Vampires have visited our nightmares, and lived in the darkest of our horror tales, but where does the literary history of these tales begin? In Three Vampire Tales, a new collection edited by Anne Williams, famous vampire works: Bram Stoker's Dracula, Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla," and John Polidori's "The Vampire." This anthology also features Lord Byron's "The Giaiour," Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Christabel," James Malcom Rhymer's "Varney the Vampire," and more.
In addition to the vampire tales, find critical texts, chronologies, cultural contexts, a filmography, and books for further reading. The book is an unforgettable reading experience, and a great resource for world literature study. The vampire tales come to life, in even more vivid detail, with these reference resources and more.
The Beginning of a Legend
Who can say precisely where the vampire legend originated, arising as they do from traditional folklore and old tales? The grotesquely undead image of a vampire, eternally preying upon the living, is a romantically Gothic spectacle in the imagination.
The Beginning of a Legend
Who can say precisely where the vampire legend originated, arising as they do from traditional folklore and old tales? The grotesquely undead image of a vampire, eternally preying upon the living, is a romantically Gothic spectacle in the imagination.
As Anne Williams writes, the Oxford English Dictionary records "the use of the word vampire in a traveler's account as early as 1734," but the term became well-known in 1813 with the publication of Lord Byron's "The Giaour." As Byron writes: "But first, on earth as Vampire sent, / Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent..."
Of course, earlier works like Coleridge's "Christabel" (1797) have been considered for their vampiric characteristics, even though the term vampire was never employed. Williams explains that Coleridge's Geraldine "has some notable vampiric qualities: she must be helped over the threshold and is notably stronger after her night with Christabel." And, then, if we look back even before the publication of "Christabel," Robert Burton writes about "a Lamia, a snake-woman of classical antiquity who feeds on the blood of her victims."
"The Vampyre" and Beyond
Of course, earlier works like Coleridge's "Christabel" (1797) have been considered for their vampiric characteristics, even though the term vampire was never employed. Williams explains that Coleridge's Geraldine "has some notable vampiric qualities: she must be helped over the threshold and is notably stronger after her night with Christabel." And, then, if we look back even before the publication of "Christabel," Robert Burton writes about "a Lamia, a snake-woman of classical antiquity who feeds on the blood of her victims."
"The Vampyre" and Beyond
John Polidori first published "The Vampyre" in 1819, but the first chapter was written by Lord Byron and the publishers liked to publicize it as Byron's book. "The Vampyre" is important as the first English vampire novel, though it's not nearly as famous as Bram Stoker's "Dracula," which was published in 1897.
Although Bram Stoker hasn't been considered as one of the greatest literary artists of all time, he managed to create the Dracula, a character who has haunted our nightmares, and jumped off of the pages of the book to become even more unforgettable on the big screen. Dracula represents the genre of vampire literature in all its blood-thirsty detail.
As Williams says, "Stoker's novel determined what we all know about vampires: they fear garlic and the cross; they sleep in the day in their coffins of native earth; they transform themselves into bats and wolves; the vampires victim becomes a vampire; they are the "Un-dead"--Nosferatu." The monstrous vampire represents the "other," but something of the horror in such a creature has captured our imaginations.
As Williams says, "Stoker's novel determined what we all know about vampires: they fear garlic and the cross; they sleep in the day in their coffins of native earth; they transform themselves into bats and wolves; the vampires victim becomes a vampire; they are the "Un-dead"--Nosferatu." The monstrous vampire represents the "other," but something of the horror in such a creature has captured our imaginations.
