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Examines the enormous popular appeal of vampires from early Greek and Slavic folklore to present-day popular culture.
It seems we’re awash in vampires these days, in everything from movies, television shows, and novels to role-playing games, rock bands, and breakfast cereals. But what accounts for their enduring popular appeal? In Vampire God, Mary Y. Hallab examines the mythic figure of the vampire from its origins in early Greek and Slavic folklore, its transformation by Romantics like Byron, Le Fanu, and Stoker, and its diverse representations in present-day popular culture. The allure of the vampire, Hallab argues, lies in its persistent undeadness, its refusal to accept its mortal destiny of death and decay. Vampires appeal to our fear of dying and our hope for immortality, and as a focus for our doubts and speculations, vampire literature offers answers to many of our most urgent questions about the meaning of death, the nature of the human soul, and its possible survival after bodily dissolution. Clearly written, with wry humor, Vampire God is a thoroughly researched, ambitious study that draws on cultural, anthropological, and religious perspectives to explore the significance and function of the vampire in relation to the scientific, social, psychological, and religious beliefs of its time and place.
“Among the numerous studies published about the vampire in film and fiction, I would certainly rank Hallab’s Vampire God at the top. She has mastered the ability to blend her discussion with both interesting detail and larger social significance—a difficult balancing act indeed, and one that few have accomplished in cultural studies.” — Gary Hoppenstand, editor of The Journal of Popular Culture
“Compared with most academic books, Vampire God is a delight to read. Hallab brings a wry sense of humor to her book—and humor is something, it seems to me, lacking in most critical works. Within the limited focus of vampire lore and literature, Hallab covers a lot of ground, and she covers it superbly.” — Eric Miles Williamson, author of Oakland, Jack London, and Me
Mary Y. Hallab is Professor Emerita of English Literature at the University of Central Missouri.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Vampires and Science
2. Vampires and Society
3. Vampires and Psychology: Body, Soul, and Self
4. The Religious Vampire: Reason, Romantics, and Victorians
5. The Religious Vampire: The Twentieth Century
6. The Vampire God: Nature and the Numinous
Notes
Works Consulted
Index
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