Cameron, Brooke, and Lara Karpenko, editors. The Vampire in Nineteenth-Century Literature: A Feast of Blood. Routledge, 2022.

Abstract

Vampire is other, a symbol that inhabits the edges of boundaries and exists in liminal spaces. The vampire is a figure that at once inspires fear and longing within itself and in those with whom the creature comes into contact. The Vampire in Nineteenth-Century Literature: A Feast of Blood outlines the cultural characteristics of the Victorian vampire figure, arguing that John William Polidori’s 1819 The Vampyre: A Tale solidified vague and fragmented folk tales and legends about the walking, life-feasting dead into a new version that set the standard for the Victorian literary vampire and beyond (1). The book also looks at other Victorian iterations of the vampire that contributed to its currently recognized version. Through collected essays focusing on four major themes—race and postcolonization, desire and sexuality, time and history, and adaptation (6)—this volume examines how the vampire represents shifting cultural norms and fears of the Victorians in an era of unprecedented social and economic upheaval. The collection also traces the wanderings of the vampire, “not[ing] the distinctly global exchange of ideas” (3) that contribute to its modern conception, as the volume explores the colonial influences of the monster (4).