The Vampire: From Revenant to Gothic Hero

At the end of the nineteenth-century, the novelist Bram Stoker transformed a relatively obscure revenant creature into the elegant gothic villain we know as Dracula.

Stoker’s novel and other early literary iterations of the vampire drew on assumptions about the supernatural, especially ideas about revenants and antagonistic liminal spirits.

The vampire is a superbly syncretic creature, a metaphor for anxieties, desires and fears. It has become both more frightening and more domesticated through films, fictions and popular culture.

This course considers the changing nature of vampires and vampirism by examining the origins of this supernatural creature and the ways in which it has been adapted in different genres from horror films to children’s literature.

Learning and teaching

The module will be delivered through ten 2-hour sessions.

These sessions will consist of a 1-hour lecture followed by class discussion and group work on specific topics relating to the module.

The discussion and group work will enable students to think critically and contribute to the debates and topics presented during the lectures.

The discussion-led sessions and the lectures will be supplemented by resources available to students via Learning Central.

1. Introduction: What is A Vampire?
2. Creating the Literary Vampire
3. Classical Forbears: Lamias and Incubi
4. Medicine and Magic: The Vampire in the Enlightenment
5. Historical Figures as Vampires
6. Death and Deviant Burials
7. Reviving the Vampire in Modern Fiction and Film
8. Feminist Vampires and the Femme Fatale
9. Goth Culture and Vampire Traditions

Visit to Special Collections

Coursework and assessment

Formative assessment / feedback will occur on a weekly basis through class discussion and group work.

Assignment 1 (Critical Review): 30% - Exact nature of the task will vary from year to year. 500 words. Week 5-6.

Assignment 2 (Essay): 70% - Exact nature of the task will vary from year to year. 1000 words. End of the module.

Reading suggestions

• Paul Barber, Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988)
• Mary Hallab, Vampire God: The Allure of the Undead in Western Culture (Albany: SUNY Press, 2009).
• Bill Hughes and Sam George (eds), Open Graves and Open Minds: Representation of Vampires and the Undead from the Enlightenment to the Present (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015)
• Patricia Pender, I’m Buffy and You’re History: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Contemporary Fiction (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2016).
• Jeffrey Weinstock The Vampire Film: Undead Cinema (London and New York: Wallflower; 2012).

Library and computing facilities

As a student on this course you are entitled to join and use the University’s library and computing facilities. Find out more about using these facilities.

Accessibility

Our aim is access for all. We aim to provide a confidential advice and support service for any student with a long term medical condition, disability or specific learning difficulty. We are able to offer one-to-one advice about disability, pre-enrolment visits, liaison with tutors and co-ordinating lecturers, material in alternative formats, arrangements for accessible courses, assessment arrangements, loan equipment and dyslexia screening.