Vampire

Anne Rice wrote Interview with the Vampire after her daughter died of leukemia.  Was there a connection; was she trying to grapple with the tragedy of what happened by writing the book?  I still think that Interview with the Vampire along with Bram Stoker’s Dracula are two of the best books in the genre.  But what is it that draws people to this mythical and fictional creation?

Legends of blood drinking spirits existed in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, but our modern day stories appear to have their origins in south-eastern Europe.  Mass hysteria occurred with accusations of vampire attacks in East Prussia in 1721; people had feared the undead before and continued to do so, and they didn’t understand the vectors of disease.  Peter Plogojowitz was a Serbian peasant who died in 1725 and shortly thereafter nine other people died.   It was believed that Peter had turned into a vampire and caused the other deaths.  Austrian authorities and a local priest were asked to exhume the body and supposedly found signs (e.g. hair and beard grown, no decomposition, blood in the mouth) of vampirism.   A wooden stake was put through the heart and the body was burned.  The case was published in a Viennese newspaper.

Lord Byron is credited by some with writing the first vampire story (actually a fragment), which was called Augustus Darvell (A Fragment of a Novel) (http://www.simplysupernatural-vampire.com/vampire-Byron-Augustus-Darvell.html).   Apparently the story was written during a rainy period in Geneva (1816) when Byron, Percy Shelly and Mary Shelly decided to amuse themselves by reading and then writing ghost stories.  Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein was the only one completed and published.  However, in 1819 John Polidori’s novel  The Vampyre was published (it was based on Byron’s tale).

Recently there has been a revival of interest in Vampires.  Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire in 1976 and went on to write several books in the Vampire Chronicles (ending in 2002).  There have been other books (check any library paperback section) and movies (Nosferatu, The Lost Boys, The Twilight Saga), and television shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Moonlight, Trueblood).  I  liked the Moonlight series about a vampire detective (which was actually based on a movie), have never seen Buffy, and like The Vampire Diaries a lot (but don’t try to read the books – they are awful).

So what is it that fascinates some of us about this?  Is it the thought of living forever and having amazing powers?  Is it the sexual turn on (all those burgeoning adolescent hormones)?  The adrenalin rush from being scared?  Most likely a combination of reasons.   The Vampire is the outsider, the focus of hatred and fear.  They have been the antagonist, but more recently have moved into anti-hero and hero status.   Perhaps they represent hidden desires, the dark side of our souls or as Jung would say, the shadow.

Each writer or creator seems to keep certain aspects of vampires and change others.  Invisible in mirrors?  Not in The Vampire Diaries.  Afraid of garlic?  Not in their most recent incarnations.  Able to turn into bats or other animals?  Not always.  Peter Plogojowitz apparently strangled his victims rather than killing them by drinking their blood.  Unable to live in the sun?  Not a problem if you have a witch’s enchanted ring.

Endlessly fascinating.