ABSTRACT

The history of the vampire is as long as that of Western culture. Elements peculiar to this monster also appear in non-Western cultures. Given the tremendous geographic and chronological extension of its existence, transforming itself through different ages and places, a univocal definition of the vampire is impossible; nevertheless, the basic kernel of this monster can be summarized in its being a reanimated corpse (“undead”) that rises from its grave to suck the life force (usually blood) of living beings. The most accomplished formalization of this monster is in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897; see DRACULA). Stoker’s novel is both a culmination, summarizing a very long tradition of vampires, and a starting point that will make available precise characteristics to the ensuing cinematic and literary interpretations. Stoker’s vampire has

become an inescapable point of reference for all subsequent reworkings that, as Nina Auerbach has shown, respond to the anxieties and fears of different epochs: every period has its own vampires.