#Vampire Literature

[gothyween]

𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 🖤🥀

𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔: 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑𝒔://𝒑𝒊𝒏.𝒊𝒕/𝟖𝑽𝒀𝒗𝒙𝟓𝟏

[bl00dfroma-fairy]

[dandelion-wine-literature]

“There was meaning in the world, yes, and laws, and inevitability, but they had only to do with the aesthetic. And in this Savage Garden, these innocent ones belonged in the vampire’s arms. A thousand other things can be said about the world, but only aesthetic principles can be verified, and these things alone remain the same.”

-The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

[zozoubbb]

fellas, is it gay to be a damsell in the 1800s who is completely enchanted by a lady who is staying by your castle for a while, and to describe your relationship as a romance till she starts acting odd and you later find out she is a vampire who was sucking your blood?

[charmmsydiary]

Carmilla & Laura art piece I did for my literature class 🦇♥️🏰

[marzipanandminutiae]

several people I now have summed up my issues with House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson as "she had post-nut clarity halfway through writing the book" and that's such a great way to describe it

like

it's okay the Hot Evil Vampire Lady can be Morally Gray with Big Pretty Eyes and a Sad Backstory That Doesn't Like EXCUSE Everything But You Still Feel BAD For Her. nobody's going to judge you if you don't make her Actually Super-Unsexy-REALLY-Evil All Along

you don't have to hard pivot into guilt-tripping everyone reading for getting involved in the twisted love story you wrote, in the last act of your novel

because that's really what the twist of the book felt like to me after the buildup that seemed to be genuinely suggesting affection between Marion and Lisavet- "oh, you were invested in this? you thought it was an actual dark romance? THINK AGAIN SHE NEVER LOVED HER OR ANYONE AND SHE DOES THIS ALL THE TIME TO LOTS OF WOMEN (WHO SHE ALSO DOES NOT LOVE) AND ACTUALLY SHE'S MEGABAD IN EVERY WAY. NO NUANCE NO SYMPATHY WHATSOEVER"

(it also didn't really function as a critique of the society she'd set up, IMO. because it's not an issue common to ALL the Northern houses- we see and hear about bloodmaids who did things normally, who served their- admittedly fucked-up but not lethal -terms and got pensioned off in the usual way. so this society that claims to be lifting young women out of poverty and richly compensating them for giving of their literal physical being to keep the ultra-rich young, is actually...doing that. with no apparent lasting downsides for former bloodmaids that we ever see. except this one Really Messed-Up Household)

(there wasn't even mention made of like...pensioned-off bloodmaids being particularly rare in comparison with the numbers of the ones who enter service. I literally don't recall any implication that mysterious bloodmaid deaths or vanishings were at all common outside the House of Hunger. I'm sure there are psychological effects that linger for the rest of these women's lives, and there could have been some cool Hunger Games-style commentary on that. but since that's not what the book focuses on, you're kind of left with the impression that this sucks for HoH bloodmaids and is generally a pretty sweet deal for all the others)

[lovreams]

CARMILLA KARNSTEIN HEADCANONS (BOOK)

Warning: Here I will write some headcanons that I thought about Carmilla (from the book, not from the webseries). Also, english is not my native language, so may have here some gramatical slips (so please be gentle with me!). That's my first autoral post! Saying this, let's begin!

1. Carmilla has a HUGE obsession with dolls. She has a dollhouse colletion with inumerous dolls. Her favorite is a doll that's she named Elizabeth, she is ginger with blue eyes and dresses a florid dress.

2. Carmilla writes loveletters to Laura A LOT, but she never show any of them to her. She wishes to show to her someday, because Carm loves to demonstrate all her love and affection for Laura. She fears that Laura reject her.

3. Carmilla favorite colors is: red, black and purple.

4. Carmilla loves music and dance, especially waltz. She loves music so depleely that she asks for her Mother for piano lessions. Obviously, she fell in love completly for the instrument.

5. Carmilla loves cats, especially black cats. She adopted one when she was in Paris and called him Hades.

6. Carmilla loves to travel. Her favorite vacation destinys are Paris, London and Florence.

7. Carmilla likes to sleep a lot and HATES when someone wake her for some reason (except Laura).

8. Carmilla takes a lot of care of her hair (which is very long and wavy, almost reach her hips).

9. Carmilla don't believe in God since she turned into a vampire.

10. Carmilla is a Scorpio and her birthday date is October 24th.

11. Carmilla have a deep depression. Laura don't understand her humor instability, but tries to care for Carm and make her feel better.

12. Carm feels a deep guilty for hurt and kill other people for her own surviving as a vampire. She wishes never hurt anyone, especially Laura.

13. Carmilla loves chocolate, cakes and candies. And by the way, Laura bakes a lot of them for her lovely vampire.

14. Carm is a polyglot. She knows english, french and german fluently (german is obviously her native language).

15. Carmilla loves to flirt with Laura, besides praising her. She adores when Laura's cheecks turn red when she praise her pink lips or her beautiful blonde hair. And of course, asks for Laura to kiss her when they are alone.

So guys, I'm finishing this post here! Maybe later I will post more, if I remember because my memory is not the best and I am a very distracted person! If you like this post, please like or reblog.

[i-am-the-vampire-of-my-own-heart]

My impression reading The Vampire Lestat so far:

Hi I'm the vampire Lestat and I'm super hot but also ethereal and off-putting but like in a sexy way. I'm also a rockstar. I wrote this book because my ex is spreading lies about me. I killed a bunch of wolves and I wasn't even scared. My hot and sexy boyfriend was jealous of my enormous talent. This old man broke into my house and turned me into a vampire and then left me all his money. I shit myself and I didn't even care. I can do somersaults now. I frenched my mom.

[just-an0ther-wh0re]

No vampire fiction really puts things into perspective enough. All it is is "Vampire falls in love with human, tries not to kill them" and never

"Closeness could mean your death. You seem to forget what I am."

"I don't care. Dying in your grasp would be better than any other way"

With feelings of pure need coming from both sides. I feel like having to stay away from the person youre infatuated with because of something you cant control would be torture.

NOW DONT GET ME STARTED ON THE NOSFERATU. Other than the vampire part, most never find mates because of their physical deformities. They cant be seen at all be humans, which for me is heartbreaking.

What tragic souls.

[ultrangelita]

I wish i was a gothic sexy vampire with a grotesque yet erotic appearance and same-sex tendencies

[saintmachina]

AN EDUCATION IN MALICE

My sapphic, vampiric dark academia novel is coming next year. Add AN EDUCATION IN MALICE to Goodreads for:

gay academic rivals to lovers 

vampire house party exhibitionism

toxic poetry cohorts 

plus size heroines 

kinky, obsessive relationships 

 morally grey antagonists 

professors behaving badly

~Classes start Spring 2024~

[whatthecrowtold]

"Are we related,” I used to ask; “what can you mean by all this? I remind you perhaps of someone whom you love; but you must not, I hate it; I don’t know you—I don’t know myself when you look so and talk so.” (Sheridan Le Fanu "Carmilla")

"I have said “the nearest inhabited village,” because there is, only three miles westward, that is to say in the direction of General Spielsdorf’s schloss, a ruined village, with its quaint little church, now roofless, in the aisle of which are the moldering tombs of the proud family of Karnstein, now extinct, who once owned the equally desolate chateau which, in the thick of the forest, overlooks the silent ruins of the town." (Sheridan Le Fanu "Carmilla")

"Did you remark what an ill-looking pack of men the servants were?” asked Madame."

“I must tell you my vision about you"

"As we sat thus one afternoon under the trees a funeral passed us by. It was that of a pretty young girl, whom I had often seen, the daughter of one of the rangers of the forest. The poor man was walking behind the coffin of his darling; she was his only child, and he looked quite heartbroken." (Sheridan Le Fanu "Carmilla")

All images above were created by the wonderful Ana Juan for an Italian edition of Sheridan Le Fanu's lesbian vampire classic "Carmilla" in 2015

[mysteryofvampires]

Hey, your bio says that you “like talking about your favourite books but unfortunately no one knows about them” so I was wondering — what are your favourite books?

OMG thank you for your question! This is my first ever ask and receiving it from such a talented and nice person like you is a great honour! Also sorry it took me so long...

My favourite books are the 'Die Erben der Nacht' series (translated into english 'the heirs of the night') by Ulrike Schweikert. It's a german book series wich contains six books. They are historical fiction (1877-1883) mixed with Fantasy (it's about vampires, but there are also other magical creatures like werewolves). It deals with topics like coming of age, friendship and love.

There are well written characters with pretty impressive character development and the plot is also pretty good. It's basically about how the vampires get repressed and decide to teach their children together. The main characters are a group of young vampires from various clans who become friends and more later on... two of them have a pretty good rivals to lovers arc. They have to overcome various challenges through the years all leading to defeat the mega villain Dracula later on. There is also a suplot with an orphan girl who lives with her vampire hunting uncle that falls in love with one of the vampire teens. The books are filled with a lots of information about culture, science and society back then.

You also meet many famous people from that time. The most important one being Bram Stoker who is an important part of the Story. Not only adopts he the orphan girl when her uncle dies but he also helps defeating Dracula along with Doktor van Helsing the vampire hunter. The plot basically inspires him to write Dracula.

You also meet other people like Oscar Wilde or empress Sisi of Austria.

The four main vampires also befriend the phantom of the opera in the third book.

The books also deal with things like feminism and stuff like that

I recommend it for people that speak German (obviously) who are interested in vampires and history and don't look for a literally masterpiece, cause it really isn't. It's a great YA book and an easy and quick read.

.

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

I’m sure some of you may know this already, or have more insight, but I stumbled across the manga The Poe Clan by Moto Hagio, a serial that went on to have tremendous influence on the Shōjo and Yaoi genres. It tells the non sequential story of Edgar, a 14 year old “vampirenella” and his vampire “family.” Published in 1972 it came out before Interview with the Vampire and a lot of the scenes and subjects were striking to me in their similarity. For example, it concerns vampire children, a vampire girl who looks like a doll and does not survive, Alan, the male love interest who precipitates his turning through an incident where he knocks a family member down the stairs and believes he killed him before Edgar appears in his window and begs him to come with him. I haven’t finished, and I’m not saying this was a direct reference or something that Anne Rice even was familiar with, but I am wondering what was in the water in the 70s that these elements in vampire and Gothic fiction were coming together.

[redversaillesrose]

Honestly the worst thing about vampires is how disgustingly rich they are. Generational wealth on steroids. Yada yada metaphors you are thirsting over a landlord, Carolina.

[maverick-werewolf]

Vampire Fact #13 (oh no) - The Importance of Dracula

It's another vampire fact this month! Next month will be a Werewolf Fact again for October, of course, in time for Halloween.

But for now, let's talk about a very important topic when it comes to vampires... the importance of everyone's favorite count: Dracula.

Much like my Werewolf Fact "The Importance of The Wolf Man," this Vampire Fact will discuss the importance of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, published in 1897, and the almost-impossible-to-overstate importance of how it shaped all popular conceptions of vampires afterward - and even retroactively affected vampire legends through scholarship and study.

I want to open by saying that this post is not setting out to discuss the historical context of Dracula itself as a literary work, neither in terms of when/how Bram Stoker wrote it (and to what degree it was influenced by things like Varney the Vampire and John Polidori's The Vampyre), nor in terms of how much it relates to Vlad the Impaler. I am aware of the conversation around Bram Stoker and his work and the many discussions thereof, but that isn't what I'm here to cover today. Right now, I'm focusing only upon the undeniable, massive influence the novel Dracula in itself has had upon vampires in popular culture essentially from the moment it was published all the way until today - and it will continue, as well.

I may, however, talk about all those kind of things in a separate post, as I have spent a great deal of time studying them and even publishing upon them (including an article diving deep into how Polidori doesn't get enough credit overall in vampire study). But more on that later! For now, let's talk about what Dracula did for vampires.

First off, for those unfamiliar with Dracula, you should be. If you enjoy vampires at all and haven't read this book, that's a big blind spot! First of all, you'd enjoy the heck out of it, and second of all, it's the vampire book. That's possibly even worse than having not seen The Wolf Man if you love werewolves (although it's rather hard to say; they're pretty much on par, even if Dracula is considered more important historically, as it's a work of classic literature and movies don't often get that level of respect, which I disagree with).

Tangent. Anyway.

In Dracula, we see the foundational aristocratic, blood-sucking, pale, red-eyed, fanged, clean, finery-wearing vampire with civilized manners (until he suddenly lacks them because he's turned into a monster) - plus he's a count, of course. He lives secluded in his grand castle high in the mountains of Eastern Europe, and he is seeking to rejoin society. Many vampires are/were also influenced by the romantic - twisted or not - angle in the story and Dracula's obsession with one woman. Not everything of Dracula's was picked up by popular culture, of course - primarily what was reused, appearance-wise, were the elements later found in film adaptations. For instance, his white hair and mustache (the latter no doubt influenced by Vlad the Impaler) from the book are generally turned to black hair and clean-shaven, thanks to films that followed. But still, it all started with this book.

The character of Dracula would impact literally all vampires to follow, in some fashion or another. The influence is all-encompassing and undeniable.

Please note that not all of this influence came from the novel Dracula alone - it also comes from ripoffs and adaptations thereof, especially in film, as mentioned. I'm talking things like Nosferatu and all the many Dracula film adaptations thereafter. Some concepts didn't originate in Dracula itself - but they did come from things created from or otherwise heavily influenced by Dracula, so without Dracula, one can easily argue we wouldn't have any of those things, either. Like werewolves with The Wolf Man (1941), a lot of these influences also come from film. Obviously it all originated with the novel and adaptations thereof, however, so the novel deserves the credit, ultimately.

Your average Halloween vampire has the classic Dracula concept; whether one wants to argue it was popularized directly from the book or from later film adaptations, you can't deny the high-collared, well-dressed, tall dark and handsome pale vampire that became ubiquitous in recent decades. You know them, you love them - you've seen them every Halloween and on every bit of vampire merch afterward (except perhaps a few things after the Twilight renaissance, which I also won't cover in this post).

Other than obvious design influences, Dracula and its film adaptations of course influenced the vampire "lore" afterward. Perhaps the biggest impact on vampires is simple: fangs. Vampires in folklore didn't actually have fangs! Dracula completely popularized that. Many more details in the linked post as to where the fangs came from, etc.

What were some other things? Well, other than what I already mentioned, Dracula popularized the association of vampires with various kinds of animals (based in folklore), and it even popularized many concepts about vampire hunters, thanks to the ever-popular Abraham Van Helsing.

What else did it influence? Everything. Weaknesses, as well as how to become a vampire and vampires being a curse that the creature could spread to others, to humans, instead of a demonic being - and even the term "vampire" itself certainly saw a rise in the public eye from Dracula.

In truth, Dracula didn't just influence vampire concepts - it influenced all vampire stories to follow and the entire worlds built around their concepts, both vampires, vampire hunters, the general feel and setting of the stories, the plots themselves - absolutely everything.

Please note too, of course, that Bram Stoker was not a slouch on research. He was very heavily influenced by folklore and elements of history, even if he put his own spin on it and made many additions. The fangs in particular have become just a part of vampires as a whole, concept, image, everything. Without fangs, is a vampire even a vampire these days? Not really, especially in the modern mindset - and let's face it, vampires are made a million times cooler by the fangs.

If you want to read one of Bram Stoker's biggest folkloric inspirations, check out a little book called Transylvanian Superstitions, Scripta Minora by Emily Gerard and Agnes Murgoci. This is a good publication of it, and the one I have always used.

So what do I mean when I say that Dracula retroactively affected vampire legends, study thereof, and scholarship on such matters? Well, it's similar to what happened to werewolves over time. By creating interest in a particular "brand" of vampire, scholars began to scrape and search for legends that fit that "brand." Did they really exist? How many "legends" were retroactively twisted around to suit a scholar's needs/desires and/or how many were just created on the spot from thin air in order to say that the scholar "discovered" a legend wherein, for instance, a vampire has fangs?

This isn't unheard of in scholarship, by any means - especially when it comes to folklore. It's widely known that scholars will do such things, especially when it comes to academic argument. Am I saying I know of any in particular that were spawned from an interest in Dracula?

Not necessarily, but it's certainly true that a lot of scholars and certainly most people in general assume things about Dracula or its spinoffs and adaptations that followed come from folklore, and some even use that when writing their academic work, when in fact they did not. It still pervades across the internet that vampires that don't die in the sunlight are immensely silly and untrue to the folklore. Gosh, how ridiculous! Well, I hate to tell you, but that didn't even originate with Dracula, either, nor did it come from folklore. For more details on where the "burning/dying instantly or quickly in the sunlight" concept for vampires came from, see my previous Vampire Fact on Sunlight.

And that gives you a nice overview, I think! There's so much more to say, but an internet post isn't really the place. I do plan to write some nonfiction publications on this and other topics, because werewolves won't be my only nonfiction books, lemme tell you. Hope you enjoyed the post!

Until next time! But wait, there's more (yes, I really just said that)...

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