Text 1 Vampire literature

Still to seek the God's long sever'd link,

Still to love the bridegroom I have lost,

And the lifeblood of his heart to drink.

Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent:

Then ghastly haunt thy native place,

And suck the blood of all thy race;

At midnight drain the stream of life;

Yet loathe the banquet which perforce

Must feed thy livid living corse:

Thy victims ere they yet expire

Shall know the demon for their sire,

As cursing thee, thou cursing them,

Thy flowers are withered on the stem.

Vampires may lie hidden for centuries, but periodically they emerge from the darkness of the world's imagination into folklore, literature, and media. When they come forth, they take a variety of forms, among them the Roman lamia, the Gothic nosferatu, the Victorian aristocrat, or the contemporary heroic antagonist. The very phrase "heroic antagonist," like "living dead," is contradictory, an oxymoron implying someone both admirable and subversive. Thus, the vampire's contemporary image

envisions a being who is simultaneously terrifying and attractive—even envied, a being whose allure reaches to the deepest levels of the collective unconscious. A hundred years ago, readers shivered with delight at Dracula's demonic vitality, but they also anticipated his inevitable demise at the hands of ordinary mortals determined to restore social and spiritual order. In recent decades, however, readers have thrilled to vampires who are neither diabolical nor repulsive but chic and active in a universe where ambiguity prevails.
Hundreds of modem and contemporary authors have written stories and novels that reenvision vampire mythology, and numerous scholars have explored the value of the field and its development. Among the most prominent of these scholars are Margaret L. Carter (ed., Dracula: The Vampire and the Critics), Carol Margaret Davison (ed., Bram Stoker's Dracula: Sucking Through the Century), and Elizabeth Miller (ed., Dracula: The Shade and the Shadow), whose critical anthologies have secured the position of Stoker's novel as not just the central text in vampire fiction but as the major link between one mode of perception and another. Other critical collections have moved beyond single-text studies. In Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture (eds. Joan Gordon and Veronica Hollinger), a number of authors and scholars scrutinize diverse literary and cinematic texts for their metaphorical implications in the postmodern world. On the other hand, The Vampire: A Casebook (ed. Alan Dundes) does not concentrate on the vampire of fiction and film; instead, this collection examines the vampire as a folk tradition with profound anthropological and psychological ramifications for humanity. Individual analyses have also contributed to the awareness of a changing perception, particularly in the area of cul tural studies, where the work of Nina Auerbach (Our Vampires, Ourselves) and that of Ken Gelder (Reading the Vampire) stand out.
All these works—and more—have significantly impacted vampire criticism. The Blood Is the Life: Vampires in Literature also hopes to have an impact, particularly on readers who are interested in the vampire's literary history and variety. This collection is intended for a broad audience engaged in reading and thinking about those works that may be considered among the classics of the vampire canon, from its Romantic origins to its millennial manifestations. Rather than focusing on theory,

the contributors have chosen to view vampire literature from a humanist perspective, to balance intellectual criticism with specific detail in a way that will introduce a general audience to the significance of the genre. To that end, the collection essentially concentrates on thematic surveys and investigations of primary works. Making no claim to be all-inclusive, the essayists try to be both readable and thought-provoking as they trace the literary evolution of the vampire.

with its wide survey of print texts. Contributors may make cinematic

observations in passing, but only in the core bibliography are key critical

works such as those listed above specifically included in this volume.

the Chronicles. Rice's vampires function as heroic antagonists, with a significance that goes beyond narrative: they radiate a sensitivity based on their uniqueness and their force, qualities coveted yet feared by a culture that reveres individual strength even as it proclaims general equality. With eternity perceived as the daily here-and-now, vampires—and, by corollary, humans—can claim identity and a share of the universe only through an assertion of will or energy that allows them to dominate

others and, through that domination, to distinguish themselves from the herd of victims. In fictive metaphor, the ability to carry out such domination constitutes the power—seductive or violent or both—of the vampire myth.
When vampires become the norm, however, they may lose distinction and power, a situation noted by Mary Pharr in her essay on the effects of mass appetite in Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot, and Whitley Strieber's The Hunger. In contrast, Joe Sanders tracks Fred Saberhagen's resurrection of Dracula, a vampire who has not only retained power and position but has also changed his

image from unmitigated monster to unsentimental hero. Begun as something of a lark, Saberhagen's Dracula has grown into a figure whose renown is fit for a time that has abandoned historical and spiritual certainty. This ambiguity is further demonstrated by S. P. Somtow's Timmy Valentine, the boy vampire—described as both an angel and a demon— whose fragmented persona is analyzed by Leonard G. Heldreth in the closing essay of this section.

the emblem of the vampire is one of necessary predation, wherein individuals with secret abilities or arcane powers feed on and rise above the rest. Yet by rising, the vampire offers those below a glimpse of the possibilities beyond the ordinary. In a world hungry for mystery, both angel and vampire signify the human need for an external agent who exemplifies an alternative to diurnal reality and death.

less stream of paperbacks in the Star Trek and Star Wars series. Further, in this time that has coined the phrase "creative nonfiction," writers and readers are also eager for fictional reinterpretations of real-world history: mark the dissolution of whatever line once theoretically existed between fact and fiction in Tomás Eloy Martínez's Santa Evita. Such reinterpretation has always existed in literature, of course, but seldom have authors and audience alike so openly relished the permutations that a coalescence of fact and fiction can provide.

folklore and literature as rebels and subversives. Bernadette Lynn Bosky continues this exploration of the insurgent nature of the myth with her survey of vampire erotica and pornography, wherein the issues implicit in sexual discourse become explicit. While some writers (e.g., Poppy Z. Brite) invoke such discourse through stories of compelling carnality, others use a more delicate sensuality, as noted in Lillian Marks Heldreth's analysis of the exquisite vampire variations in the work of Tanith Lee. Either way, the vampire remains a figure of intense desire—a figure of ecstasy but not necessarily of contentment.

Roxanne Rhoads Oct 22, 2007

Vampire myths, legends and folklore have existed throughout the ages all over the world. They have appeared in some shape or form in almost every culture and society. Vampire myths are as old as human civilization

itself. The myths change from culture to culture and from geographical area to geographical area and the myths have evolved along with the times.

Dracula we are still bound by human laws and morality, while the vampire is bound by nothing except perhaps their own conscious if they retain one. The vampire has become even more popular in our youth and sex obsessed culture. How perfect, a creature that is immortal, retaining youth and beauty forever, forever able to indulge in dark desires and sexual urges.

Throughout the hero's journey, the shadow seems to be a constant companion; a force in which the hero can neither ignore nor abandon, yet in regards to the vampiric hero, the shadow is not only the monster he is, but the monster he is attempting to flee, i.e. himself. Victoria Lynn Schmidt clarifies the essence of the shadow as stating it is the dark side in which "he has to face his faults and fears around him" (Schmidt 186). However, with the vampire, the shadow is at once inside and outside of him; he is the monster which is capable of taking a life, yet it is the fear of being alone which propels the vampire to seek out companionship. The dichotomy is perplexing and unnerving to the vampire; yet, the vampire is simply a fictional character, placed into a very real, psychological world.