Vampiric Literature In General

Betrothed2Death · 03-25-2006, 03:22 PM

... thoughts?? I tend to love the stuff myself... I just bought this book called the Vampire Watcher's Handbook: A Slayer's Guide and although it was a little less than I had anticipated, there still is some good information in it. I read it like a story book though since it's a bit bogus. XP
There is this one book that I really want to buy, however, called Vampire: An Encyclopedia (I think) and REALLY want it. It's SO thick and is bound to be filled with so much information. I can't wait! I love reading up on the history and origins of vampires back to Vlad the Impaler and Elisabeth Bathory. I'm not so up to thinking that there are real undead members out there but I do believe that there are psychos that think they are vampires and must survive off of blood (but don't we all know that) and also that there are certain people that are, I guess, occultists or something that do have an ability to feed off of others' energy. I think that they're referred to as Psi-Empaths or something, I don't remember.
But I still love the idea of the original Vampire.. trapped between worlds.. existing for eternity.. feeding off human blood.. shunning the light and so on.. So romantic!! *sigh* tee hee. I am, in the process of writing my own Vampire novel. It is quite fun.

~Gaia<3

Circle V · 03-25-2006, 03:58 PM

Eh. Vampires can be cool if they're dealt with in an original way-- that is, almost never.

Betrothed2Death · 03-25-2006, 04:53 PM

I agree. In my story, however, I take the bits that other people wrote about Vampires and not the ones I don't like. Then I sort of twist them and add new bits to create my own version of the Vampire. I try to give a scientific explanation (or as scientific as you can get) to Vampirism such as : you don't actually die when bitten but your heartbeat slows to such a slow pulse that people assume you to be dead which is why when people were buried, thought to be dead, and they "came back to life" it's because they never died. Things of that nature. I get more in depth in the book.. like freakishly in depth.

Circle V · 03-25-2006, 05:00 PM

If I were to write about vampires (and I have, in a way) I would entirely sever almost every tie to the romanticized vampire concept that so many Goths love. It's exactly the overtly romantic approach that ruins it for me-- I prefer understated romance. I don't like it shoved into my face.

Betrothed2Death · 03-25-2006, 05:11 PM

Well, how would the romanticized vampire shove it in your face? what is it that you don't like about it?

Shi'ark · 03-27-2006, 12:51 AM

I’m reading The Vampire Lastat right now. It’s good though at times is move a bit slowly for my taste.

I’d like to read a book about the mythology of vampires before Dracula was written. You know, all the old Folk law which some people actually believe.those were dark time when people were much more open to the supernatural. In resent time I think with the amount of Vampires in pop-cultural, it’s became a bit Waltered down with much of the same thing again and again.

Now days because we have seen so much of him Dracula, far from being one of the most frightening men in all of Literature, is now more of a comic book character

angel011 · 03-27-2006, 01:29 AM

Well, Shi'ark, here's a little something about vampires, if you like. In Serbia (that's where I live, and that's where the vampire myth originated) it was believed that vampires were red in the face (from all the blood they've taken), not pale. They didn't transform anyone into a vampire, they just killed people by draining them. If someone was a bad man during his life, he would, after he died, rise as a vampire; or, if an animal stepped over the body of a recently deceased, the person could come back as a vampire, so the bodies were guarder until the funeral.

Vampires would also, sometimes, go back to their wives, especially if the wife was young and pretty. Sometimes there were children from such unions, and those children were especially skilled at killing vampires. Vampires were killed by staking with an iron stick through the stomach (the stomach was usually swolen with all the stolen blood). You had to be carefull, though, since a little butterfly was likely to escape from the vampire's mouth -- that was the vampire's soul, and it had to be destroyed too.

Up until two hundred years or so, in the more rural parts of Serbia, people were still digging up corpses and staking them, if, say, children were weakening and dying in the area and no one knew the reason for it (the reason, most likely, was that there was not enough food for the children).

tenet_2012 · 03-27-2006, 01:31 AM

I am Legend is my favorite vampire novel.

Shi'ark · 03-27-2006, 01:33 AM

“Serbia”. How interesting

Thanks for that.

Mood · 03-27-2006, 01:40 AM

Anne Rice writes the only Vampire stories for me. I can't stomach other's modern interpretations after her.

Vampiric fiction is just one big, attractictive thought process for our darker and more violent thoughts. I like them because I like the idea that people might react in those ways if indeed they were vampires.

ChreRot · 03-27-2006, 01:59 AM

I am Legend is a great story that was one of the source inspirations for Romero's Dead "quadrilogy". Excellent twist ending.

Salem's Lot is another cited work but I feel the second act simply falls apart. Less compelling than the first act.

My favorite has to be Fevre Dream by George R R Martin.

Much of the genre treats vampires as Hamilton or Rice rips. Or simply gratuitious gory pulp monsters.

Mood · 03-27-2006, 02:01 AM

And those are no fun. There has to be more to the story than the Vampires, that's for sure.

ChreRot · 03-27-2006, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mood

And those are no fun. There has to be more to the story than the Vampires, that's for sure.

Absolutely, of course Stoker's Dracula and Le Fanu's Camilla deserve mentioning.

Mood · 03-27-2006, 02:12 AM

I was never much into the idea of Vampires until Rice introduced me to her idea of human vampires in that wonderfully romantic and dark way.

I don't think my dark fantasies are blunt enough to actually appreicate Stoker's Dracula...I just don't care. But at some point I will read it for education's sake, then we will see if my pre-assumptions were actually in the ballpark or not.

tenet_2012 · 03-27-2006, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChreRot

I am Legend is a great story that was one of the source inspirations for Romero's Dead "quadrilogy". Excellent twist ending.

They are making another movie based on the book starring Will Smith.

It will be out this summer. I forget the title of the movie, though.

ChreRot · 03-27-2006, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mood

I was never much into the idea of Vampires until Rice introduced me to her idea of human vampires in that wonderfully romantic and dark way.

I don't think my dark fantasies are blunt enough to actually appreicate Stoker's Dracula...I just don't care. But at some point I will read it for education's sake, then we will see if my pre-assumptions were actually in the ballpark or not.

It is a gothic classic but you'll find Dracula a much less sympathetic character, quite frankly he is a menacing monster but no less fascinating than Lestat. And Stoker's antagonist was -derived- from European vampire legend and tradition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tenet_2012

They are making another movie based on the book starring Will Smith.

It will be out this summer. I forget the title of the movie, though.

I've read that too somewhere hope Hollywood doesn't thrash another classic.

angel011 · 03-27-2006, 02:24 AM

Will Smith?! Oh no! Yuck!

My apologies to any Will Smith fan reading this.

Mood · 03-27-2006, 02:25 AM

Like I said, I will read it, but someone important is going to have to get me a lot more interested in Vampires in general before I do.

angel011 · 03-27-2006, 02:28 AM

Quote:

It is a gothic classic but you'll find Dracula a much less sympathetic character, quite frankly he is a menacing monster but no less fascinating than Lestat. And Stoker's antagonist was -derived- from European vampire legend and tradition.

Heh. I found Stoker's Dracula to be more sympathetic character than Lestat.

Weird little me.

ChreRot · 03-27-2006, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by angel011

Heh. I found Stoker's Dracula to be more sympathetic character than Lestat.

Weird little me.

I can see where some would think Dracula is a tragic figure. But I guess in the back of my mind, I smell a snake in every piece of decieving dialogue. He is full of diabolical motives.

Mood, the novel is on the public domain and easily accessible through e-texts such as those at www.litrix.com .

Shi'ark · 03-27-2006, 03:34 AM

I did try to read Dracula but found it far to over-rated to finish. Far from tragic figure or menacing monster I found him in the book 2 demonstrable and bland. Much the same with the other character in the story.

Some of the films are much better with actors fleshing him out much more. Now I think of it, I don’t think the book wasn’t even a big seller an till Bela Lugosi put on a diner jacket.

Demonista_Ravenesque · 03-27-2006, 03:59 AM

I like that book I made in kindergarten, about my teacher, the Vampire.

roserougesang · 03-27-2006, 04:01 AM

Whether or not vampires are or were like what people write about them, it is still fascinating to see what folklore from different countries and authors think about them. In some cases, different interpretations can be on completely opposite sides of the spectrum. I still prefer Anne Rice's books, Interview with the Vampire was the best one in my opinion.

ChreRot · 03-27-2006, 04:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shi'ark

I did try to read Dracula but found it far to over-rated to finish. Far from tragic figure or menacing monster I found him in the book 2 demonstrable and bland. Much the same with the other character in the story.

Some of the films are much better with actors fleshing him out much more. Now I think of it, I don’t think the book wasn’t even a big seller an till Bela Lugosi put on a diner jacket.

Oh yeah, Dracula is simply a monster. No pathos at all. But the book offers a commentary on gender class and sexuality in Victorian times.

For a more sympathetic and developed vamp, seek the lesbian vampire short written by Le Fanu titled Carmilla with a female empowerment theme. Fellow Irishman Le Fanu gives much more serious depth and dimension to his female main. In fact this story written earlier than Stoker's served as asource inspiration for Dracula novel but only he reversed the gender roles.

ChreRot · 03-27-2006, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roserougesang

I still prefer Anne Rice's books, Interview with the Vampire was the best one in my opinion.

Anne Rice and the 20th Century proliferation of vampire literature and cinema are indebted to Stoker and Le Fanu. I really don't know how the subgenre, from a speculative point of view, what would have become of the subgenre or it's evolution in their absence (a la if both works were never published). Makes for an interesting thought to chew on.