"Franciscus Columna: The Last Novella of Charles Nodier" by Charles Nodier Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the conte fantastique, gothic literature, and vampire tales. In this book, readers are taken back in time to a Europe of the past. Focusing on a fictional biographical text, this book is part mystery, part ghost story, and part engrossing step into history.