The first study to propose a unifying logic underlying the many and
varied representations of the vampire in literature and culture.For the last three hundred
years, fictions of the vampire have fed off anxieties about cultural continuity. Though
commonly represented as a parasitic aggressor from without, the vampire is in fact a native
of Europe, and its "e;metamorphoses,"e; to quote Baudelaire, a distorted
image of social transformation. Because the vampire grows strong whenever and wherever
traditions weaken, its representations have multiplied with every political, economic, and
technological revolution from the eighteenth century on. Today, in the age of globalization,
vampire fictions are more virulent than ever, and the monster enjoys hunting grounds as vast
as the international market. Metamorphoses of the Vampire explains why representations of
vampirism began in the eighteenth century, flourished in the nineteenth, and came to eclipse
nearly all other forms of monstrosity in the early twentieth century. Many of the works by
French and German authors discussed here have never been presented to students and scholars
in the English-speaking world. While there are many excellent studies that examine Victorian
vampires, the undead in cinema, contemporary vampire fictions, and the vampire in folklore,
until now no work has attempted to account for the unifying logic that underlies the
vampire's many and often apparently contradictory forms. Erik Butler holds a PhDfrom Yale
University and has taught at Emory University and Swarthmore College. His publications
include The Bellum Gramaticale and the Rise of European Literature (2010) and a translation
with commentary of Regrowth (Vidervuks) by the Soviet Jewish author Der Nister
(2011).

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• Literature & FictionLiterary CriticismMovements & Periods

• Publication Date: March 1, 2010
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• Print Length: 334 Pages
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