The essays in this volume use a humanistic viewpoint to explore the evolution and significance of the vampire in literature from the Romantic era to the millennium."--BOOK JACKET.

String garlic by the window and hang a cross around your neck! The most powerful vampire of all time returns in our Stepping Stone Classic adaption of the original tale by Bran Stoker. Follow Johnathan Harker, Mina Harker, and Dr. Abraham van Helsing as they discover the true nature of evil. Their battle to destroy Count Dracula takes them from the crags of his castle to the streets of London... and back again.

Vampires have haunted humankind's nightmares for thousands of years but it was only about 200 years ago that they first appeared in works of literature. The undead have been a staple of fiction ever since and are likely to continue their hold on the reading public's imagination for years to come.

Comprehensive bibliography (1000+ items) is preceded by three critical essays, two by the editor and one by Devendra P. Varma, a scholar of Dracula and vampirism. A timely release considering the upsurge of interest in this field, and well done. Senf looks at why the vampire has evolved so significantly over the years and why in the 20th century it is primarily a character in popular literature while its 19th century counterpart was an important part of the literary mainstream. No index. Cloth edition, $32.95 (unseen). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The long and distinguished tradition of the literary vampire began in Germany during the Age of Enlightenment. German literature was the first to adapt the vampire figure from central European folklore and superstition and give it literary form. Despite these German origins, scholarly attention devoted to literary vampires has consistently focused on a select set of sources: British and French literature, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the phenomenon of the vampire superstition in general. While there have been many illuminating studies of pre-literary vampires and vampires that have already been firmly established as literary figures, the story of the crucial moment of transition from folkloric figure to literary subject has not yet been told. In The Origins of the Literary Vampire Heide Crawford redirects scholarly attention to the body of German poetry and prose where vampire folklore becomes vampire literature. This book focuses on the adaptation of the vampire superstition from central European folklore by German poets in the 18th and early 19th centuries for an audience that had become increasingly interested in superstition and occult phenomena in an Age of Enlightenment. In addition to establishing that the origins of the literary vampire in 18th and 19th century German poetry and prose were informed by the stories and reports of vampires from Central Europe, Crawford argues that the German poets who adapted this figure from superstition for their creative work immediately molded it into a metaphor for contemporary cultural anxieties and fears—a connection that would inspire horror literature in general and the traits of the literary vampire in particular for the 19th century and beyond. Contemporary culture has exhibited a marked fascination with eroticized and politicized applications of the vampire. This volume traces these erotic motifs, common political motifs and others to the first vampire poems that were written by German poets. Consequently, this book answers three central questions: What were the origins of the literary vampire; how was the vampire of folklore and superstition adapted for literature; and how did German poets contribute to the development of the vampire and Gothic horror literature? By answering these and other questions, The Origins of the Literary Vampire explains how the literary vampire became the ubiquitous horror figure it is today.

In this International Book Awards anthology finalist, the best vampire short stories from the first half of the 19th century are unearthed from long forgotten journals and magazines. They are collected for the first time in this groundbreaking book on the origins of vampire lore. Watch the book trailer: www.AndrewBarger.com/bestvampirestories1800.html The cradle of all vampire short stories in the English language is the first half of the 19th century. Andrew Barger combed forgotten journals and mysterious texts to collect the very best vintage vampire stories from this crucial period in vampire literature. In doing so, Andrew found the second and third vampire stories originally published in the English language, neither printed since their first publication nearly 200 years ago. Also included is the first vampire story originally written in English by John Polidori after a dare with Lord Byron and Mary Shelley. The book contains the first vampire story by an American who was a graduate of Columbia Law School. The book further includes the first vampire stories by an Englishman and German, including the only vampire stories by such renowned authors as Alexander Dumas, Théophile Gautier and Joseph le Fanu. As readers have come to expect from Andrew, he has added his scholarly touch to this collection by including story backgrounds, author photos and a foreword titled "With Teeth." The ground-breaking stories are: 1819 The Vampyre - John Polidori (1795-1821) 1823 Wake Not the Dead - Ernst Raupach 1848 The Vampire of the Carpathian Mountains - Alexander Dumas (1802-1870) 1839 Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter - Joseph Sheridan le Fanu (1814-1873) 1826 Pepopukin in Corsica - Arthur Young (1741-1820) 1819 The Black Vampyre: A Legend of Saint Domingo - Robert Sands (1799-1832) 1836 Clarimonde - Théophile Gautier (1811-1872)

From Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' to Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' series, vampires have fascinated and frightened young and old alike for centuries. This book examines their notorious history and legends, their evolution and portrayal in books, television and cinema, and the ongoing fascination with the 'vampire lifestyle'.