Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell's Reviews > A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture: Love at First Bite

A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture by Violet Fenn

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A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture: Love at First Bite
by

Violet Fenn

Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell's review

Jan 24, 2024

really liked it

bookshelves: pop-goes-the-culture, horror, nonfiction, history, vampires

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A HISTORY OF THE VAMPIRE IN POPULAR CULTURE is a beautifully chaotic mess that deep-dives into the vampire mythos, tying it to actual science (rare diseases and processes of decomposition that "mimic" vampirism), goth culture, queer culture, and even actual historical figures who were slandered posthumously (most notably and infamously, Elizabeth Bathory). This is also an analysis of pop-cultural phenomena, starting from the gothic lit of the early Victorian era and ending with modern-day Dracula movies.

I thought this was wonderfully fun. The interviews with famous goths about their thoughts on vampires was quite entertaining-- she actually managed to track down and interview one of Bram Stoker's living relatives! Is it cohesive? No, but the wandering narrative is part of its charm. So many times while reading this, I found myself taking notes and thinking that Fenn seemed like the type of person that I would just love to be friends with. It was especially fun seeing vampires being discussed from the Gen-X goth lens, since vampires are goth in every sense of the word.

I'm a little surprised that she didn't bring up Fright Night (either of them) or Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, though. I feel like Fright Night marries the horror and sex elements of the vampire quite nicely (well, in the original), and I think it's an even better vampire movie than Lost Boys. Likewise, Chelsea Quinn Yabro's St. Germain is a long-suffering, good-hearted vampire, who kind of feels like a direct response to the flamboyant deviancies of Lestat. They were contemporaries, too, and-- I imagine-- just as crucial in shaping vampires as mainstream, romantic figures. I definitely felt like there was a Dracula bias in this book, because it seemed like this author was curating vampires based on what she enjoyed, and while that's fine, people who are hoping for a more broad and impartial scope may be disappointed.

Overall, though, this was amazing. I'll definitely be keeping this for reference. :F

4 to 4.5 stars

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Reading Progress

January 22, 2024 – Started Reading

January 22, 2024 – Shelved

January 22, 2024 – Shelved as: pop-goes-the-culture

January 22, 2024 – Shelved as: horror

January 22, 2024 – Shelved as: nonfiction

January 22, 2024 – Shelved as: history

January 22, 2024 –

10.0% "You know that feeling when you read a book that an author wrote and it makes you want to be their friend? I'm feeling that hard with this one"

January 22, 2024 –

14.0% "Hans Christian Anderson leaving a notecard next to his bed saying that he's not dead because he was afraid of being buried alive is SO REAL"

January 23, 2024 –

23.0% "Vampires don’t bother pretending to be human. They are both of us and also above us – in the food chain, at least. They are fangs and blood and sex and urges the like of which many of us would never even dare utter in our own minds, let alone aloud to another human. They mesmerise and seduce us via page and screen and we gaze, rapt, as they hunt us down like the pathetic little animals we are."

January 23, 2024 –

30.0% "I which I could say I'm surprised that history painted Elizabeth Bathory with a mostly false list of heinous accusations because she was Too Powerful As A Woman(TM), but I'm not"

January 23, 2024 –

36.0% "If this chapter was supposed to persuade me to NOT want to see a vampire musical, then it is sorely failing at its job"

January 23, 2024 –

40.0% "We love vampires and can’t bear to think that maybe they really would just prefer to bite our heads off and slurp on the blood fountain."

January 23, 2024 –

47.0% "What could be more beautiful than David Bowie as a doomed vampire?

I know this is rhetorical, but the answer is David Bowie as a doomed elven king"

January 23, 2024 –

53.0% "I'm so glad someone else is out here talking about how weird it is that Twilight is so prudish about the "no consensual sex before marriage" thing, and yet it drops an attempted gang-rape scene in book one and a casual recollection of a successful gang-rape in book three"

January 23, 2024 –

60.0% "We get a frisson of excitement from sitting on public transport reading about characters we desire or admire getting up to all manner of transgressions, our fellow passengers oblivious to any erotic impropriety going on in our heads."

January 23, 2024 –

65.0% "TIL that Bram Stoker might have died from syphilis, possibly from gay sex"

January 23, 2024 –

67.0% "There’s a reason why powerful and commandeering men make up so many of the ‘hero’ roles in romantic ‘bodice-ripping’ novels – and a reason why the bodice needs to be ripped in the first place. Being overpowered is a very common fantasy, and not a new one."

January 23, 2024 –

76.0% "The Lost Boys is an amazing movie and I will hear no criticism of it"

January 24, 2024 – Shelved as: vampires

January 24, 2024 – Finished Reading