The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic LiteratureIn his Preface to The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature, James Twitchell writes that he is not interested in the current generation of vampires, which he finds "rude, boring and hopelessly adolescent. However, they have not always been this way. In fact, a century ago they were often quite sophisticated, used by artists varied as Blake, Poe, Coleridge, the Brontes, Shelley, and Keats, to explain aspects of interpersonal relations. However vulgar the vampire has since become, it is important to remember that along with the Frankenstein monster, the vampire is one of the major mythic figures bequeathed to us by the English Romantics. Simply in terms of cultural influence and currency, the vampire is far more important than any other nineteenth-century archetypes; in fact, he is probably the most enduring and prolific mythic figure we have. This book traces the vampire out of folklore into serious art until he stabilizes early in this century into the character we all too easily recognize. - Book Jacket. |
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Page 105
... story goes , skulked away.3 With the coming of the Shelleys to Lake Geneva Polidori was for the first time . since the trip began the odd - man - out , the exile from the exiled . Byron's friendship with the Shelleys and his amorous ...
... story goes , skulked away.3 With the coming of the Shelleys to Lake Geneva Polidori was for the first time . since the trip began the odd - man - out , the exile from the exiled . Byron's friendship with the Shelleys and his amorous ...
Page 124
... story , but the story itself ; and Varney , for all its vulgarity , established the vampire solidly in the culture of the most com- mon reader , where he has still continued to thrive . There is so little art in Varney that even other ...
... story , but the story itself ; and Varney , for all its vulgarity , established the vampire solidly in the culture of the most com- mon reader , where he has still continued to thrive . There is so little art in Varney that even other ...
Page 129
... stories , ballads , poetic dramas , reviews ) he is still best known for these bedside thrillers , the most famous of which is Carmilla . As a vampire story Carmilla is less diffuse than Dracula , less frothy than Varney , less dull ...
... stories , ballads , poetic dramas , reviews ) he is still best known for these bedside thrillers , the most famous of which is Carmilla . As a vampire story Carmilla is less diffuse than Dracula , less frothy than Varney , less dull ...
Contents
The Female Vampire | 39 |
The Male Vampire in Poetry | 74 |
The Vampire in Prose | 103 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature James B. Twitchell Limited preview - 1981 |
The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature James B. Twitchell,Twitchell No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
analogy Ancient Mariner artist attack Aubrey Bannerworth Basil Beatrice become Belle Dame Berenice Bertha blood body Brontë Byron Byronic Hero Carmilla Cenci century character Charlotte Brontë Christabel Coleridge Coleridge's critics D. H. Lawrence dead death demon destroy dhampire Dorian Gray Dracula dream Emily Brontë energy English evil explain eyes female fiction Geraldine Gothic Gothic novel Heathcliff James Jane John Polidori Keats Keats's kiss lamia later Lawrence's Leech Gatherer Ligeia literary literature living lover Lycius Madeline Madeline's male Manfred Mario Praz metaphor monster Morella mythic narrator narrator's never night novel Oval Portrait Poe's poem poet Polidori Porphyro psychological realizes Resolution and Independence Rime Rochester Romantic Ruthven Sacred Fount says scene seems sense sexual Shelley simply spirit Stoker strange sucking tale tell theme vampire motif vampire myth vampire story vampire's Varney the Vampyre victim wanted Wedding Guest woman Women in Love Wordsworth Wuthering Heights York young