Impure Blood

Impure Blood (Serbian: Нечиста крв, Nečista krv) or Sophka is a novel written by Borisav Stanković. It is concerned with themes of Serbian south, in the reforming in late 19th century.

Synopsis

Vranje, end of the 19th century. Sofka is a 26-year-old beautiful virgin from a čorbadžija family. However, after the fall of the Sanjak of Niš to Serbia and the following social turmoil, her family had lost most of their fortunes and her father Efendi Mita had settled in the Turkish territory for business, leaving his daughter and wife behind and barring her from marriage. One day, Mita returns to Vranje and it is revealed that he has lost all his money and is now forced to have Sofka married off. The suitor is Tomča, the 12-year-old son of gazda Marko, a social climber and half-bandit who became rich thanks to his partnership with a rich Arnaut called Ahmet. Sofka agrees to save her family from financial troubles and marries Tomča but it soon becomes evident that Marko actually wanted Sofka for himself, to give him healthy and beautiful children. During Sofkas first wedding night, gazda Marko tries to claim his right to have the bride first but Sofka locks herself and Tomča in the bedroom while Marko was beating his wife and begging Sofka to let him in. Suddenly, Marko, scared from the desire he has for Sofka, runaway on his horse to go and fight Albanians. He is wounded and soon dead. After his death, Sofka and Tomča lived happily. Soon, Tomcha grows into an attractive man. Their happiness was interrupted with the arrival of efendi Mita who asked for the money he was promised by gazda Marko. Tomča was devastated by the fact that Sofka was actually bought by his father. He beats Sofka and goes away on his horse. That was the beginning of the end for Sofka. Sofka was now being daily abused by her husband. To get away from that reality she started drinking. Sofka starts having children, who are mostly born pale and ill. That was the curse of the 'impure blood' that had begun a long time ago, with Sofka's ancestors. Her beauty was gone. She became old and quiet, uninterested in anything but drinking and sitting in silence. At the end of the novel, Sofka is sitting near the fireplace with no fire in it, only ashes. She is seen going through the ashes with a stick while her children are running around the house, fumbling things.

Film adaptations

1948 film Sofka by Radoš Novaković and starring Vera Gregović is the first cinematic adaptation of the novel. In 1991, it was made into a film starring Maja Stojanović and released in 1997 as Impure Blood. A miniseries related to this adaptation and titled Tajna nečiste krvi was aired in 2012.