The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story

The Empusium is set in 1913, with Europe on the cusp of World War I. Longstanding tensions between nation-states are about to explode into unimaginable bloodshed. For the men sitting around Opitz’s dinner table, many of the tensions in Europe can be traced back to the question of national and religious identity. In examining the men’s assumptions and Wojnicz’s own experiences, the novel explores the complexities of identity. 

When introduced to the other guests, Wojnicz is immediately quizzed about his national identity. Wojnicz is Polish, and for many of the other characters, this is a key aspect of how to define a person: Wojnicz becomes the Polish “delegate” in this small social circle. His father, a keen nationalist, embodies much of the spirit of nationalism that Wojnicz is eager to reject. Wojnicz knows that there are fellow Poles in the village, but he avoids them. He does not want to be surrounded by people like himself, as he rejects the fixed identity of nationalism. He feels at home in the spaces between nationalities, languages, and ethnic identities. By refusing to have his complicated identity reduced to a geographic happenstance of his birth, Wojnicz indicates that he believes that identity is too complex and nuanced to be fixed.