Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture [Paperback]

Joan Gordon (Editor), Veronica Hollinger (Editor), Brian Aldiss (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0812216288 | ISBN-13: 978-0812216288 | Publication Date: October 1, 1997

The vampire is one of the nineteenth century's most powerful surviving archetypes, owing largely to Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula, the Bram Stoker creation. Yet the figure of the vampire has undergone many transformations in recent years, thanks to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and other works, and many young people now identify with vampires in complex ways.

Blood Read explores these transformations and shows how they reflect and illuminate ongoing changes in postmodern culture. It focuses on the metaphorical roles played by vampires in contemporary fiction and film, revealing what they can tell us about sexuality and power, power and alienation, attitudes toward illness, and the definition of evil in a secular age.

Scholars and writers from the United States, Canada, England, and Japan examine how today's vampire has evolved from that of the last century, consider the vampire as a metaphor for consumption within the context of social concerns, and discuss the vampire figure in terms of contemporary literary theory. In addition, three writers of vampire fiction—Suzy McKee Charnas (author of the now-classic Vampire Tapestry), Brian Stableford (writer of the lively and erudite novels Empire of Fear and Young Blood), and Jewelle Gomez (creator of the dazzling Gilda stories)—discuss their own uses of the vampire, focusing on race and gender politics, eroticism, and the nature of evil.

The first book to examine a wide range of vampire narratives from the perspective of both writers and scholars, Blood Read offers a variety of styles that will keep readers thoroughly engaged, inviting them to participate in a dialogue between fiction and analysis that shows the vampire to be a cultural necessity of our age. For, contrary to legends in which Dracula has no reflection, we can see reflections of ourselves in the vampire as it stands before us cloaked not in black but in metaphor.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Blood Read is a fresh look at an old form, offering lively, lucid insights into the contemporary explosion of vampire fiction. Nothing else like it exists. This book should set the terms for discussion about vampires for some time to come."—Brian Attebery, Idaho State University

About the Author

Joan Gordon is Associate Professor of English at Nassau Community College in New York. Veronica Hollinger is Associate Professor in the Cultural Studies Program at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812216288
• ISBN-13: 978-0812216288
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A facinating read, August 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture (Paperback)

While many readers are often hesitant to read a book of essays... this book is truly a facinating read. Ancient myths of vampires often revolve around evil and death, but these essays look at the familiar image in a new light, quite relevant to our modern society. Here we explore the many faces of the vampire going far beyond Stoker's "Dracula". Through these essays we see the vampire as more than just a stalker in the night, but as a symbol of our own human insecurities of sexuality, lonliness, and death. Readers of horror will love this book as a companion piece to old favorites as their eyes will be opened to a broader view of a facinating staple of both modern and classic fiction alike.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book on the vampire in literature, July 2, 2009

By 

Uni Professor (Boston) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture (Paperback)

I loved this book, so much in fact that it spoilt me for all the other texts in this field. Perhaps its the mix of authors and scholars that makes this so readable and enjoyable. Most of the articles are inspired, interesting and accessible to both scholars of the vampire and fans. Overall it made me run out and read every novel discussed that I had not experienced. There isn't a better book in this field. Buy it now!

21 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars There's so much to hate here, February 5, 2009

By 

Strobe (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture (Paperback)

First off, Brian Stapleford makes a valuable contribution with the only essay in this book that doesn't flounder in bitter self-absorption. I feel embarrassed for him for appearing in this collection. I bet he had no idea of the company he would be forced to keep. None of the following applies to him.

Otherwise, those interested in the vampire genre, literary criticism, or thoughtful social commentary will probably be tempted to throw this book across the room. It's that insultingly bad.

The editors' contributions consist of dry, meaningless buzzwords and cliche political hysterics in lieu of substance, which helps explain the lackluster state of liberal arts education in this country (because, unfortunately, they are both teachers). The essays by writers who gush about their own obscure vampire stories come off as sheltered fan-fic typers who never learned the difference between enthusiasm and talent. Most of the other contributors waste their pages projecting their own trite politics, sad neuroses and petty jealousies onto each author and story they ignorantly discuss.

For example:
* One writer asserts that Anne Rice's Interview With a Vampire is really all about America's obsession with dieting as orchestrated by the evil patriarchy (Note: This book was published by a university press, not a real publisher with quality control, so expect constant use of such pseudo-intellectual rhetoric in place of actual ideas. In fact, the different essayists seem to be in competition to see who can use the word "patriarchy" in the most sentences, so you can imagine how engaging they are to read.)

* Another writer philosophizes about how The Lost Boys was really all about demonstrating just how grave a threat capitalism poses to America's exploited, brainwashed teen proletariat. You can almost hear him sighing: If only kids could be deprogrammed and re-educated into realizing communism holds all the answers.

* Saddest of all is probably the writer who somehow believes she's the first one to ever think up the idea of a lesbian vampire, and then blames homophobia for her inability to find a publisher for her Mary Sue vampire stories. It must be homophobia, she explains, because all her friends say her stories are great.

While this collection is initially an insult to thinking people, in the end you'll want to laugh at these writers and pity them at the same time. These are people so obsessed with their own personal political-sexual identities that they unconsciously twist everything they see into a reflection of their own inadequacies then pat themselves on the back for their brilliant insight. It would be sad if they weren't so obnoxiously holier-than-thou about everything.

Though Blood Read is completely worthless as literary criticism or entertainment, it is a great book for psychologists, because each essay reads like a session on the couch with a seriously messed-up person. It demonstrates by example the dangers of existing in a mental vacuum, inoculated against any perspective that doesn't reinforce your self-righteous ego and self-esteem. Unfortunately, it offers little of interest regarding vampires.