered one of the greatest vampire specialists around the world, particularly with regard to Anglo-Saxon fiction on the subject.

What fascinates Marigny about vampire is the character: a paradoxical being. As he explains, ‘No fictional character is more emblematic of the fantasy than the vampire. If it is true that […] fantasy is based on paradox, the vampire is the best illustration, since it is both dead and alive.’

Sang pour sang, le réveil des vampires (lit. "Blood for Blood: The Reawakening of the Vampires"; UK edition – Vampires: The World of the Undead; US edition – Vampires: Restless Creatures of the Night) is a pocket-sized book on vampirology published by Éditions Gallimard in 1992 in the Traditions series of their Découvertes collection. Jean Marigny traces in four chapters the history and evolution of this creature in legends and literature, from antiquity to the gaslit streets of London: the origins of the myth, the reference to Greek mythology in particular, confusion with the undead, fears related to the plague in Medieval times... (chap. Ⅰ, "Blood Lust"); the Church recognised the existence of the living dead (chap. Ⅱ, "The Consecrated Vampire"). The golden age of the vampire was in the Enlightenment era where such beliefs should have been banned (chap. Ⅲ, "The Golden Age of Vampirism"). Then in the Victorian era the vampire became an indisputable character of theatres and nightlife (chap. Ⅳ, "The Reawakening of the Vampire"). It is not Bram Stoker's Dracula, but the vampyre of John William Polidori is the first published modern vampire story, the book is dedicated to this Romantic writer. Marigny explains in the book that Stoker was inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla for his own novel. The book addresses, among other topics, the cult of blood, Vlad the Impaler, Countess Báthory, the superstitions, the reaction of the Church to vampirism and vampires in cinema.

At the back of the book is the "Documents" section containing a compilation of excerpts which is divided into seven parts: 1, Dracula, the tyrant; 2, Vampirism through the centuries; 3, The rationalist response; 4, The vampire in poetry; 5, The vampire in prose; 6, A night in Count Dracula's castle; 7, The vampire in film. These are followed by a filmography, further reading, list of illustrations and an index.

Sang pour sang was originally a reaction to Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula. After the film, media coverage around vampires was in full swing, therefore, Gallimard was looking for an author to write a book about vampires for their Découvertes collection. It was Jean Marigny, noticed by his dissertation on vampires in the Anglo-Saxon literature, whom would be chosen. After a few weeks of intensive work to match the release of the book with the release of the film, Sang pour sang was born. It was an immediate success that the book has sold 130,000 copies and was reprinted several times. It has been translated into American and British English, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese. A revised and updated French edition came out in 2010, driven by the success of the Twilight series.

• Le Vampire dans la littérature anglo-saxonne (1983), doctoral dissertation on Anglo-Saxon literature (published by Didier-Érudition in 1985)
• Histoires anglo-saxonnes de Vampires (Librairie des Champs-Élysées, 1978)
• Les Vampires : Dracula et les siens, in collaboration with Roger Bozzetto [fr] (Omnibus, 1997)
• Sang pour sang : Le réveil des vampires, coll. « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 161), série Culture et société. Paris : Éditions Gallimard, 1992 (new edition in 2010; nine international editions: American, British, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese)
  • US edition – Vampires: Restless Creatures of the Night, "Abrams Discoveries" series. Harry N. Abrams, 1994
  • UK edition – Vampires: The World of the Undead, ‘New Horizons’ series. Thames & Hudson, 1994
• Dracula (centennial of Bram Stoker’s novel), 1997
• Les Mondes perdus de Clark Ashton Smith, La Clef d'Argent, 2007, ISBN 9782908254563
• Dracula, prince des ténèbres, in collaboration with Céline du Chéné, 2009
• La fascination des vampires, illustration de Albert-Joseph Penot, coll. « 50 Questions » (nº 49). Klincksieck [fr], 2009
• Les femmes vampires, José Corti, 2010 (anthology co-directed with Jacques Finné [fr])
• Vampires : de la légende au mythe moderne, La Martinière, 2011