SIOBHAN MADARAS
decade ago, the word ‘vampire’ would almost definitely have conjured up a different image to the one it presents today. Once before, we would have imagined cold, ostracised males with big fangs and big-collared cloaks. Unable to go out in daylight they would instead spend their days snoozing in coffins ready to hunt for human blood at night…unless they were unlucky enough to suffer the fate of a stake through the heart! Today that perception seems to have bowed out in light of a new breed of the ‘undead’. Current literature, film and TV offerings have moved away from the quintessential vamp and instead present us with ones that are both male and female and although still able to hurt people, now have souls. They fall in love with humans, sparkle in the sun and have defied all folklore by walking in daylight - yes Twilight, we’re talking about you. The new Edward Cullen era of vampires has certainly breathed life into the gothic genre and together with the help of fiction and TV adaptations such as True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, propelled the world of blood-thirsty predators to a dizzying height of popularity. On the back of this interest, Dr Sam George, a Senior Lecturer in Literature and MA Programme Tutor in Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire, has launched a brand new MA module - ‘Reading the Vampire: Science, Sexuality and Alterity in Modern Culture’.
The module began its first run in September for the
current academic year and offers students the chance to explore the concept and representation of vampires from their eighteenth-century origins all the way to the present day evolution of veggie vampires. The module also delves into the themes of ethnicity, gender and sexuality with reference to texts by John Polidori, Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, Anne Rice and of course, Stephanie Meyer.
The idea for the module developed during the A
time Sam spent researching and arranging the highly successful ‘Open Graves, Open Minds: Vampire and the Undead in Modern Culture’ conference that she held at the University in April 2010. The first UK vampire conference of its kind was Sam’s attempt to put British and Irish vampire fiction back on the literary map. Media interest in the research showcased at the
conference led Sam to the idea of extending the subject matter of the convention: “I had the idea of offering the Master’s module as a direct follow-up from the conference after people contacted me saying that they were keen to study the vampire genre at a higher level. I thought it was crucial to have a way of extending this burst of awareness. The publication that we are developing out of the conference has been edited by myself and will be adopted as a course book for the ‘Reading the Vampire’ MA module.”
Sam, who confesses to being fascinated with literary
vampires and the cultural themes they represent, is confident that the resurge of interest in vampire fiction can reignite students’ interest in literature. “My students are always talking to me about Twilight and similar texts. The wealth of subject matter in vampire literature made it a perfect way to study popular literature in a rigorous way, whilst giving an academic platform to new research. The genre is known among academics for dealing with social and sexual anxieties and recently vampire fiction has turned its attentions to the subject of sexual awakenings in teenagers, becoming a metaphor for teenagers’ wider anxieties about their bodies and desires. Sam says: “The new breed of vampires are far from monstrous, they are glamorous and sexy and have an emotional side. The attraction to vampire figures provides a safe way for teens to acknowledge these desires.”
Kathryn McKenna, Children’s Marketing and Publicity Executive at Simon and Schuster vocalises her agreement and believes that the popularity with vampire fiction has become less about actual vampires and more to do with useful metaphors. “When you look at it, Twilight is not a story about vampires but a story that manipulates all that vampires present and relates them back to teens in an understandable way, for example, bloodlust in many cases has now become undying love, complete infatuation and loyalty to one person. Supernatural fiction is so compelling because it touches on the topics of difference, isolation, loneliness and being misunderstood, all of which are relatable to teens and young adults growing up. These factors alone make it a very important genre in literature and one definitely worth studying.” f�
23
Photography: Istockphoto
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36