Our Vampires, OurselvesThis “vigorous, witty look at the undead as cultural icons in 19th- and 20th-century England and America” examines the many meanings of the vampire myth (Kirkus Reviews). From Byron’s Lord Ruthven to Anne Rice’s Lestat to the black bisexual heroine of Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories, vampires have taken many forms, capturing and recapturing our imaginations for centuries. In Our Vampires, Ourselves, Nina Auerbach explores the rich history of this literary and cultural phenomenon to illuminate how every age embraces the vampire it needs—and gets the vampire it deserves. Working with a wide range of texts, as well as movies and television, Auerbach follows the evolution of the vampire from 19th century England to 20th century America. Using the mercurial figure as a lens for viewing the last two hundred years of Anglo-American cultural history, “this seductive work offers profound insights into many of the urgent concerns of our time” (Wendy Doniger, The Nation). |
Contents
Polidori and the Phantoms | |
Friends and Lovers | |
Carmillas Progress | |
Jonathans Master | |
The Blood Is the Life | |
Draculas and Draculas | |
Feminist Oligarchies and Kingly Democracy | |
Reagans Years | |
Queer Shadows | |
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Common terms and phrases
affinity Alan Raby American animal Anne Rice Anno Dracula authority become Bela Bela Lugosi blood body Bram Stoker Byron Carmilla castle Chelsea Quinn Chelsea Quinn Yarbro Christabel Christopher Lee coffin Coleridge’s corpse creature culture Dark Darvell dead death decade dream embodied erotic eyes fangs Fanu Fanu’s father fear female vampires feminist friendship Geraldine ghost Gilda girl Hammer films Hammer movies Helsing hero homoerotic homosexual Horror of Dracula human hunger intimacy Jonathan kill Langella Laura Lestat lives Lost Boys Lucy Lugosi male vampires melodrama Miriam monster moon mortal mother movie Murnau's never night nineteenth-century Nosferatu Palance patriarch Penguin Phantom Planché’s Polidori political predator prey psychic vampires Renfield reprint restore Rice’s romantic Ruthven Saint-Germain Salem's Lot scarcely seems sexual shadow social species spirit staked Stoker's Dracula transformation turn twentieth century Undead vampire stories vampire's Van Helsing Varney Varney the Vampire Varney's victim Victorian woman women Yarbro’s York