Bathory → News → Autograph-signing of the book Erzsebet Bathory – Victim or Murderess

The autograph-signing of the book related to Juraj Jakubisko’s film Bathory took place at the NeoLuxor bookshop in Prague on 15 September 2008. The film’s director Juraj Jakubisko and its DOP F.A. Brabec as well as the book’s co-author Dana Galikova and graphic artist Lubomír Šedivý also attended the event.

The book was released along with the theatrical release of the picture on 10 July 2008 and it wa named Erzsebet Bathory – Victim or Murderess.

The book was published in Czech and Slovak language versions by the Czech Television inhouse publisher Edice ČT.

The book is a guide to the film of sorts. A key part of it deals with the proper historical context of the story, contains bios of the most notorious members of the Bathory family, psychological and graphological analysis of Countess Bathory, the background of the unjust ‚bloody‘ legend, as well as a record of the entire court case from the Countess’s detainment to her death. Moreover, the reader will be presented other medieval myths and stories featuring vampires and blood rituals, details from the lives of those Erzsebet’s contemporaries that have made it into the film. The second part of the book is dedicated to the making of the film and contains descriptions of locations (both historical and production ones) and interviews with the film’s makers and lead cast.

The book by no means strives to rule out whether Erzsebet Bathory was guilty or innocent, yet, it is divided into two competing bodies – two different colours allow to distinguish between the arguments employed in her defence and those commonly used against her.