Vampyres
A Literary Anthology
Published on 20. October 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
512 pages
978-0-500-29677-6 (ISBN)
Description
A comprehensive anthology of vampires in literature, from Dracula to Twilight.
Christopher Frayling has spent 50 years exploring the history of one of the most enduring figures in the history of mass culture - the vampire. Vampyres is a comprehensive illustrated history of vampires in literature, from the folklore of Eastern Europe to the Romantics and beyond. Frayling recounts the most significant moments in Gothic history, while extracts from a huge range of sources - including Bram Stoker's detailed research notes for Dracula, penny-dreadfuls and Angela Carter's The Lady of the House of Love, are contextualized and analysed.
This revised and expanded edition brings Vampyres up to date with 21st-century vampire literature, including new text extracts, commentary and a revised introduction. Christopher Frayling also explores the development of the vampire in the visual arts, with illustrations ranging from 17th-century prints to 21st-century film stills, demonstrating the enduring appeal of the vampire from popular press to fine art and, finally, to film.
Christopher Frayling has spent 50 years exploring the history of one of the most enduring figures in the history of mass culture - the vampire. Vampyres is a comprehensive illustrated history of vampires in literature, from the folklore of Eastern Europe to the Romantics and beyond. Frayling recounts the most significant moments in Gothic history, while extracts from a huge range of sources - including Bram Stoker's detailed research notes for Dracula, penny-dreadfuls and Angela Carter's The Lady of the House of Love, are contextualized and analysed.
This revised and expanded edition brings Vampyres up to date with 21st-century vampire literature, including new text extracts, commentary and a revised introduction. Christopher Frayling also explores the development of the vampire in the visual arts, with illustrations ranging from 17th-century prints to 21st-century film stills, demonstrating the enduring appeal of the vampire from popular press to fine art and, finally, to film.
Reviews / Votes
'A genuine contribution to vampire studies' - John Carey, The Sunday Times 'The myth is endlessly adaptable, it will fit in with any culture and its preoccupations. It haunts the European imagination . . . If you care to know in great detail how Bram Stoker put Dracula together - what sources he consulted, what libraries he visited - this is the book for you' - Hilary Mantel, Daily Telegraph 'A very Baedeker of vampirism' - Observer 'A capacious book dripping with suspense and replete with horror' - Financial Times 'An admirable selection of 19th-century vampire stories in an anthology that shows how blood-soaked and fertile was the soil from which Bram Stoker's marvellous Dracula sprang in 1897' - Independent 'Frayling's introduction is an outstanding piece of literary history: he has exhumed all kinds of quaint and curious lore with the indefatigable scholarly diligence of a Van Helsing, and his account of what he found among the dead men is perceptive, absorbing and witty . . . Vampyres certainly has the power to grip and enlighten' - Kevin Jackson, Independent on SundayMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
3 Illustrations, black and white; 59 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
484 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-500-29677-6 (9780500296776)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Sir Christopher Frayling is an eminent wide-ranging cultural historian: the author of numerous publications on subjects ranging from vampires to Westerns; the writer and presenter of successful television series, whether on advertising, the Middle Ages or Tutankhamun. He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and was Rector of the Royal College of Art, London, from 1996 to 2009, where he remains Professor Emeritus of Cultural History. His many public appointments have included Chairman of Arts Council England; Chairman of the Design Council; and the longest-serving Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is the author of many books, including The Yellow Peril, Cinema: The Whole Story and Sergio Leone, all published by Thames & Hudson.
Content
Preface to the New Edition
Part One: A Literary History
Lord Byron to Count Dracula
Part Two: An Anthology
1. Lighten our Darkness
A Voyage to the Levant Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
Treatise on the...Vampires of Hungary [and Surrounding Regions] Dom Augustin Calmet
2. Lord Ruthven and His Clan
The Vampyre John Polidori
Fragment of a Story Lord Byron
A Visit to the Theatre Alexandre Dumas
Varney the Vampyre James Malcolm Rymer
3. The Tempestuous Loveliness of Terror
Wake Not the Dead Ernst Raupach
Aurelia E. T. A. Hoffmann
What Was It? Fitz-James O'Brien
4. A Creature of Folklore
The Family of the Vourdalak Alexis Tolstoy
The Fate of Madame Cabanel Eliza Lynn Linton
5. The Genesis of Dracula
'This man belongs to me'
Bram Stoker's Working Papers for Dracula
Bram Stoker's Research Papers for Dracula
6. Count Dracula
Dracula's Guest Bram Stoker
Dracula Bram Stoker
The Modernist Vampire: W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, T. S. Eliot
Postscript
The Lady of the House of Love Angela Carter
Part One: A Literary History
Lord Byron to Count Dracula
Part Two: An Anthology
1. Lighten our Darkness
A Voyage to the Levant Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
Treatise on the...Vampires of Hungary [and Surrounding Regions] Dom Augustin Calmet
2. Lord Ruthven and His Clan
The Vampyre John Polidori
Fragment of a Story Lord Byron
A Visit to the Theatre Alexandre Dumas
Varney the Vampyre James Malcolm Rymer
3. The Tempestuous Loveliness of Terror
Wake Not the Dead Ernst Raupach
Aurelia E. T. A. Hoffmann
What Was It? Fitz-James O'Brien
4. A Creature of Folklore
The Family of the Vourdalak Alexis Tolstoy
The Fate of Madame Cabanel Eliza Lynn Linton
5. The Genesis of Dracula
'This man belongs to me'
Bram Stoker's Working Papers for Dracula
Bram Stoker's Research Papers for Dracula
6. Count Dracula
Dracula's Guest Bram Stoker
Dracula Bram Stoker
The Modernist Vampire: W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, T. S. Eliot
Postscript
The Lady of the House of Love Angela Carter